Improve your customer contact by texting instead of calling.
Texting is more efficient than calling.
For your customer contact it is important that you keep your customer well informed about the status of car maintenance and repairs. A quick call seems handy, but that is quite disappointing in practice. Perhaps you have tried it yourself: out of 10 times you call, only 2 to 3 times are successful. The rest of the time, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a voicemail. Which you can hope will be listened to… High time for a better method to keep in touch with your customer.
In your private situation you certainly use WhatsApp (or one of the other chat programs). Then you also know the main advantages of this:
• You send a message when it suits you
• You read a message when you have time
• You can easily read back the entire ‘conversation’
98% of people prefer texting than calling
Those benefits also count within your work. And even more by the way, as Daniel of BMW and Mini dealer Van Poelgeest knows from his own experience. He has been using the professional version of WhatsApp for some time now:
“Customers prefer to be texted, because then they can respond whenever they want and see the message in the meantime, even if they are in a meeting”.
A WhatsApp conversation is started with every customer who reports to Van Poelgeest at the counter. To everyone’s satisfaction. And that’s not surprising when you know that 98% of people would rather text than receive a call.
Standardized text messages are still sent at some garages. This is intended as an alternative to telephone calls, but that does not work well: there is no real conversation. And if a customer has a question, you should still call. It is also not necessary to do it that way, of course, because WhatsApp Business has long proven itself, as Daniël also knows:
“From 2 pm our customers start calling about the status of their car. Taking these calls takes a lot of time and is inconvenient 9 out of 10 times. Apping is a godsend. Not only for our customers, but also for us.”
Advantages of WhatsApp Business for customer contact during car maintenance
If you use WhatsApp Business, you work on your customer satisfaction, while you work much more efficiently:
• Questions, answers and status messages become an ongoing story
• You and your customer can the conversation simply read back
• There are no misunderstandings: everything is black-on-white
• Complete transparency for your customers and for you
• You can add photos and videos for additional explanation
• You get quick consent on additional work if you inform your client well
• Certainty: an agreement through WhatsApp is legally valid
Texting ensures better contact with your customer
Your telephone number is probably already in your customer’s contact list. And vice versa. That does not mean that you should just start texting. But if you consult and explain the benefits, it is hardly ever a problem. In fact, your customer will also experience it as an improvement in contact. And an app is not only useful during maintenance, but also for making future appointments.
Start a conversation and improve your after sales
You improve your after sales by using WhatsApp Business within your company. Your customers are more satisfied and you save time and avoid annoyance yourself. Stop making futile phone calls or standard text messages and start a conversation with a Web1on1 specialist.
