Five Simple Ways to Increase ROI on Every Lead

[Transcript from webinar with Kenect and DP360 in September of 2020]

McKay Allen:

All right, everybody, let's get started. Thanks for being on the webinar. Today, we're excited that you're here. My name is McKay Allen. I'm in the marketing department here at Kenect. On the call, we also have Trevor Allred, who's with Kenect, and then Shawn Amann, who's with DP360. The title of today's presentation is Five Simple Ways to Increase ROI on Every Lead.

McKay Allen:

So, who is Kenect? We do four things basically. We work with the powersports dealers, marine dealers, RV dealers to help them do these four things, communicate more effectively with texting, generate new leads via texting, collect payments via texting and drive online reviews with the texting process. It's a really simple platform used by thousands now of dealers across the country. DP360, Shawn, thanks for jumping on. Why don't you tell us in 30, 45 seconds a little bit about DP360.

Shawn Amann:

Yeah. Thank you for having me guys. DP360 is a CRM solution that we developed as a customizable solution to fit any industry from agricultural, powersports, RV, marine. Those are typically the verticals that we work with. In a nutshell, what we did is we had a really good system that we built about 10 years ago, RV1 system. And based on the recommendations of all of our clients, we ended up spending the last three and a half years building a new version of our software from the ground up based on those recommendations. We hit on all the points that our clients needed us to hit on like customization and integrations and being able to just make it a really easy user-friendly system that you guys can have everything consolidated in one place. That's why we developed partnerships with Kenect and all your third party lead generation providers.

McKay Allen:

Awesome. So thanks for jumping on again and thanks for that introduction. Here's what we're going to cover today, everybody. So five simple ways to increase ROI on every lead. This is really critical because we know how valuable those leads are, and you've got to make sure that you're capturing the value from each one. We were talking to an expert in the industry the other day who said that he felt like about 40% of the leads that were coming into the average dealership weren't handled appropriately, incorrectly. We're going to talk about that today as well. So these are the five items we'll cover, communicating more efficiently. I almost said effectively, but that could be true too. Collecting payments remotely, responding quickly, understanding your prospect, and staying in contact. Trevor, why don't you jump in?

Trevor Allred:

Absolutely. Thank you, McKay and Shawn. Yes, thank you for joining us today. I'm certainly excited to be here. I know every day is busy, but especially this topic, five simple ways to increase ROI on every lead, is certainly popular as evidenced by the tenant dealers that we have on this call. I'm excited to see that we're across the board in terms of geography. We're based in Utah. I'm not sure if any of you been here, but we've got a beautiful fall type day with about 75 degrees blue sky and sunshine. And so we'll take that any day of the week. But I also will confess knowing that we've got a bunch of powersport dealers on this webinar as well as some marine dealers.

Trevor Allred:

Some of you may smile when I say this. Growing up in the mountains, I think I used eight of my nine lives on a Honda trial motorcycle years ago. For those of you that sell motorcycles, thank you because I have had some and have had blast on those. And then those of you that are marine dealers, I'll confess that I'm taking off the day tomorrow to enjoy the long weekend a little early, and I'll be at the lake. So don't try to phone me, don't try to text me. I'm going to be doing some hardcore boating, all the fun. But I also wanted to just express appreciation to DP360 and their entire team, who have made this webinar possible.

Trevor Allred:

So let me jump in real quick. We're all about not only generating leads, but helping you maximize the dollars or the revenue you get from those leads. As we talk about this, this year is we all know has been absolutely interesting. Back in March, we were perhaps a bit nervous that we may not have any business at all. And then low and behold, because of the pandemic, we found is you can need to test that people began thinking, "What can I do that's fun but safe?" And so there have been record sales from manufacturers and at the dealer levels in terms of powersports and marine and RV and the list goes on. And so who would have thought six months ago that we'd be actually in a better place than we ever imagined? And so based on that, we want to talk about how do we keep that revenue machine going? And so maximizing ROI on each of your leads is certainly critical to that. We've got some great ideas. I know Shawn at DP360 has some great ideas. It all is based on super simple technology.

