Nissan Store Case Study: Get Off The Phone & Take A Knee

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For over two decades, Customer Traac has helped hundreds of automotive dealerships across the nation improve their profitability, performance, and call volume management. We knew that there was a need for outsourced business development centers in the automotive industry, and we worked hard to fill that gap and make our mark.

Why Should Businesses Consider Using a Professional Automotive Call Center?

Over the years, nothing has made us happier than hearing a satisfied client rave about what outsourcing their BDC has done for them and their business. Time is money, and profitability can soar when the proper time and resources are allocated appropriately. Sometimes that means allocating to a professional automotive call center.

Reluctant business owners may live in denial for too long, drowning under high call volumes, and an overwhelmed staff. We are happy to share this testimonial from a Loyalty Manager from a Nissan Dealership. The Manager talks about how this team found success after they let go of the reins, and trusted their professional automotive call center.

As the Owner Loyalty Manager for a busy Nissan store, I spent most of my time in the Service Drive talking to customers and trying to build a bridge between Service and Sales. Obviously, the first step on that bridge was the customer being very satisfied with the Service experience.

To that end, I would talk to many people in the waiting room and others, standing arms folded in the bay area, and I’d talk to them about how they were experiencing our store. A theme presented itself and it’s one that so many other dealerships can relate to.

Advisors were so busy stuck to their stools taking incoming phone calls that they were largely being ignored unless rushed moments of bad news, delays and weak attempts at upselling came at them. They didn’t feel well communicated to about what was going on with their cars, what it might cost, how long they’d have to wait… and on and on the complaints went.

We began to see this pattern as ON THE PHONE = ON A BAD PATH. As we looked into the options that might fix the problem, we landed on the 3rd Party BDC solution. I mean if the pattern is best described as we did, then the solution should be as easy as OFF THE PHONE = OFF THE BAD PATH.

Of course, we looked into the idea of setting up internal appointment setters. Maybe we could shift some roles around. No… everyone was too busy as it was. Maybe we hire people specifically for the task. Our investigation determined that it would cost twice as much considering salaries, benefits, floor space and that didn’t even take into consideration the hiring, firing, rehiring, sick days and training it would take to manage an internal call center.

So we decided to work with a professional automotive call center. We let them do their training and quality control. We let them hire and fire and we let them…help us.

Now I have Service Advisors who are free to serve those in the drive. We established a program where they go into the waiting room with their iPad and get on one knee and talk to a customer about what’s going on. They go into the waiting room several times to update and upsell. Dollars per RO have increased and CSI has gone up as well.

We went from ON THE PHONE to ON A KNEE…it made a transformative difference.

What a fantastic success story! When companies are willing to “take a knee” like this Manager and his team and trust that the professional call center can manage the work, it can save an exponential amount of time.

When workers are held up with phone calls, emails, and customer inquiries, they can’t produce the level or value of service needed to boost business. Not to mention the adverse effects an overworked team can have on customer satisfaction.

How Long Are Customers Willing to Be Put on Hold?

It may come as no surprise that customers are unwilling to hold on the phone for too long. A customer service experience survey conducted by Aircall showed the amount of time the average online shopper would wait for customer service over the phone, email, or chat.

Phone queue times were definitely the area that people are least willing to wait for service. 89% of customers would wait under 5 minutes for an agent on the phone, 60% would wait under 2 minutes, and a mere 29% would be willing to wait a minute or less to get a live agent on the line. Yikes!

Outsourcing customer service is the best move a dealership can make if they want to improve sales and profitability. By allowing the professionals to handle all customer business, from hiring and firing to training and quality control, the team at the Nissan dealership could take a breath and do their jobs even better. Customer Traac has a proven track record of helping dealerships boost sales, increase efficiency, and also save on labor costs. To learn more about how we continue to help our clients boost sales and profitability, click here.