John Meyers
Service Manager
Escondido, California
The thing that attracted me most to eScheduling was how much better I can manage the resources in my service department. Using a DMS like ADP or Reynolds & Reynolds you lose control because of the human factor. With eScheduling, I have control over when appointments can be booked, and how many customers can be booked at any one time. The system automatically blocks out times as we schedule appointments, so my employees simply can't overbook/underbook the service department. Like most dealers, we used to have lines of cars in the service drive every day. Our policy was to stagger appointment times, but getting the employees to follow policy is another thing. Now our customers get in and drop off their vehicles much faster. To me, the improvement in customer satisfaction alone makes the service worth the money.
I have had some nightmares with new systems, so I was as cautious as anybody about getting started with eScheduling. But I was surprised at how easy it was to get set up. It was remarkably easy to get set up, and eScheduling Program HQ did almost all the work. I think I spent an hour or two with them on the phone, and that was all it took. If you're worried about a nightmare setup, relax: it's extremely simple to get started with eScheduling.
Of course, a lot of our customers appreciate the convenience of making their own appointments on the Web. That's important, but the greatest benefit at the start is that now everybody in my dealership can schedule a service appointment. It's not just our service advisors and the appointment desk. Our receptionist, our shop coordinator, every employee can make a service appointment for a customer. Even our shuttle driver schedules appointments, and it only took him about a half hour to learn how.
As a Five Star dealer, we utilize the maintenance Logbook and we're required to schedule new customer's first 3,000 mile appointment at the time of the sale. Our sales and finance people used to be reluctant to take time away from sales to schedule service appointments. But now it only takes a minute or two on the computer, and they do it easily.
eScheduling has been a great value. It's improved customer satisfaction, it's helped our service organization run much more efficiently, and it's been extremely easy to set up and use. I would recommend it to any dealership.
The most obvious advantage of eScheduling is that it frees up our service advisors and support staff to spend their time with customers on more important activities. Every dealer has a "phone problem." Half the time our guys spend on the phone is routine scheduling, and when customers get put on hold they often end up going somewhere else for service. We want our guys on the phone with customers, but we want them helping the customers with their service needs, not just taking appointments. eScheduling lets customers schedule their own service appointments online. That means that our service advisors are spending more time with the customers, making sure that repairs have been done right, that the customer knows when their next service appointment is, the kind of work that we're supposed to be doing.About 10% to 15% of our customers schedule their service appointments online right now, and we hope it will grow, because the customers that use eScheduling really appreciate it. We added a recording to our hold message to let customers know that if they want to book an appointment online, they can do that right away instead of waiting for us to pick up their call. They can schedule their appointments even if the dealership is closed, or if they only get through to the night operator. Our night operator doesn't have access to the ADP system, but she can schedule an appointment with eScheduling - or better yet show the customer that they can schedule their own service appointment through our Web site.
The eScheduling service is extremely easy to use.Maybe I'm biased because we're in Southern California and it seems everybody here has a computer, but if you've ever ordered a book on Amazon, you can certainly schedule an appointment with eScheduling. Anybody with a computer can do this. I have to be honest, one of the things that our customers like the most is the price discounts they get for scheduling their service online!
Our service advisors really like the system. I can't think of anything more that I could want from the eScheduling system. It's completely integrated with our ADP system, so if you have VIP service coverage, or there's some warranty information in ADP for a vehicle, that all appears right on the eScheduling screen for the service advisor. And the system allows you to block out any type of resource, based on your facilities, a service advisor's vacation, anything at all. There's no possibility of a customer scheduling an appointment that we can't deliver. The service advisors really like the green, yellow and red coding for appointment times, because we know that if a time block is red, you just find a different time for the appointment.
There simply is no downside to this service. More than any other joint venture or partnership I've seen with DaimlerChrysler, eScheduling has the most potential to improve operations at a dealership at every level. It single-handedly addresses the most pain points at the best cost. Sure, it frees up your service advisors from taking appointments on the phone, but it also helps you to allocate service resources more efficiently. And customers love it. They don't have to be on hold for their service appointments, they save money, and they create a complete vehicle profile through the site so that they know their whole service history and what service they'll need next. And the cost is extremely reasonable. All you really have to invest is a few hours to get set up and spend some time to get your people familiar with the system, and you're done. The support has been excellent. There hasn't been a single problem that [eScheduling Program HQ] hasn't addressed immediately.
This is simply the best new service for dealers that I've seen in years. Every dealership should be using it.
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