Trevor Allred:

And so before I dive into my couple and then we turn it over to Shawn to talk about his couple in terms of ways to maximize ROI, I just wanted to point out what McKay said, if our first bullet here on maximizing ROI off of each lead is by communicating effectively, how do we best communicate it to dealerships effectively with our customers and prospects? Well, I submit to you that text messaging is one of the great ways to do that. We all know person-to-person is effective, we all know that phone calls can be effective as well, but look at some of this data. Especially during COVID where we don't have as many face-to-face opportunities, 89% of us in North America prefer to interact initially with the business via text messaging. 98% of all text messages are opened and read within three minutes.

Trevor Allred:

For example, each of you look at your mobile phone right now. How many of you have unread text messages? Well, it's likely that none of you do or that most of you don't because we are married to our phones and we open text messages and we read them. And that is proof that the best way you can interact with your prospects and your customers is via text messaging, especially when it comes to maximizing your return on investment and maximizing revenue dollars with each lead you have. And then look at that third bullet, customers are seven times more likely to text you back rather than a voicemail. Think about that. If you're sitting at work on a busy day and you get a text from someone you care about, you're likely to respond much more so than if they'd tried to reach on the phone.

Trevor Allred:

And then lastly, we as customers now we don't want to wait on hold and we don't want to leave a voicemail. And so your customers and prospects are looking for a five star experience and that all leads to maximizing ROI on each of the leads and each of the prospects that you have. And so we've built a platform here at Kenect to help you as a dealer to not only generate a way more leads, but also maximize the ROI on those leads by simplifying and making more effective your communication with those customers and prospects. And so based on that backbone of texting, it's very easy for you to simply schedule appointments, send quick information, send targeted warranty reminders.

Trevor Allred:

That's a big one as we talk about increasing return on investment for each lead. If you can schedule or calendar a text message to go out to your customers at month 11 after they've bought a new unit with an invitation to consider an extended warranty, you can see very quickly how you are maximizing return on investment with those existing leads. Collecting payments is important, and we'll talk more about that in a second, attaching photos and invoices, generating online reviews, capturing more leads from your social media sites. So we are well-positioned to help you as dealers not only generate more leads, but really capture more revenue off of each of those leads.

Trevor Allred:

So let's talk in regard to communicating effectively with prospects and customers. Let's talk about social media. If you are looking to maximize your revenue dollar, how many of us are on social media nowadays? Well, that's an easy rhetorical question. But did you folks realize Facebook has over one billion active users? And so should you have a Facebook presence to introduce new revenue opportunities to your customers and prospects? Absolutely. And so here are a couple of examples. One of the services we provide is putting a message button or a "Text Us" button on every single page of presence you have on social media. So talk about not only increased new inbound leads, but talk about ways you can communicate additional revenue opportunities such as extended warranties or service or winterization. All of that can fall under maximizing your communication capabilities using social media.

Trevor Allred:

If that's not enough, going back to that stat I showed you earlier, 89% of us prefer text messaging, why not have a big "Text Us" button on your website staring your customers and prospects right back in the face." Again, if they're customers and they see it's that easy to text and they may need service, they click on that and text you a service opportunity. Are you maximizing your ROI on your leads? Absolutely, by communicating effectively. If you don't believe me, here's one example we grabbed. For you marine folks on this, this is cycles on the powersports side, but we have dozens of marine examples that are just the same. But we call that "Text Us" buttons on your website our widgets. I like this example because it's looking at last fall, it's not during COVID.

Trevor Allred:

A lot of us may expect that online leads go up during COVID. But look at this. This particular dealership implemented that "Text Us" button on the 22nd of September. And within one month or even five weeks, look at what happened to their inbound lead count. So is this an opportunity for you to increase your leads and then maximize your ROI on the leads because you have a "Text Us" button on your inventory pages, your service pages? The answer is you can see from this data is absolutely. And that all goes back to the fact that each of us read our text messages and we're likely to respond with even as short as three minutes.

Trevor Allred:

And so let me show you now a little more about how you can maximize ROI. So if I am a prospect or a customer and I tap on that "Text Us" button, I then have a submenu where I can direct my message to the sales department, the service department, the parts department, the camper pro shop store, or motor store, or closed store, the finance department, see how how ROI opportunities are built into this process, so I may reach out to sales, but then realize, "Oh, yeah, I want to hit the pro shop or the Harley-Davidson shop to buy a new leather jacket," and I can text very quickly and very easily the parts option, the service options. All of this is built to help you maximize your revenue with each lead you have, whether it's a customer that's coming back, or whether it's a new prospect that has found you.

