How to Communicate With Customers When Inventory is an Issue

Today we're going to take probably about 30 minutes and share with you some research that we've conducted around how dealers are communicating with customers. And then also let you know what we are hearing on the inventory front from experts, OEMs and dealers. So, thanks for jumping on with us today. We'll take probably four or five minutes right now just to tell you a little bit about Kenect so you know who we are and what we do, and then we'll dive into the presentation itself. We encourage you to ask questions as we go, so please go to the little question dropdown. We'd love to have you ask any questions at all; anything you're seeing, any comments, questions about whatever. So, let's dive in.

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Who is Kenect?

First of all, who is Kenect? We are a text messaging platform based outside of Salt Lake City. We work with about thousands of dealers. So, essentially what we do is we make your main number a textable line. This allows you to keep your same phone number, to continue to make and receive phone calls to and from that number, but also to send and receive text messages to and from that number as well. So we were founded by dealers, built for dealers. So, essentially this allows you to send texts and receive texts from your main number by logging into Kenect. This allows you to communicate more efficiently, allows you to generate new leads because we put a Text Us button on your website. Also, collect payments via text messaging, which is something that all dealers right now are loving. And then drive online reviews as well.

Your customers prefer texting. So, 89% of consumers would prefer to interact with a business with a text message. 98% of all text messages are opened. Customers are more likely to text back than they are to call back after receiving the voicemail. Here's the bottom line; I'll just sum up these stats with a couple of points. Look, texting is the way people communicate today. It's simply the way people want to communicate with a business. It's that simple. So, it's the way they talk to one another, it's the way we all talk to one another. I would even bet half of you are texting somebody right now. Now, you're probably not making a phone call because that's more challenging, right? You got to step out of a room or can't do that in a meeting. That's the benefit of texting, is the days of phone tag are over.

People can read text wherever they are, they can respond to text messages. And it's a really powerful and significant way to make sure people are receiving their communication. So, don't view this as like something that only young people are doing. This is the way people communicate today. So, make sure your dealership is allowing customers to communicate the way they want to communicate. All right. Top eight ways... or seven ways equipment dealers are using Kenect. You can schedule appointments, send automated reminders and scheduled reminders. You can send warranty reminders, collect payments via text, attach and send invoices, photos, videos, PDFs, DocuSigns. Generate online reviews, capture leads.

Inventory

All right, let's talk inventory. So, 2021 so far. We did a webinar with Kim Rominger, who's the president and CEO of the Equipment Dealers Association. He had some really good insight. I'll repeat some of those here, but I want to give Kim credit. Look, as you know, it's been a challenge. This challenge has been universal in the dealer world. Automotive equipment, power sports, whatever it is, it's a challenge right now. Status today, it seems that there is some loosening up that we're hearing about from OEMs and from people like Kim, that he's starting to hear of things loosening slightly. And that's a good sign for six to eight months from now. I don't know if you're seeing the same thing at your dealership, but OEMs used to... I mean, we're talking six weeks ago. We've heard from our dealers. Weren't even giving them dates when things could be delivered. They're now hearing at least dates. And they're hearing that things are going to get back to normal relatively soon.

We're also seeing this in parts. You're probably seeing the same thing. Parts availability is not a magic area of inventory that's not impacted, so it's impacted as well and is really important. There is some slight difference based on manufacturer. It seems type of equipment; OPE versus heavy equipment, et cetera. So, this is not as pronounced as you may think but there is a slight difference here. Bottom line is, as you know, it's not good right now. We do expect, however, that within six to eight months, this is... I don't want to say back to normal, but kind of back to normal. So make sure that you realize... don't panic. This is a short term problem. I do think that this is going to bode very well for the next two to three years, where you have a situation where there's going to be a ton of pent up demand.

So, our data's showing this as well. The number of inbound text messages and leads that our dealers are getting has gone from 40 a month to 56 per month inbound text messages. That's just one aspect of Kenect, of course, but it does show some directional guidance on demand and what that's going to look like. So, there is going to be pent up demand after this. The perception is that price is very high and that no one has inventory, and so therefore people who want something or who think they might want to buy something are going to wait a year or two to do that. So, you're going to see, I think, demand increase and continue to stay high. The other thing I would suggest here is don't make long-term decisions based on a short-term problem. There's no need to drastically alter the way you do business or something simply because of this inventory issue; that would impact your business long-term. This is a short-term problem that will go away within six to eight months, per what Kim and others in the industry are telling us.

Communication

Okay, let's talk about communication. So, one of the discussions we got into with Kim on this webinar earlier in the week was he said the most important aspect of all of this might just be customer communication. It might just be the ability to... for the dealers that win through this are going to be the dealers that win the customer communication battle, and that communicate proactively and efficiently. So, let's talk about that and some really specific ways here. So, first thing I wanted to hit on is over-communication. Now, here's what I mean. You might think it's bugging your customer to give them weekly updates on the status of the unit they ordered. It's not. In fact, that's probably not enough. You might want to send them a Tuesday update and a Friday update. "Hey, we heard this. We got this email." Over-communicate right now. Now, that's difficult with a phone call because it takes a ton of time, you might not reach them, they might not reach you. It's kind of awkward to call somebody and just give them random information. It's not awkward to do that with a text. So, this is one area I think where texting's huge. Over-communicate with stuff like this.

