‍[Transcript of a Live Webinar from February 2023]

Ben Leighton (Content Marketing Manager at Kenect):

Hey everyone, thanks for jumping on the webinar today. My name is Ben. I'm on the marketing team here at Kenect. We're going to do a live case study here with PleasureLand RV about how they've improved customer communication through texting. We're joined today by Vinny Binsfeld, who is the Sales Manager at PleasureLand RV. We're going to get to him in just a second. I want to first say that if you have any questions here, please feel free to type them in the questions tab on the side panel there as we go throughout this webinar, and we'll try to answer them as they come up, or for sure at the end when there's more time.

We're going to start off by talking about Kenect here for about a few minutes, and then we'll get into the meat of the webinar, just so you get a little background of who Kenect is. So, let's kick things off here.

Who is Kenect?

We're based on the Silicon Slopes of Utah. We're a text messaging platform for RV dealers throughout North America. We were founded by dealers and built for dealers. So more than 6,000 dealers use us. We're the 25th fastest growing software company in America according to Inc. 5000. And this is the second year in a row that we've been on that Inc. 5000 list, as more and more customers realize the benefits of texting and technology.

So why text messaging? Because your customers prefer it. 89% of customers would prefer to interact with businesses via text message rather than a phone call. And 89% of text messages are opened, with 95% of those read within three minutes. You’re going to get information to customers faster, and you're going to get information back from customers faster. 96% of consumers find phone calls to be disruptive, and 78% of US consumers say receiving a text message is the fastest way to reach them for important service updates and purchases. So people have shifted towards text messaging, and will prefer to get texts rather than phone calls. And this trend has been going up and up over the last couple of years, especially during the pandemic.

This is what the Kenect inbox looks like. And you can see over there as messages come in, the numbers will pop up. If they're new customers or if they're existing customers and have contact info, their name will pop up. You'll be able to see their history, what the conversation's been like. You can also choose which employees you'd like to have access to this platform. So you don't have to have everybody have access, you can just have a few people.

You can also use this to see the history of the conversation. Maybe they've asked about something in the past. So you can see that right there through this platform. We also have a mobile app that's free in the App Store, and this also is attached to that platform. This is all done through your existing business number. So that personal cell number, you don't have to use that. You're just using that business number that you've used with customers for years. We're just adding texting to it. You don't have to get a new number, you don't have to do anything like that. We're just adding texting to that existing business phone line that you already have.

You can also set up notifications with this app, just like you would a normal text message. But you'd see it would go right into that app. It would go right into the platform. And then you can send quick replies. You can use your phone for photos with your camera. You can use it for video chats if you need to walk around some pieces of equipment you're working on, to show the customer what you're doing. All that stuff can be done right on your phone, right through that business platform, through that business line, right through the Kenect platform.

The top eight ways that RV dealers use Kenect. We want to go through these just real quick. Scheduling appointments, setting up automated reminders, and sending status updates. Sending quick information like hours, maps, or your vehicle's ready for pickup, sending targeted warranty reminders and scheduling maintenance notices. You can also collect payments via text message, video, chat with customers, attach and send photos, videos, invoices and PDFs. And then generate online reviews on Google and Facebook, and capture more leads from Facebook, Instagram, and your website. So a lot of different ways that RV dealers use Kenect.

How PleasureLand RV uses Kenect

And right now, I wanted to bring in Vinny Binsfeld who's with PleasureLand RV. He's been kind enough to join us here, and to give us a little background about what his experience with Kenect has been, and how PleasureLand RV uses the platform and how it's worked for them. So first off, Vinny, thank you for joining us. I really appreciate it. I want to know if you can give us a little background on PleasureLand RV, where you're located and what you do?

Vinny Binsfeld (Sales Manager at PleasureLand RV):

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Ben. Like I said, my name's Vinny. I've been with PleasureLand for 18 years. PleasureLand was started out of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and we're in our 51st year. We now have eight locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. And we've been using Kenect now for several years, and it's been just a great addition to our business.

Ben Leighton:

Great. And so we wanted to go through some of the issues that you were facing that Kenect has helped you with. So first off, let's talk about collecting deposits, how you've done that using the Text-to-pay platform. Can you go through that, and how that works for you?

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, so one thing for us was keeping customer's information secure. So in the past, a lot of times when we take a deposit over the phone, the salesperson would just write down the credit card number on a sticky note. I mean, there's multiple times through the years, where I might have seen a credit card slip fall out, and sitting on the floor. So obviously not ideal. With the Kenect platform now, it's really simple. All you do is you send a text message to the customer requesting a deposit. They securely put their credit card information in the system. No different than buying something on Amazon, you just go in there and type it in that way. Everything's secure. And then once we collect that deposit, the unit's secured in the customer's name. And it's cleaned up, everything. And we don't allow any more deposits over sticky notes. It's either got to be through Kenect, or physically in the store handing the credit card to our business managers.