Trevor Allred:

And so as I click on that button as a customer prospect, I just simply enter my name and my mobile number and my message and off it goes. And so I've talked a lot about the front end. And so obviously, the biggest part of effective communication as McKay alluded to earlier is what in the world happens on the back end? How do I as a dealer get those leads and maximize my revenue and return on investment with those? Well, as you can imagine, we have a reception mechanism at Kenect that is just like the simplicity of an email inbox. And so that email inbox can be both on mobile apps for each of your employees and on desktop apps. So that whether it's at the front desk or the service desk or the pro shop desk or the parts desk, everyone has access to those inbound leads that come in instantly. And obviously, if you can respond quickly, you're in great shape.

Trevor Allred:

And so this mobile app is great, for example, because now your employees can communicate effectively even if they're out on the lot, even if they're on the show floor, even if they're in the service bay. And so part of our service is we convert your main business telephone number to be text enabled. The reason why we do that is obviously so that we can create an inbox of all that back and forth communication between you and your employees and your prospects and customers, but also so that each of your employees can still use their personal mobile phones but don't have to give out their personal cell phone numbers, because instead, they are sending, receiving messages via our app over your main business phone number.

Trevor Allred:

And so this now adds to even more ROI opportunities. Because now let's say I'm a sales person and I get a new inbound lead asking for model X, Y, Z, I can say, "You bet, we have it in stock. Here's a picture of it, here's our MSRP." And I'll tell you what, "If you come in before 6:00 tonight, we can talk about some discounts and some add-ons." And so the mobile app, the concept behind texting, the very easy to manage inbox, all lead to more leads and maximizing your revenue on those leads.

Trevor Allred:

Here's an example of the inbox on a desktop version where just like an email inbox, the left-hand column is who that message is from. You'll notice a couple of raw phone numbers there that indicates new inbound leads right off your website. The middle column is a time and date stamp and a subject line. The far column is who that message is directed to. And at the dealership, I can easily assign those messages to either other individuals or to other teams or departments. And then on the far right-hand side is a record of that two-way text messaging communication so that you can capture it and build upon it and upsell on it. Anyway, lots of power there and effectively communicating to generate more ROI for each lead you have.

Trevor Allred:

Now, let's talk quickly about collecting payments remotely. Here's what we mean by that. With text messaging, using those same advantages we've talked about, you now as a dealership are empowered to not just collect payments, but deposits. Not just on the sales side, but on the service side. The neat thing about this is it then enables you, the dealership, to offer more after-hour pickups and remote drop-offs. So does your ROI increase? Absolutely. Do your new opportunities even increase along with it? Absolutely. Bullet number four, it increases your over-phone sales and curb-side pickup. You get paid faster, you get next day funding. We use a national payments partner that offers 100% secure and PCI compliance solution.

Trevor Allred:

And so look how easy it is for you as a dealer to collect payments remotely to build on your ROI. You simply click the payments icon in Kenect, you enter the amount and the invoice number. Then on the customer side, they get a text message with a link to a secure payment platform where they complete the transaction and it is done. How easy is that? How effective is that? If you're going to generate more ROI for each lead, then make it super easy for them to transact with you. Number one, for your benefits, the number two, they're going to come back to you time and time again because they're receiving a white glove, five star customer experience. And the neat thing about Kenect is we then track all of that from an overview standpoint and an individual transaction standpoint so that you at the dealership know instantly all of the remote payment activity that is going on via text messaging.

Trevor Allred:

We're not just stuck there. We now give you the texts to pay, the virtual terminals, the contactless payment solution, hosted eCommerce pages, countertop terminals, and the list goes on. In terms of increasing your ROI can also mean reducing your expenses and increasing the margin on the services you already have. And so we invite you to seriously consider working through us on payment collection remotely and we can even save you money, which is going to build upon your ROI. And what's the bottom line? Using text messaging to capitalize on your ROI and to maximize it, it's going to reduce unnecessary call traffic and voicemails, it's going to save time per day, per person in your parts and service department, you'll get an increase in new leads and online reviews. In regard to that payment, note that 48 hours you're getting your 60% of payment requests via text messaging. That is amazing.