I'll give you an example. So I, three weeks ago, maybe four, crashed my truck, which was really not great. So I drove a 2014 F-150, got hit, got T-boned going through an intersection. Was not my fault, for the record, and totaled it. So, I've been in the market for a new vehicle. Well, it's the worst time ever to buy a new truck, as you all know. And so, I called multiple dealerships trying to figure out what they had, finally found something I was interested in. And they said it'd be ready in about four weeks. Called another dealership. They said the same thing. So, the thing that's interesting with that is dealership A has been messaging me, texting me, about twice a week with updates like, "Okay, we heard from GM. This is the status. We heard from this. This is where it is in the process." The other dealership, never heard a word. Not a word. Which dealership do you think got my business? Which dealership do you think I said, "Hey, you can keep my deposit," and the other dealership I said, "Hey, I want my deposit back."

It's the one who was proactive and over-communicated. That's the one I ended up buying my truck from that I picked up yesterday. So point is, you've got to over-communicate. I can tell you from the consumer side that I'd just experienced. The dealers that were proactive were the ones that I wanted to talk to because I knew they were going to take care of me. So, over-communicate. Over-communicate. Be proactive kind of dovetails on this. But this also I think is part of the service side and parts side, not just the sales side. But let me say it this way. Your customer should never have to... especially right now with inventory being a challenge. Should never have to call you or text you and ask, "Hey, what's the status on this? Is it fixed? When will it be done? What's the status? Is it going to be late? When am I going to get my new..." They should never have to do that. You should be the one reaching out to them. If they're the one reaching out to you asking that questions, that means you haven't communicated well enough.

So, be proactive and communicate with them. If there's a delay on a part that you thought you were going to get that you didn't, tell them. Don't make them text in or call in and have to find that out. That's how you get ticked off customers. If you're proactive, you're going to be just fine. So, be proactive with this stuff. I'm consistently amazed when we look through text messages that dealers get; probably half of them are from people saying, "Hey, what's the status with this? Is it fixed? You said that part was delayed. When will it be in? Have you heard?" Don't ever let that happen. Always be proactive and be reaching out and making sure that they're the ones who are hearing from you, not the other way around. I think that's really critically important.

Ken asked a really good question. What should we communicate to the customer when we're not hearing from the manufacturer? Should we text them every week stating we still don't know? Yes. Totally, Ken. That's a great question because I know that's the situation y'all are in, but yes, that's precisely what I would do, Ken, honestly. I would text them like, "Hey, we haven't heard anything from the manufacturer. We're emailing them every single week to hear." Just make sure they know that you're on their side and that you're trying to help. So, 100% you should do that because otherwise they're going to text you and ask the same question. You're going to have to give the same answer anyway, so you might as well be proactive with it. Good. That's a great question, though. So, I'm not trying to downplay that question because I think that's the question people are asking.

Ideas for better communication

All right. I want to dive into some specific ideas around communication here. I would reach out, I would text everyone. Not in a mass text. We don't even allow you to do the mass texting. Just one-to-one texting. I would reach out to everyone who's bought from you in the last three to four years and ask them how they're doing, ask them if they're trying to buy something new, let them know about your inventory situation. And let them know, "Look, we can order stuff right now. If you have a need in the next six to eight months, let's get it ordered." I would be very proactive with this and reach out to everybody who's a customer or prospective customer directly, and say, "Look, we have inventory challenges but we want to know what to start working on with the manufacturer, with you, for you. So, please tell us what you need over the next six to eight months, if anything, and we'll make sure you can get it."

I would be really proactive and do that. That's going to do a couple of things. Number one is it's going to make your customers feel like they're really important because you're proactively reaching out. The second thing I would suggest, the second thing that's really powerful with that is, it puts them in the situation with you. And I'll talk more about that in a second. But you're not then waiting for them to come in, ask for something and be disappointed when you don't have it. You're proactively reaching out to them and saying, "Hey, just so you know, we have three things on the lot right now, but we can order whatever you want. And we think in six to eight months, this thing's going to be fine. So, let's get this thing started right now and get you taken care of." That way they're not surprised when they text in. They're in this thing with you. They feel like, "Oh wow, this dealership's dealing with a ton of stuff, so let's keep working with them."

One of the things Kim said on the webinar on Tuesday was that this is an opportunity right now for dealers to get a customer for life. That if dealers handle this situation the right way; the dealers that over-communicate, are transparent, tell customers what's going on, this'll produce a customer for life, which I thought was a really cool and great point he made. So, that's really important. Choose to be transparent about how long things are going to take. If you don't know, tell them you don't know. If you think it's going to be three to four weeks, tell them three to four weeks. Just be totally transparent. There's no benefit by saying, "Ah, I think we can get this in a month," when you probably are guessing that it's going to take three months, four months, six months or longer. Just be totally transparent.

