Aftermarket September 2022

22 AFTERMARKET SEPTEMBER 2022 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net payments have been taken and what is still owed, delivering all-important transparency and building trust. It might sound simple, but this is an easy way for garages to impress customers, by offering an experience that rivals the dealerships’ and that encourages drivers to come back again and again. Inventory management and orders: CarSys can help garages manage their stock in the most efficient way, providing a real-time overview of stock levels for accurate re-ordering, meaning they only ever have essential stock on the shelf. When it comes to ordering the parts themselves, using CarSys provides integrated access to the market-leading LKQ Euro Car Parts catalogue and online ordering platform. This gives them access to exclusive deals and promotions, as well as priority service, which ensures that all Omnipart deliveries are first on the van from the nearest branch. This functionality is more important than ever in the current economic climate. Easy onboarding: From day one, the in-house CarSys support team will support garages with their GMS journey. With access to full, bespoke training and consultation, users can get to grips with the system and have it configured to meet the specific needs of their garage. Unlimited ongoing support is available for garages until they are totally comfortable with the platform and achieving the engagement levels they want from it. As the aftermarket evolves, it is key that technicians and garage owners change with it – and those with tools such as GMS at their fingertips are at an instant advantage. Testimonial: Atlanta Garage Atlanta Garage is a family-run workshop based in Portsmouth, offering a full range of MOT, diagnostic and repair services. Since April, the team has used CarSys to drive a series of efficiencies across the workshop. Nik Buck explained: “We use CarSys for so many things day-to-day – everything from bookings, allocating and prioritising jobs, and tracking accounts. For us, it has really helped to streamline our work. Our team has expanded from two to five in the last few months, so keeping track of where everyone is up to, and what they’d be working on a particular day has helped us to stay organised as we grow. We use it for managing our finances. It helps us track profit and loss, and we use it to prepare customer invoices. This also helps to drive cost savings, as we no longer need to rely on an external bookkeeper for support. Instead, all of the information we need is at our fingertips. “Most of all, CarSys helps to support our customer experience. The ability to share booking reminders for servicing and MOTs is helping us to generate more business than ever before. When customers arrive at the garage, the process of checking them in is completely seamless. A great feature for us is the ability to leave notes on a customer file, which means that even if someone else served them on their last visit we can handle any queries up front. It also helps to support upselling. If we left an advisory message after their last service, for example, we can remind them and explain why it would be beneficial to invest in a new part.” Nik added: “Moving forward, we’ll also be tapping into some of the additional functionality that CarSys offers, such as running reports and analysing servicing trends. We’d really encourage every garage to invest in CarSys if they can. It’s been a fantastic tool for us already, and we know it will help us make even more improvements over the coming weeks and months.” Top notch business management and customer service are as crucial to ensuring existing customers keep coming back as they are to bringing in new ones ” Below: Atlanta Garage