Trevor Allred:

And then on the upside, who doesn't want an increase in units sold even 6% per year? If you're moving even just 100 units a year, 6% is 6 more units, let's say the average price is 10 grand, just for my easy math, you're looking at $60,000 in additional revenue. And then if you can use these two angles that I've mentioned, effectively communicating and collecting payments remotely, you're going to boost the ROI on that 6% increase in the units sold. So a lot of exciting stuff, it's a perfect time to use this, it is super easy, it's using simple technology that you are all using already anyway. But we want to maximize your leads and we want to maximize your return on investment for each of those leads. McKay, back to you.

McKay Allen:

Awesome. Trevor, that's great stuff. Let's talk a little bit now... Shawn, I think this is where you step in here. But let's talk a little bit about responding quickly because like I was saying before, I think there's a lot of leads that are not captured and handled effectively because people don't respond to them. Maybe they're too busy, we hear that a lot. One of the things I will say with texting too, Shawn, as you're sharing your screen here is one of the things that our customers love is they allow their sales guys to have the Kenect mobile app. And so if they're out on a show floor or out in a lot and they've got the app on their phone, they can literally respond to texts directly from their mobile phone, their personal device, but not with their personal number because those texts come into that texting inbox and they're able to reply to those. So I think responding quickly is critical here, Shawn. Why don't you go ahead?

Shawn Amann:

Yeah. Definitely responding quickly is super important. Time definitely kills deals. Over 60% of all prospects buy from the first dealership that makes contact. Think about that for a second, 60% of all prospects buy from the first dealership that makes contact. What that means for you guys is if you're out on the floor and you're super busy and you do get that inbound lead or that text message comes through, most of my clients will set up a different ringtone than the ringtone that they use for friends and family. As soon as they get that in, they know that right then and there, that's a money call and they need to respond to that quickly. So being able to organize your guys's leads and being able to respond to them quickly is going to right out of the gate help you guys close more leads efficiently.

Shawn Amann:

What I do want to talk about and I want to jump into this here is how much do we spend on each lead? Because we are paying for websites, we're paying for the cycle traders and the RV traders, the boat traders, Craigslist, social media, all these things are very expensive. They're expensive, but they're necessary. We have to get our name and brand out there. So you guys are paying a lot of money for each lead. Now, the unfortunate thing is less than 10% of all leads result in revenue. Now, there are a lot of reasons that this happens, but every single one of them is preventable. The biggest killer we just talked about is response time.

Shawn Amann:

So what we're going to do is we're going to jump into this and we're gonna talk about how to fix those problems, response time, understanding what your prospect's needs are and staying in contact. And the best way we can do that is I'm going to jump right into my demo site here, and we're going to address the response time really fast. So the way this will work is whether you get a lead that comes in from Kenect, or it comes in from your website, or it comes in from cycle trader, it doesn't matter, any lead that comes in from the internet, the second that lead comes in, we're going to grab that lead. We're going to automatically assign it to a member of your sales team in the exact same way you do it. Now, we'll just automate that process. Now, whatever proven sales solution you guys have in play, we're going to automatically drop that into the sales person's workload, so they're following up with those leads exactly how you need them to follow-up with those people.

Shawn Amann:

On the other side of things, they're going to get an autoresponder email saying... And it's a very personalized email. It's not one of those generic, "Hey, Mr. Customer, please delete me." It's, "Hey, Tim, thanks for taking a look at this street guide. It's an awesome bike. Expect a call from us in X, Y, Z, or feel free to reach out any time." But the name of the game, it's going to be any verbiage you want. But the name of the game is getting in front of these people quick. Now, when you accompany that, all those things happening and then you start adding text messages and these text notifications, your response time is going to increase by 80% because you don't have to keep looking at an email, you don't have to keep pulling up a CRM, you don't have to go a million different directions to find out when these leads come in.