Ben Leighton:

Great. And have you noticed that a lot of these smaller businesses are kind of worried about customers maybe gravitating towards this or using this? Have you noticed that more customers, as you're offering this, are saying, "Yeah, this is a good solution for you?"

Vinny Binsfeld:

Absolutely. And one thing that we do is, we make it for the most part mandatory with customers. So we just had one of our biggest shows of the year. It was a nine-day show, and it ended this past Saturday. And every deposit we took at the show, even though we did have business managers there, we didn't have a credit card reader down there for them. So we required the customers even sitting there at the show, to do the deposits through Kenect. And once you explain to the customers' security of it, with the exception of a few people that they might claim not being technologically savvy, pretty much every customer's willing to do it. And they feel safer about them handing you their actual credit card.

Ben Leighton:

Great. And then so let's also talk about reviews. I know you mentioned that you were having some trouble getting customers to leave reviews, and how that was working. So how is this system now working for you, and are you able to see those reviews start to build?

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, so in the past, it would always be the salesperson just asking, "Hey, if you get a chance, can you please take the time to give us a five-star review?" And that was fine. And our salespeople still do that, they still ask for the review. But then they also let the customer know that they're going to be receiving a text message that following day, through... They'll get a text message that'll be requesting a review too. And just by doing that, it's taken it off the salesperson to have to remember to send the review. We have it automated, so once it goes through - We have IDS for our system - Once it goes through our IDS, and the customer's listed and the deal is finalized, it automatically triggers it to send out that review request. And we've noticed a huge increase. I guess I don't know the percentages, but it's a lot compared to what we were getting before.

Ben Leighton:

Awesome. So you mentioned IDS, maybe I can just side note here a little bit. That's your integration partner, and how has that worked with Kenect? I know a lot of people are wondering about integration partners, and how those interact, and how businesses use those, so maybe you can speak a little bit about how IDS and Kenect help each other, or how you've seen that with your business.

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, so I mean as far as the payment part, it's super easy. You might want to correct me here, Ben. But I think it goes through CardPointe is where the payments go through, but it integrates well with both of them, as far as that. And then also, one really cool thing is, with a lot of the new changes IDS is making to their CRM, which is supposed to be coming out here in the second or third quarter of 2023. You're actually going to be able to have every Kenect message that you send, will actually transfer over to that customer's number in IDS, so in your CRM. So now instead of having to go back between two platforms when you're in the CRM looking up that customer's information, all the Kenect messages will be in there for you to see too. So just a great way to keep track of your conversation history. So they integrate really, really well together.

Ben Leighton:

That's great. Thanks, Vinny, for a little foreshadowing. I like it.

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah.

Ben Leighton:

That's good. Okay, so let's also talk about you being able to stay in touch with customers after the sale, and how that's going. And maybe have you seen an increase, I guess, in interaction with customers, as you're able to use texting more?

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, absolutely. So it's easier for the salesperson, first of all. I mean, it's everybody. Texting is easy. The customers seem to like it a lot better too. We seem to get better responses. And one nice thing that we've set up, so once a customer purchases a unit, and the deal is finalized, it triggers what they call an integrations pattern. So day one, the customer gets the review. And then we have our setup for 30 days later. We have a 30-day follow-up to see how things are going. And we've got a total of six integrations that go over the course of two years. So we have one that goes out at 11 months, that lets customers know that if they bought a brand-new unit, their warranty from the manufacturer is more than likely coming to an end. They still have an opportunity to purchase an extended service plan, if they'd like to carry that out farther.

And then we also have one a couple of years down the road, just to see, "Hey, how are things going? Are you still enjoying this RV? Have you considered anything new, or anything we can help you with?" But by staying in front of the customers, it does. It really doesn't matter what it is, but you might just get a phone call from a customer about anything. But with keeping our name and our face in front of it, it does. We've noticed a lot more response from customers. And it does really take a lot off the salesperson's plate, as far as having to remember to make those follow-up calls and text messages.

Ben Leighton:

So I just wanted to quickly follow up. This text messaging, you just mentioned sales. Do you use it in service and sales, or do you just use it in one area? Or is it integrated throughout your business?

Vinny Binsfeld:

So it is integrated throughout our business. The service department hasn't been quite as fast to get on board in all our locations. Having eight locations, some of our locations use it a lot more than others. Our Brainerd store for instance, uses it a ton. I mean, their communications with customers, they do a really, really good job of using it to send customers, say, photos of when it's in the service shop. "Hey, you've got your unit in here,” for whatever it would be. We noticed that your roof needs to be resealed. We noticed some routine maintenance that needs to be done. Would you like us to do that?" And the cool thing is you can send customers photos of those items, to really validate what you're saying. So yes, we do use it, and we're going to grow with it as far as their service department comp goes. But it is a great tool for all departments.

