The “Meet Your Support Agent” feature provides an inside look at the SocialCRM auto repair marketing service from the support agent’s perspective. In an interview format, they share expertise, insights and best practices to help auto repair shops use digital marketing strategies to gain competitive advantage in their market. And now, we’re pleased to introduce Emily Johnson.
Emily Johnson
Tell us a little about yourself and how you joined Mitchell 1’s SocialCRM Team.
I was doing social media marketing for a small family business for my previous employer. I was looking for a new opportunity but did not want to stray too far away from what I was currently doing. I’m very passionate about helping smaller businesses and doing marketing, so when this opportunity presented itself two years ago, I had to “jump on it.”
Since SocialCRM is all about helping shops increase customer communications to build better relationships, what conversations have you had with your shops about how customer communication affects their business?
I speak about customer communication A LOT! I always explain to my shops that it’s not just about the service or repairs being done, but about establishing a relationship with their customers by being honest, friendly and likeable! You can provide great service to a new customer but it doesn’t always mean they’re going to come back. You need to connect with them on a deeper level to create a solid relationship. As a support agent, I try to do the same with my shop customers.
What are some communication methods/tools that SocialCRM uses to help a shop connect with their customers?
SocialCRM has a whole arsenal of tools to help a shop connect with its customers. There’s the service reminder e-mails, e-mail blasts and appointment reminders, but one of the newest tools SocialCRM has is automated text message communications. Text messaging is a great addition to SocialCRM and we have seen our shops have a lot of success with it.
For example, we send out appointment reminders one day before a scheduled appointment and we’re seeing that a significant amount of more customers are coming in due to the text reminder. We’re also doing a “Thank-You” text message that includes a link for the consumer to write a review. I’m seeing a lot of people are writing reviews specifically from the “Thank-You” text, which is great. Texting is proving to be very valuable tool to the shops; text messaging is definitely where it’s at!
Read more: Your Customers Want Text Messages – But Don’t Take Our Word For It