Shawn Amann:

So that's how we bridge that gap. And then from there, you then just come in, click on these unworked leads, and it's going to give you a list of all those people that came in from your website, because what those unworked leads are, that's a bucket that's telling you all those things have happened, but your sales person hasn't actually made that phone call yet. So it's a really easy way to keep all that information consolidated. The other thing that I want to talk about is understanding what your prospect needs. With every lead that comes in, even if they buy somewhere else, there's still a customer that needs parts, service, merchandise. We always have that opportunity to really create that lifelong customer.

Shawn Amann:

And we're going to do that utilizing a tag system. So what tags are going to do is they're going to allow you to separate your customers into very specific file folders, which is going to allow you guys to market to them in very different ways. So if we come in here and we build a tag for service, so let's say somebody already bought something and now they're going to be a service client, or maybe we want to create a tag... so, want to create that service tag and we're going to make that available to everybody. Well, once that tag is created, now, as soon as we tag somebody with that service tag, these auto responders are going to automatically reach out to them and advertise to them in the way that you guys need to, but it's going to happen on its own. The system's going to do it for you guys. That way, you're not having to take the time to constantly write out these emails every month. You're going to have a system that's going to do that automatically.

Shawn Amann:

That's the same thing if somebody buys from you guys, or if somebody purchased elsewhere, as soon as you created that tag for purchase elsewhere, the system is going to automatically send them out an email about merchandise. And then maybe three months later, it'll send them out an email about service or weatherization. And then after about three years of this, it'll send them out an email, "Hey, do you know your units at peak trading value? Why don't you come in and check out our stock?" So being able to always be in contact with your clients is going to be the best way to really develop that relationship for the rest of the life of that client in their writing situation. With understanding your prospects and knowing how to always make them a customer is going to be the best way to do that. It's not always just about selling that specific unit.

Shawn Amann:

And here's where the organization and the texting and the follow-ups really come into play is because a lot of times as a sales person, we get that new lead in, we make a call, we talk, we have a good conversation. Maybe we can't get ahold of them the next day. And then we get another new lead in, and we completely forget about that guy because we're super excited with the new lead that we got. That's a huge issue that kills a lot of deals. Because with follow-up plans now, we can come in and create very specific templates on how you guys want your salespeople to follow-up with people. So let's say this is a web lead, and then you want them to make a intro call, and you want it to be phone call out, and you want it to be just that first day. So you want it to be that first day. And then the next day, you want it to be... Let's say this is another phone call out, and you want it to be so on and so on.

Shawn Amann:

You can build these follow-up plans out for as long as you want. So when that client does come in and they get that phone lead, all they're going to have to do is come in and add that follow-up plan so that when they're entering these events, it's going to be templated out to do exactly how you guys want them to follow-up. So these couple of ways are really going to be a deal changer for you guys, being able to take all this information, organize it, create these follow-up plans and realize that every customer is going to be a sale, whether it's service parts, merchandise, or a new unit.

Shawn Amann:

And then the last thing I really want to talk about is staying in contact, never letting anything slip through the cracks again, keeping all conversations in one place. I want to show you what that looks like. Because whether you're using Kenect and that text message comes in, or it's via email, or a phone call, we pull this guy up real fast, you're going to be able to organize everything in one spot. When we're looking at this contact here, you're going to see what step of the sale they're in, you're going to be able to see what vehicle they're interested in, the history you're going to be able to come in here, you're going to see all the emails that came in, go back and reread those. If you're using Kenect and they are sending text messages, we're going to import all of that into the system so you're going to be able to come back and reread all of those text messages.

Shawn Amann:

You're not going to have to go to a million different platforms now in order to find the information that you guys need to find. And that's really the key to this entire game is being able to respond quickly, having those things in play so that you're getting those notifications, understanding your prospect, that way you're not trying to sell a bike when they bought something else. Now, you can focus on parts, services, merchandise and never letting anything go. Every prospect that you guys got in the system is people that you paid money for. So let's constantly market to them based on what their needs are at that moment. And always stay in contact. Always have a follow-up plan, always have a way in the future to text them and be able to find all that information quickly. And that's what really DP360 has done quite well as being able to take all these other third parties like Kenect integrated into the system, create one platform for all of your needs, that way you can just streamline and go through your day super easy. McKay, do you have any questions for me about the system?

