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Text/Email Inspection Results for Faster Approval

Communicating with your Customers Made Easy

Navigating vehicles in SmartFlow and SmartCheck and sending Inspection results to customers and other repeat actions are launched from the Today’s Vehicles Page (TVP).

The approval process can be expedited when the best practices described below are taught to the service advisor.

Solution

 

Edit The Inspection Result while the vehicle is at the shop

SmartFlow and SmartCheck are navigated by seeing the vehicles on the Today’s Vehicle Page and clicking on the wrench icon to get to the work order details and inspection results.

The magnifying glass indicates that the inspection has been performed and the envelope shows that results have been texted or emailed. Clicking on the wrench button shows the work order pop up with the whole work order and the inspection results, both of which can be edited from here.

See the red arrows indication on image below for where to edit any work order or inspection topic.

work-order-and-insepction-results

You have two ways of previewing and emailing the inspection results AND the work order (check the checkbox on the work order tab to accomplish that) as well.

  1. The Communications pop up: Just like on the TVP, the work order has an internal vehicle tile as well. To get to it, you click on the tab to the right and click on the customer name. internal-tile It opens the same communication pop up as on the TVP and all you need to do is preview the inspection results, OEM Recs, work order and TSBs sent to the customer before you press the Send Message button. communication-po-up
  2. The View Inspection Results (works only with active FailSafe mode) Select the inspection results revision from the drop down (1 in image below) and preview the inspection results (and work order) exactly as your customer will see it rendered on their device (desktop or smartphone). Press the email button (2) to email (always in customer mode) and print (3) to print either a shop internal version or the customer version (removes parts and pricing as well as billed hours). Select whihc version by toggling the “For Customer” check box. view-on-drop-down

Emailing work order content only is possible as well, although rarely used.

Check the work order check box on the open vehicle tile pop up

work-order-checkbox

Then go to the communication pop up and selecting the work order pop up will show you, the customer part of the work order (no parts, no billed hours, no tech notes for shop eyes only)

work-order-only

Texting an inspection results is the easiest way to get the information to the customer. Just like the first option of emailing before, you simply go to the vehicle tile, click on the customer name and select text message instead of email. If texting is the only way available it will be set by default.

The text message to the customer contains a link to the responsive web page adjusting to the size of the device used (only in active failsafe mode) or a link to the pdf document of the inspection result.

texting-an-inspection-result

If the customer replies to the text message, the customer name on the vehicle tile will flash and when clicked the text message history is shown and you can reply directly from the communication pop up.

text-reply

If the vehicle is not at the shop anymore, but you receive a phone call and want to send any revision of the inspection result and work order to the customer, just use the magnifying glass at the top of your TVP.

search

then search for the RO number and select the customer name from the shown results. It will open the well-known communication pop up to email or text the inspection results.

 

Clicking on the RO number will open the Work order pop up and you can use the second version of previewing and emailing the inspection results as well. Note that if you have switched on the FailSafe mode months or years after you started the Digital Inspection process, the older inspection results will only be available in pdf document format.

If the vehicle is not at the shop anymore, and you can’t remember the RO#, but the customer name, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to the magnifying glass and search for the customer’s last name
  2. The last visit is shown
  3. Click on the RO# and open the Work order pop up
  4. Find the RO# of the visit in question, go back to the search feature and enter it to see the results. ro-search
  5. Click on the customer name and email/text the inspection results you were looking for.

Current Process

 

In the paper-based process, even if the estimate is emailed, the approval is always a struggle, since motorists are interrupted at home or work by the service advisor and need to approve expensive repairs on the phone while doing other tings.

As a result approval rates are low and service advisor fall back to drastic explanations of the consequences of a skipped repair or service, which in turn can lower the motorist’s trust in the shop as a whole.

Best Practice

approval-process-gainsAs shown in the image in comparison with the old process, the use of texting and emailing can not only expedite the approval process, it also allows the motorist to get educated why it is needed and what happens if declined at their pace and the time they want to pay attention to this.

Smartphones in motorists’ hands make the education through videos and pictures possible and most likely they will call you before you can call them and they approve work by emailing or texting back.

 

Quantified Benefits

The approval process will

  • be significantly faster, up to 75%, since
    • texting/emailing might replace chasing the motorist to pick up the phone
    • the motorists can pre-educate themselves by watching educational videos and adding images
  • be educational and thus will increase the approval rate by at least 50%, since
    • they will take the time to study the information provided and will call you back with questions
    • they have all information at their fingertips
DST & Training

During the one-day Digital Supervisor Training, you will experience hands-on how to create inspection results efficiently and how to email and text them to the motorist as part of a new process the Service Advisor will need to develop muscle memory for.

Check out the location in your area, where you can sign up for the Digital Supervisor Training here

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