Today, after-sales service is more important than ever in the world of vehicle repairs. This is not just a meaningless concept: creating brand loyalty and maintaining a good reputation both online and offline are essential guidelines for the success of any company. However, developing appropriate and effective internal and external communications and creating a methodology based on digitalisation is not a simple task. To help you through it, we’ve put together this article highlighting the most important aspects to bear in mind.

Keys to improving your garage’s efficiency

Strategies for joint working and after-sales service both rely on workplace efficiency. When we talk about efficiency, it is essential that all activities carried out within this space are as streamlined as possible, free of any delays or downtime.

But, how do you increase efficiency? On the one hand, you’ll need to rely on the best team and equipment. This means investing both in qualified employees and in the tools that will allow these professionals to carry out all the necessary activities to serve your customers.

However, there is another aspect of after-sales service that demands particular attention: the management and optimisation of communication flows between customers and your garage. In this regard, the only way to ensure the best results is through digitalisation.

Internal and external communications from any workplace must be managed via software that offers the ability to carry out simple scheduling in order to organise business activities. More specifically, this should allow for the management of appointments, the needs of customers having their vehicles serviced, the status of pending tasks and employees’ workload at any given time. At the end of the day, when it comes to after-sales service, there’s nothing worse than having your customers see you as inefficient.

After-sales strategies: what are they based on?

It should always be assumed that the methodology implemented by after-sales departments will need to bear in mind two important aspects: internal and external communications.

When it comes to internal communications, it’s vital that all departments within the garage remain in continual contact. This way, the workflow will be much faster and more efficient.

This offers various benefits. The first, and most obvious, is that you will be able to offer a service that fully adapts to the needs of the works carried out by your garage at any given time. This way, you’ll be able to avoid any delays or problems when it comes to customer service.

The second benefit, on the other hand, relates to the management of the workplace itself. If all departments can rely on fluid communication, you’ll be able to detect any problems that may arise and risk lowering efficiency at any time. This is essential in order to quickly and comprehensively identify and locate issues, to ensure that the garage is not affected by any delays.

On the other hand, external communications cover all relevant aspects that may affect the users of the garage’s services. In other words, everything related to booking appointments and carrying out any administration required for after-sales service.

The support of digital tools

Today, there are a range of digital tools that can manage all this, without the involvement of any of your employees. However, it’s easy to forget that these systems need to be fully integrated with the garage’s daily work in order offer a quality service to users.

Software for external communications is useless if it is not updated with reality of everything that happens internally. As such, some more specific work will be required to avoid delays and any other problems that may lower the quality of your after-sales service.

What do customers really expect from after-sales service?

Efficiency and professionalism are two of the things customers expect as a given. However, are there any other key aspects to after-sales service in the eyes of the customer? Of course, and they all require close attention.

It’s important to bear in mind that the customer will always have high expectations and will not understand any delays or hold-ups. In this regard, communication must be as fluid as possible. In fact, this aspect is very closely linked to another important element: personalisation.

We tend to think that after-sales service is not something that can be personalised, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are various ways to offer the personalised attention customers expect. For example, working with professionals who specialise in customer service to respond to any queries prior to servicing. You can also offer small personalised touches such as an automated birthday message or a service reminder.

Though these are just little details, they are truly essential. By offering friendly service, responding to queries and ensuring all the other aspects mentioned above, you’ll be able to make sure that your customer feels personally attended to. This can be achieved via services such as RLE Iberia’s Contact Center, a simple way of achieving the best customer service.

Another aspect to bear in mind is the creation of ad campaigns related to vehicle maintenance. These should offer benefits for those buyers who have already made use of your in-house after-sales service.

Pre-MOT servicing, tyre fitting or filter changes are actions that go beyond this simple service. To create loyalty among your customers, you’ll need to offer advantages for these maintenance tasks with exclusive promotions, something which has been proven to work very effectively.

After-sales service: find success by focusing on the customer

What it all boils down to is that you should always keep your eye firmly on the customer and tailor your work to achieve their satisfaction. Not surprisingly, it’s easy to offer this kind of attention today thanks to digitalisation and the tools this has brought with it. In this regard, RLE Iberia’s consultancy service to improve digitalisation will come in handy, as proven by the many companies who have already tried it with great success.

However, all this can only make sense if personal attention remains a priority. As such, it’s important to focus on friendliness and personalisation, two aspects that can only be achieved person-to-person, and remember that digital tools are simply there to help increase their efficiency.

No matter what, the customer must come first. The keys to this can be found in international and external communications and a methodology based on the service’s optimisation and traceability.