McKay Allen:

Here's a question for you. This is one that's coming through is how quickly should people... or do you have an exact or an ideal... that's the word I'm looking for, ideal timeframe for when someone should respond to a lead? If it goes more than an hour, if it goes more than 30 minutes, it's cool. Because I think what people sometimes don't understand is that they're not necessarily devoted to you as a dealership, they just want a product, they want a thing. And if you don't respond to them, they'll find somebody who will, is my experience.

Shawn Amann:

That's exactly right. So if they find you online, you're not the only person they're shopping. They're shopping everybody. To touch base on time kills deals, it is because 60% of prospects will go to the first dealership that made that contact. So that's why we have these vendor rules set up to where it's automatically assigning to the sales person. It's sending a personalized email to that prospect, but keep in mind that email is only designed to plant the seed. Your sales person is going to actually have to make that phone call to develop that rapport to get them to buy from you. And as far as response time goes, as quickly as you can.

Shawn Amann:

And if you come into the reporting system and you to the web lead response, what this is going to do is this is going to have a list of all your salespeople and it's going to tell you how quickly they're responding to those leads. Typically, that 5 to 10 minutes, that's fire, that's your money right there. 15 to 20, you're starting to get cold. If you have a sales person that's taking them an hour to respond, you probably got maybe less than a 10% chance of actually getting that prospect into your dealership. So this reporting right here is going to give you a really, really good heads up on which of your sales people are hungry in your sales team and it's going to show you those response times so that you can tailor that team who is getting those inbound leads to the people that are hungry for it. Does that answer that question?

McKay Allen:

Yeah, that does. That's a great answer. I also think too one thing that we actually just got a notification on internally at Kenect last night, our head of product sent over a note to all the employees saying, "Hey, we just added a feature in Kenect that essentially will notify the anybody you want within the Kenect platform when a lead has not been followed up on within X amount of time and that's totally customizable." So you can say, "Look, I'm the general manager, I'm the owner. I want to get an email or a text message that tells me, 'Hey, there's a lead that's been in our system for 30 minutes and no one responded to it.'"

McKay Allen:

That's a super valuable feature that I think is often overlooked because you guys as leaders in your organization want to know, "Okay, guys, we had four leads today that took longer than 30 minutes to follow-up on." If you lose two of those, that can be a lot of revenue. So I think that's a really critical function and feature as well. Trevor, anything to add to that? Why don't we jump back into your presentation and anything to add to that either, Shawn or Trevor?

Shawn Amann:

Yeah. Actually, what you said just hit the nail on the head. One thing to focus on too is we get so tunnel vision into thinking that a sale is only a sale of a unit, so whether it's a boat, or a bike, or an RV, a truck or whatever the case may be. And we forget that when somebody is buying that unit from you, you're developing a rapport, and through these follow-ups, a quick text message every once in a while after they purchase is going to keep that rapport built up, and now you're going to get revenue for life from that person because they are going to be a loyal customer, Loyalty in this industry goes a long way. So utilizing those text messages and those quick responses is really going to help not just make that sale now, but keep them in your database as long as they're doing business.

Trevor Allred:

Great. So I just want to jump into both we here at Kenect and Shawn and his team at DP360 partner with Dealer Spike. And I know a lot of you dealers work with them as well. It's not crucial. The bottom line is that they're very on top of that response time data. And their statistic that I'd love to pass on is a lead it's seven times more likely to close if followed up within 60 minutes. And so when you go to that DP follow-up plan where you can specify the time, and as McKay mentioned in Kenect, the lead responder, automatic notifications, we're just simply trying to make it very easy for you as dealers to without even having to think about it, make sure that you're following up within that one hour critical timeframe where deals are seven times more likely to close.

Trevor Allred:

And keep in mind, that's not just for new sales, but as the whole topic of this webinar is, it's about maximizing ROI on even leads you already have. So it may be a response on a sales opportunity, or a service opportunity, or an extended warranty upsell, or a closing, or pro shop sale and things of that nature. So, very good information, very good data. And then again, the idea behind this webinar has been to provide you some very simple tools to make it happen even while you're sleeping and even if you're not paying attention.

Trevor Allred:

And so, McKay, as we round up, just a reminder, here are five simple things each of us can do to increase ROI, communicate more efficiently, collect payments remotely, respond quickly, understand your prospects, and stay in contact. From my standpoint, some great information here to help each of us after a record summer to still be able to really hit at home and capture on additional revenue opportunities, especially during the fall that can come from winterization and service and extended warranty upsells and the list goes on and on.