Ben Leighton:

Great. And I know you touched on this, but this is the question that I get a lot from people. And kind of the hangup from some of these smaller businesses is, "Can customers really adapt to this and use texting?" I just maybe will have you touch on just how you've seen customers adapt to this, and how quickly that happened. Because we know that a lot of dealers are kind of worried that it might be a huge learning curve.

Vinny Binsfeld:

It's really not. I mean, you look at everybody, there's really nobody out there that doesn't text anymore. I mean, my dad is 80 years old, and he texts all the time. It's a simple way to converse back and forth with people. And even like our service department, it saves them so many man-hours. Because when you send a customer a text instead of making a phone call. I mean, we all know that customer that's a little bit chatty, you might be on the phone for 20 minutes.

Where if you send them a text to let them know that their unit is ready, whatever it would be. Their part's in, anything like that, give us a call if you have any questions. A lot of times, that saves tons and tons of man-hours, and it frees up the service department to move on to the next customer because they've already made that communication with customer A. As far as the people adapting to it, I just don't see any issue with it. I mean, overall, you might have a couple now and again. But like I said, I would say 90 plus percent of people enjoy being contacted by text.

Ben Leighton:

Awesome. Did you have service people use their personal cell? Or were you using your business phone line, and just having them call before? And was that where the hangup was, the time waste I guess, was just from them calling so much? Or do you notice a streamline as you're using this platform through that one business line?

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, in the past, it was strictly either a phone call or an email is how our service guys were contacting customers. With the exception of maybe a customer that we've had for years that's bought five or six units, and has built that relationship. The service department guys were not giving out their personal cell phones. Now that they can go through Kenect and text the customer. And they can do it right on their desktop or their phone. But the number that shows up to the customer is your business line, not your personal cell line. So as a service writer, you can still get the messages after hours, but they're not getting your personal cell phone. Yeah, it has streamlined things a ton. It's awesome. And it eases that burden on the service guys from having to give out their personal cell. While the sales guys are a lot more willing to give out their personal cell phone to customers, service guys don't want to.

Ben Leighton:

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, thank you so much. And if you want more information from us, Kenect, give us a call or you can text us of course 972-7422. I'm going to look here and see if we have any questions. Oh, so there's one question about reviews. Maybe Vinny you can talk about this. But it's just asking how easy is it to get reviews? How quickly did you see a response from reviews, as far as getting people to leave reviews? So basically I think the question there is, was this a difficult process to get people to leave reviews? Or was it easier now that you had this simple thing that you could text people and send them a link?

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, it's a lot easier because now instead of telling the customer, "Hey, could you go onto either Google or Facebook and leave us a review or a thumbs up recommendation?" Now they're actually getting a text that you can click on, and it'll guide them to one of those two sites. So that's made it a lot easier. And then in our integration process, they get the text message the day after they pick up their RV and take it home, to send us a review. But then also in the 30-day, we follow-up to see how things are going. And if you have not had a chance to give us a five-star review yet, we please ask that you do that. And we have the link on there again.

So even though you might miss them on that first one, there's also a second follow up. As much as we want to say, we know our sales guys are going to follow-up all the time, we know that's not the case. So this allows that to happen. So it's been good, and it's been a lot easier. And like I said, I don't know the percentages, but we did notice a big uptick in reviews, from when we started on with Kenect, and prior to that.

Ben Leighton:

Okay, great. I think that answered that question, and I don't see any more here. Any final thoughts, Vinny, that you'd like to share with anybody who might be thinking about Kenect? Or even just thinking about texting, and might be a little hesitant as a small business trying to say, "We're a little worried about adding this, and whether people can gravitate towards it?"

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yeah, absolutely. I would highly recommend it between the ability to easily communicate with customers in a quick manner. Also, the integrations with IDS if you have that. And I know Kenect also integrates with other platforms. Our website that we have, integrates well with that, so our leads come through that. And just an easier way for customers to communicate. Because a lot of people do like the text rather than a phone call or an email. And we've loved it. And yeah, we would never go away from it.

Ben Leighton:

Awesome. All right, Vinny, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time here. It's very good stuff. I mean, really good to hear from somebody who uses Kenect on a daily basis, and really is seeing the benefits of texting. And pretty much just putting pen to paper of what we're talking about, that customers do gravitate towards it. So thank you so much.

Vinny Binsfeld:

Yep, absolutely. Thank you, Ben.

Ben Leighton:

All right. And again, if anyone has any questions or would like a free demo to try to get a little more about Kenect, and learn a little more about how texting would work, feel free to text us or call us at (888) 972-7422. You can also go to our website kenect.com to learn more. So thank you for joining us today, really appreciate it. And have a great rest of your week.

Vinny Binsfeld:

You too, Ben.

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