The worst situation that I've had personally with this was with a dealership where I had a situation with a side-by-side that I owned, that there was a part that was broken. There was a recall on the side-by-side, so they called me and said, "Hey, in addition to fixing this thing that's broken, can we fix the recall?" And I said, "Sure. Whatever. You've got it, fix it." Well, during them trying to fix it, they broke it worse. Long story short. The problem is they didn't tell me that. So, when I called in, which again, no customer should ever have to do. When I called in and said, "Hey, what's the story? You said this was going to take three days. It's been six."

"Well, the part's not here yet." And I was like, "What are you talk... Part?" So two more days go by, I haven't heard anything. I call back, demand to talk to the manager. Manager says, "Okay, here's the situation. During the recall fix, we broke something worse. And because of that, we had to order parts from out of state. They're not here yet. It's taking far longer than we thought, da da da da da." Well, they didn't tell me that in two or three different communications. It took me getting a little frustrated and then trying to talk to the manager before they told me that.

Always be transparent, particularly in parts and service, about how long things are going to take, what your hurdles are, what your worries are. If someone's going to bring their equipment in and have it out of commission, they need to know how long that's going to take. So, be transparent with them. Be transparent with them. This is so important. By the way, not being transparent is the number one thing that causes negative Google reviews. So, if your customer thinks you're not being transparent, that will cause them to leave you a negative review and get upset.

Don't wait for them to reach out. I talked about this a little bit. Always be the one proactively reaching out to them. They should feel so communicated with and certain of the information you're giving them and providing to them that they don't feel the need to ask additional questions or to text or to call additionally. Always be the one to reach out and provide the information proactively rather than waiting for them to contact you and be like, "Oh, I hope they don't call us today." Every service department's been there. "I hope they don't call us today. We don't have an answer for them." Just call them. Text them. That's the key, right there.

Fourth. Kim said this on the webinar a week ago, and I love the way he phrased it. Make them feel like they're a part of the team and they're in it with you. This is, I think, the key of the whole presentation that I want to stress. Make them feel like they're in this with you. So, if they come in and they haven't heard there's inventory issues and they need a front-end loader, and they come in expecting to buy it the next day like they always have, and you don't have it, they might be annoyed. But if you have proactively reached out to them and said, "Hey, just so you know, inventory's a huge issue right now but if you need something, let's get it ordered and we can get it here quicker." You do that, they're going to feel like they're in it with you. Explain what's going on. Don't make them frustrated when they come in and you don't have something that they need or a part's not available. That's why it's so important to be proactive, is it will make them feel like they're in it with you.

And instead of a customer-business relationship, it's a partnership, right? Where they feel like, "Oh wow, this dealership's doing every they can to help us. They're scrambling to help us. Wow. We're going to be customers for life." So, I really do believe... Now, there's bias because we're a texting platform, so obviously we're biased toward communication. But I personally believe that communication is going to separate those dealers who emerge from this with loyal, happy customers for life, generational customers. Communication is going to separate those dealers from the dealers who have customers that are annoyed with them, don't realize it's not their fault, and are frustrated they can't get the parts or the units that they want. So please communicate clearly, is my plea.

Text-to-Pay

Okay. One more thing I want to hit on and then we'll be done. One of the things that has become really popular over the last year with people using the Kenect platform is text-to-pay. So, while you're texting somebody using the Kenect platform, you simply click on the little dollar sign. It sends them a message, and they then can pay you with text. This is a great way to collect payments. It's more quick. It's simple. Your customers love it, your employees love it. It saves time, money. It's more secure. And here's the best part. It's just an option you can provide your customers. You don't have to switch all to texting, of course. You keep your card terminals, you do all that. This is just another option you can use to collect payments, and your customers really, really will love it. That's one additional way to make things really convenient and simple.

Kenect Texting

I also just wanted to show briefly how the texting platform works. You simply log into Kenect. You're able to send and receive text messages to and from this inbox. And again, they're coming with your phone number, right? It's not a cell phone number. It's not random phone numbers that they are like, "Who is this?" This is your business phone number that is texting them. You can also download the Kenect mobile app and send text messages that way. Again, really simple and easy way to use the tool.

Video Chat

Okay, let's just do this. There's one more thing I want to mention. Also with Kenect you can do live video chat, so while you're texting somebody you can do a live walk around of a unit. You can do a live video of their unit that you're servicing, to show them like a crack on something. We had an RV dealer tell us the other day that he's now upselling 40% of his service items because of this tool. That's powerful and really cool stuff. You can also have them show you live video in real time, so you can see what's going on at their property with their machine. And again, no additional software required to run this video chat. It's right in line with the text thread.

Recap

So again, to recap what Kenect does: texting using your main number; texting with photos, videos, attachments, PDFs, DocuSigns; of live video chat in the text thread; collecting payments via text. We can add a Text Us button to your website as well. And then generating online reviews with texting is really easy and simple as well. All right. With that, thank you so much for jumping on, everybody. Thanks for the questions. Thanks for the comments. If you're interested in learning more about Kenect you can call or text us here at this number. We'll do a quick 35-minute walk through the product with you, and then you're able to see how valuable it is.

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