McKay Allen:

That's great, Trevor. So let's do this, everybody. Let's jump into questions. First question coming through, Trevor, this one's for you. Talk to us about the service department. A lot of dealers sold more units this summer than they've ever sold before. It was a good year at the very least. The thing that's interesting is it could be to new buyers, maybe people who haven't owned a bike before, or owned a boat before, which means you're going to need to give them some service help to potentially winterize or fix something they've broken as the fall goes on. Any guidance or any help, the text messaging and providing a service context?

Trevor Allred:

That is a great question. Thank you for asking that. As you can imagine, the answer is pretty obviously yes, but let me tell you how and why. And so let's use an example. Let's say that all of you dealers on this call have now switched roles and you're a customer to me and I'm your dealer. And so, for example, you come in with your boat, in this instance, because I pulled up a photo of one, but it could be a powersports unit or whatnot, and you need some service. Well, while it's in my shop, let's say I'm the service manager and I notice there's an engine oil leak, using these simple tools and these simple approaches to maximize return on investment, I can, for example, take a picture of that engine oil leak.

Trevor Allred:

And now, remember, all of you dealers on this call, you're the owners and let's say you're at work that day, you're even in a board meeting, for heaven sakes. But you, like everyone else, are hiding your phone under the table and you're still seeing text messages and responding. And all of a sudden a text message from me, your service manager of the dealership pops up and I say, "Hey, McKay. We're working on your boat. I noticed an engine oil leak. Here's a picture of it. We noticed that a $80 seal will fix that for you. Here's a picture of the seal. Can we take care of that for you? And it'll still be ready for your pickup today at 5:00."

Trevor Allred:

Okay. At that point, to things happen. Number one, how do you feel each of you on this call as my customer? Are you impressed with the way that I reached out to you? Well, feel a little pressure to say absolutely because I reached you even while you're sitting at work, even while you're sitting in a board meeting, even while you're hiding your phone under the table, heaven forbid. You're going to see that picture in that message, you're going to read it, and you're likely to respond within minutes to say, "Sure, Trevor. Go ahead. I'll see at five o'clock."

Trevor Allred:

On the other side, how do I feel right about now as a service manager at your dealership? Well, I'm pretty fired up. Why? Because I just got confirmation in writing to proceed with the service order. And not that I intended it, but I have now sold additional service and an $80 part just because I was able to communicate very quickly and efficiently in a way that my customers, each of you, as owners of units, want me to communicate you with. So how's that, McKay, for an answer? Does it help on the service side? Absolutely. Does it help on selling additional parts and additional services that may be needed? Absolutely.

McKay Allen:

Awesome. Hey, Shawn, one for you here. Talk to us about the types of customers DP360 has. Is there something you're looking for in dealership for them to become a customer of you guys? Is it like a certain size, a certain number of sellers? What is your sweet spot in terms of the types of dealers you guys are best equipped to deal with and work with?

Shawn Amann:

Yeah, that's a great question. To be honest, any dealership is going to work for us. One of the biggest things that we did when we designed the system in the last four years is we understand no two dealerships are the same. So we didn't just create a canned system that we're going to hand to people in a box and say, "Here it is, make it work." Instead, what we do during the onboarding process is we take the time to get to know you. We have a very guided conversation. We've been doing this a long time. So we know what questions to ask. We learn about your business model, your practices, how you guys operate, and then we design the system based on that conversation that we have with you.

Shawn Amann:

And then on the other side of things, we have got over 1,500 clients across the US and Canada, and we see what's really working for them. So we also take a very consultative approach where we say, "Hey, in this industry, this is what we're seeing good. Do you guys want to try that?" And then when you say, "Yes, let's give that a shot," we will make those little tweaks and adjustments. So the outcome's going to be the same results, but it's tweaked to actually fit your business model. We don't really have a one-size-fits-all. We're not like a dealer socket or eLeads where we're specific automotive. We decided that the marine industry, the RV industry, all of them need to be able to have a customizable system fit each and every single one of their needs.

