Propelled by the merger with CAR-Research XRM earlier this year that brought 20 years of call center experience, AutoLoop introduced Engage — a solution geared to gather customers and increase sales and service profitability for dealers.

Among the five capabilities AutoLoop highlighted this week, officials explained the Engage call center solution can deliver dealers the following benefits:

— Increase sales and service appointments: Engage agents can respond to Internet leads, mine CRMs for inactive leads and set sales and service appointments. In dealerships that retain Engage for their service departments, the company insisted agents have increased service appointment volume by an average 10 to 30 percent, resulting in a larger average repair order (RO) total overall.

— Turn unsold customers into be-backs: On average, AutoLoop calculated that 80 percent of all showroom ups leave a dealership without purchasing. Engage associates can make multiple follow-up attempts and connect with 60 to 70 percent of these unsold customers within a critical two to 24 hour time period–before they’ve had time to buy from another dealership. This follow-up can result in increased be-back and closing ratios.

— Discover process breakdowns: AutoLoop pointed out Engage agents are trained to ask customers about the road to the sale (RTS) process in order to discover if and where breakdowns occurred. The company believes customers often had a positive experience at a dealership but don’t share their issues while at the dealership and won't tell the salesperson if they call. The company emphasized Engage agents can find the truth, resulting in more be-backs and more sales.

— Identify best ad sources: Engage agents can ask every unsold customer which ad was most prominent in their decision to visit, resulting in the industry's most accurate ad sourcing available. Dealers can receive information about which ads, online and offline, are working for them so they can save in their overall ad spend.

— Increase customer satisfaction and dealership CSI scores: Engage agents can report customer issues from both sales and service to dealers so they can be quickly resolved, increasing customer satisfaction and boosting automaker CSI scores. U.S.-based call center associates can ensure that the customer experience is seamless and there won’t be any language barriers.

“Data collected from the thousands of customers we have spoken with shows that dealerships often answer only one of six incoming sales and service calls properly, and that in service departments more than 70 percent of inbound calls can go to voicemail or result in customer hang-ups from long holds,” said Keith Shetterly, vice president of AutoLoop Engage. “

“Capturing and engaging these missed opportunities is critical for dealerships to stay competitive and build customer loyalty. That’s why we named the product Engage,” Shetterly continued.

Shetterly went on to mention agents undergo rigorous training in AutoLoop's Adept Agent program and are continually focused on getting the best results for dealer clients. They engage with customers to increase sales and improve dealership CSI.

"Because we are a third-party service, customers are more comfortable opening up to us, and our agents get to know the 'true voice' of the customer,” Shetterly said. “We find out the real reasons why the customer didn't buy, gather valuable CSI information, and drive a significant percentage of customers back to the dealership.

“Over time our unmatched customer engagement results in improved processes, better customer retention, and increased profitability,” he added.

AutoLoop Engage is CRM-agnostic and available to dealers using virtually any CRM System. Engage is available immediately to dealerships in the U.S.

For more information, visit http://www.AutoLoop.com.