Spring Forward with New G2 Badges!

We are excited to release Tekmetric Multi-Shop Plan, the industry’s first multi-shop offering that gives auto repair shops the capability to access real-time data reports – from all locations – in one, central reporting suite.

Tekmetric Multi-Shop plan provides the tools shop owners need to monitor shop performance and manage processes across all locations. Through Multi-Shop, shop owners can track more than 16 reports with countless metrics in one central location.

It also enables easy, real-time analysis at all levels, including the entire organization, small groups and individual locations.

The new plan also offers a custom side-by-side analysis report, so shop owners can drive key business decisions and replicate the processes from high-performing shops throughout their organization.

Transparency within the auto repair invoice process goes a long way. Most customer will feel uncertain about approving expensive repairs if they don't truly understand the need for them. That's why it's up to your shop to foster a trusting relationship by clearly showing customers the issue, and the need for a repair.

The right invoicing system will improve your shop’s workflow, save your team time, enhance your customers’ experience, and provide you with peace of mind.

Here’s how Tekmetric’s Cloud-Based Shop Management System provides seamless shop management that leads to frictionless payment processing:

• A service advisor can create a repair order and dispatch it to a technician to run a digital vehicles inspection (DVI).
• The technician conducts the inspection.
• The service advisor sends the customer a DVI report, which will outline all the findings.
• The customer can approve or decline individual line items on the repair order directly from their smartphone.
• Once the customer finishes scrolling through the estimate, designating the jobs they approve and decline, your shop has the go-ahead to begin the repair(s).
• Once repairs are complete, there’s a digital record of exactly what the customer approved. That way, when it’s time to pay, there are no surprises.
• Once the customer pays with their preferred method, they can look back over the receipt—from their computer or smartphone—and feel confident that your shop did exactly what you said you’d do.

After a job is completed and payment is received, all the details from the invoice and repair order become part of your reports and customer history in Tekmetric.

Tekmetric’s cloud-based automotive invoice software has designed the entire process to reduce bottlenecks, build trust, and ensure that customers know exactly what to expect.

By moving smoothly from one step to the next, your team will be able to boost their efficiency, manage their workflow, and spend the extra time building rapport with customers and getting their cars back to good working order.

In today’s auto repair industry, data can play a key role in a shop’s ability to repair a vehicle more efficiently and accurately. Traditionally, repair information was documented informally, often by hand on paper. Today, this information can be captured and processed electronically, leading to a significant acceleration of the repair process – and a more positive customer experience. 

The transformative power of data extends beyond streamlining individual repairs. In fact, by strategically analyzing your shop’s data over time, you can also use the information to grow your shop. However, to maximize the impact of data, it’s important to know what kind of data is most effective to use in your shop. Some of the more evergreen data – performance over time – is useful in your long-term strategy, while others, such as real-time performance metrics, are more helpful in making short-term tweaks to promote better performance. In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can distinguish between evergreen and real-time data and where you can use both to grow your shop.

Understanding Real-Time vs. Evergreen Data

Before you can decide how to use data, it’s important to understand the difference between evergreen data and real-time data. Real-time data is live data that is available as soon as it is generated. It allows you to manage your shop and respond to situations instantaneously as they happen. On the other hand, evergreen data is used in hindsight, after a timeframe has ended. Most shops use this type of data to reflect after the repairs are complete.

Both forms of data have their uses. Real-time data allows you to respond to situations as they happen in a way that helps support your business. Evergreen data helps you track long-term trends and their effects on your shop. With Tekmetric, you can leverage both types to keep your shop running smoothly. When you leverage data strategically in all forms, you can optimize your shop’s operations and processes, create an excellent customer experience and prime your business for growth.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Real-Time Data

Real-time data enables immediate visibility into what is happening with your shop at any given time. From inventory to customer communication to repair progress, you can review different buckets within your shop and respond as the day progresses. This capability allows you to make decisions on the fly without having to wait until the end of the day, week or month to know which parts need to be ordered or how many repairs you have completed. Strategically, real-time data can be used for short-term decisions that have long-term effects, ultimately becoming an integral piece to growing the shop’s bottom line.

Examples of how you can use real-time data might include:

• Track daily progress with the shop dashboard:  Reviewing this in real-time allows you to respond to potential bottlenecks or problems that arise throughout the day. For example, if you see $15,000 in work pending approval before lunchtime, you can encourage your service writers to conduct follow-up calls to get approval and begin the work.
• Send out rainy-day coupons: Business tends to slow down on rainy days. However, if you experience this, you can respond in real-time by sending a rainy-day coupon incentivizing customers to come in for quick-turn work, like oil changes. 
• Monitor multiple shop locations with Tekmetric Multi-Shop: Multi-Shop can show you the performance of each shop at any time, from any location – so you can make decisions that support the strengths of all your locations. For example, you might move a car from a very busy, overrun location to another, slower location. Make sure you return the vehicle to the original location for easy customer pickup to maintain your customer experience. This maximizes workflow between high and low volume locations.

Analyze, Determine and Predict Trends with Evergreen Data

In addition to real-time data, you can leverage evergreen data by analyzing trends and your shop’s data for predictive forecasting. One of evergreen data’s biggest advantages is that it captures a period of time without the need for constant refreshing. This can help you review your shop’s performance over longer periods – year-over-year, month-to-month or quarterly – so you can implement long-term solutions to promote growth.

Examples of using evergreen data include:

• Create more business with declined jobs: When you want to influence cash flow for the coming weeks or months, you can follow up on previously declined jobs, such as an oil change or tire rotation. This customer-centric approach can not only build your customer relationships, but also drive business during a slow month.
• Create value with Shared Customer History: You can share your customer’s history across multiple locations, bringing extra value through this evergreen data. For example, if a customer asks when they had their last oil change, your service advisor will be able to pull that information within seconds – no matter which location the customer last visited.
• Create custom financial reports to track shop performance: Tekmetric’s financial reports give you the power and flexibility to create a report that tracks what’s important to you, without any extra noise, and make decisions based on past performance. For example, you can utilize the Time Period Configuration feature to compare data from the previous year or another custom time period, identifying bottlenecks and adjusting your strategy accordingly.
• Track month-over-month trends with comparative reporting: Pay attention to the trends that occur each month in comparison to the same time frame in previous years. This will allow you to spot trends and respond accordingly, such as preparing for a particularly busy season or implementing strategies to create more work in a slower season.

The Price of Ignoring Data

Time is money. Evergreen and real-time data allow you to manage your shop’s time and resources in the most efficient manner to generate profit while providing an excellent customer experience. To grow your shop, ensure you are using both forms of data to your advantage. Combining evergreen data’s longevity with real-time data can lead you to a multi-faceted business strategy, creating a customer-centric approach that ultimately generates more cash flow, profit and growth.