McKay Allen:

That's great. All right. Trevor, a couple for you here. These are actually really specific. Trend has a really good one here. He says, "Text messaging is no question becoming more prominent in the industry. How relaxed should our text messages be written?" I like that. "Should it be written properly?" I'm assuming he means with like sentences and punctuation, or perhaps do you text the way that you would text your 14-year-old daughter or son? So that's a good question. How informal, how chatty, how conversational should the text messages be? Any recommendations there?

Trevor Allred:

Well, I'll report that we have very detailed analytics on that exact topic. Just kidding, we don't. My recommendation would be in that communication is meant to be personal. Communicate in the same way you normally do. If you are used to being jovial and a bit casual and a bit informal, then use text messaging in that same shape, way, and form. But I think most of us know that text messaging, in general, it has already been adopted as a casual method for communication. And so that means as long as you are getting the information to them, I'm sure there's not necessarily an expectation level that will be super formal.

Trevor Allred:

However, I do know that in Kenect, we do have a footer capability where you can put a signature line that does have your name and the logo of your dealership and a phone number and an email, which adds a bit formality and a bit easy way to get you back type communication method to whatever you're texting in the first place. So I guess my answer is do what is you and text messaging is already assumed by all of us here in North America as a casual way to interact anyway. If you found a bit more casual works, great. If you found a bit more formal with a signature line works, then great. Do what's going to boost at most for you. But I'd say statistically, it's probably 50/50 in both of those.

McKay Allen:

That's great. Good answer. All right. One more question then we'll be done and go to you both for final thought. Good question from David here. He says, "How secure is text messaging? Are people really going to put their card information in to pay? Before Trevor answers that, I'll just say, look, we're completely PCI compliant. We work with the largest card processor in North America, which I assume is one of the largest in the world, that everything that we do payments-wise sits on the back end of. It's really enterprise grade secure. Trevor, I don't know if you have anything to add to that.

Trevor Allred:

We too, we work with over 2,200 dealers, and so we absolutely have to be secure and we absolutely have to be compliant. That's why we went with the National Payments Processor. And so it absolutely guaranteed the benefits are huge as you can imagine. But good question. You're safe and you're in good shape. We track monthly transactions. And so it is secure and it is compliant.

McKay Allen:

Great. All right, let's go to each of you guys for final thoughts here. Shawn, any final thoughts for everybody on increasing the ROI from every lead? I think we've given people a lot of good things to think about, but any final thoughts from you?

Shawn Amann:

One of the most important things as organization it's having the texting service, and that's really why we developed this integration with Kenect because text messaging is so important. We understand that people don't always respond to phone calls, they don't always respond to emails. And texting is becoming, like you guys said, more prominent way of communicating. But you still do have those people that want an email, that are old-school, or want that phone call. So being able to consolidate everything into one spot is really important. And having those follow-up plans and these procedures in place in order to create that customer for life and to be able to communicate to them forever, it needs to be all encompassing, it can't be just one thing or the other that creates success.

McKay Allen:

Great point. Shawn, thank you very much again. Trevor, final thoughts from you.

Trevor Allred:

My final thought is we're all about how do we make it super, super easy. Hopefully, you've seen in this webinar how it is so easy to use text messaging on your own personal cell phone just like you always have that now have a method via Kenect to put it on steroids, so to speak, and to be able to with a touch of a button capitalize on not just leads, but customers who are coming back, that you can generate more revenue on. And so keep in mind, the ideas are great, but probably more important for each of you as dealers is the fact that it can be super, super, super easy.

Trevor Allred:

And let me just throw out my best wishes to all of you as dealers. I know it's been a roller coaster of a year, but our intent is for nothing but success for all of you in each endeavor of your business, and certainly a well-wishing for good physical health along the way. As we see that pandemic ebb and flow, our thoughts of course are with each of you and hoping that you and your families are healthy and hoping that your business is healthy as well because we're a fellow small business just like you are.

McKay Allen:

Awesome. Trevor, Shawn, great job guys. Thanks for taking the time and taking the time out of your day. And everybody, thanks for jumping on the call. We had a really good interactive group and that makes it easier for us and more fun than if everybody just sits there and doesn't ask any questions. So thanks for asking questions and thanks for jumping in everybody. Have a great week.