In 2009, a popular misconception was that text-messaging was a form of communication popular only with teen girls, said Mike Risich, founder and CEO of BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY.
“While I can tell you it was not true even then, it certainly isn’t true today. You’re receiving text messages from all sorts of businesses.”
Risich was an early proponent of using text messaging for business, and in that year his company introduced its digital vehicle inspection (DVI) product to independent mechanical repair shops as an add-on – a bolt-on, if you will – to shop management systems. Those shops have since shown they can increase their average repair order (ARO) gross sales by 39 percent. More than 10,000 shops have since used the text-based, photo- and video-enhanced communication to increase transparency and customer trust, and as of October, they have transmitted more than 50 million photos to customers’ mobile devices.
Now, the company’s “unbolted” standalone, cloud-based product, NextGear, is available to collision repair shops and other automotive aftermarket segments and “floats on its own,” independent of a shop management system but incorporating many of the original offering’s “best practices and feature-rich solutions,” Risich said.
Risich said the latest offering is an answer to customer demand. “They’ve witnessed the success we’ve had on the mechanical side, and maybe they now find themselves in a role where most of the business they do is collision. However, it’s still applicable in communicating with and educating vehicle owners.”
With the number of missed calls, ignored calls, and playing phone tag, “the telephone is the biggest drain on a shop’s productivity,” Risich said. “If you send communication to the right device with the right messaging, you are going to see a more or less immediate response.”
Green, yellow, and red bars on the DVI indicate the condition of various vehicle systems for “good,” “non-urgent,” and “urgent,” respectively. A shop doing mechanical repairs can recommend the replacement of a water pump leaking from the weep hole, or it can advise that brake pads and rotors are near the end of their service life. Collision repair shops can use it to check in the vehicle as a “CYA” measure and also to upsell customer-pay, unrelated prior damage.
“We understand that most of the transaction occurs between the shop, the collision repair shop, and the insurance company,” Risich said. “But there are always those situations where the vehicle owner is involved, and they are skeptical just as when they’re getting mechanical repairs done.
“And what we’ve found is a technical process that has consistent communication leads to vehicle owners having better experiences with those establishments. Our creative way of digital inspection and using pick lists means no matter if it’s Joe the tech or Wendy the tech, they’re all saying the same thing the same way. The consistency of that communication is really the key benefit.”
An estimator can easily incorporate the digital vehicle inspection into a check-in routine or at the time of the initial estimate, walking around the vehicle and using speech-to-text, if desired. The product works with any number of Web-enabled devices, including many popular tablet scan tools used for pre-repair scans, iPhones, and Android devices.
“NextGear is the ‘BYOD’: ‘bring your own device,’” Risich said. “You don’t need to purchase special equipment to operate a digital inspection. If you can reach a browser, you’re going to be able to execute a digital inspection.”
An estimator or service advisor can hit the ground running with a number of digital inspection templates.
“You can just jump into one of the ones we provide and start going around the automobile. So it’s a little turnkey opportunity with the pre-canned notes and pre-canned recommendations.”
The estimator or service advisor then sends the customer a text with an alert and web address, where the customer can view the full check-in DVI, photos, and videos. The NextGear user can recall any previous inspection report. The shop can also schedule appointments for an oil change six months from now, or to repair unrelated prior collision damage in April, when the customer anticipates getting his tax refund.
“NextGear has a complete calendar built inside of it, where you can see all of those recommended items and where they pop up on the calendar.”
The shop can send an automated text reminder at any time. The customer can then reply to the text message with a “C” to confirm, which will then alert the shop. If so desired, shop staff can also download those recommendations as a file in .pdf or .rtf format to save offline.
The basic NextGear subscription includes Second Gear expansion tools for $199 per month, with no long-term contract and no limits on the number of texts or photos that can be sent.
“And next month, if you aren’t satisfied, you just change your billing status. It’s really self-service.”
Free “test drives” are also available. The SecondGear expansion adds text-to-pay function, where invoices can be sent to vehicle owners via text message for quick review and payment, and that feature can also be used to collect a customer’s deductible.
“Most people are conscious of the fact they are about to tell me 16 numbers in a row over the phone, not only because they may not know who’s on the other side of the phone; they also may not know who may be around them and who could hear that. It also really fits squarely into considerations of public health and convenience.”
The ThirdGear and FourthGear options add other features, such as a Pit Stop website that allows the user to create a customized website, tools to encourage positive online reviews and flag negative ones, and online appointment scheduling.
“It all comes down to three words: vehicle owner experience. And that has been the push of BOLT ON for the last five years. We recognize that other than the dentist, the auto repair or collision repair shop is the last place that Americans want to go to. So if we can do anything to make that experience more enjoyable, then we have accomplished our goal.”
