[Webinar Transcript from April 2022]

Thanks for joining us today. My name is Ben. I'm in the marketing team here at Kenect. Today we're going to talk about how you can get paid 85% faster in your service department. We're going to start out by talking about Kenect for about five minutes and then get into the meat of the webinar. It shouldn't be more than about 20 minutes. I don't want to take up too much of your time. If you have any questions, please feel free to type them into the questions tab over on the side panel there, and I'll get to them throughout this webinar or for sure at the end when there's more time. So with that, let's get started here.

Who is Kenect?

First off, 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're founded by dealers and built for dealers like you. So we help you communicate more efficiently, generate new leads, collect payments, via text message and drive online reviews. This is two-way text messaging for your dealership so you don't have to give out your personal cell number. This is all done through your existing business phone number and we set that all up through your carrier. We offer web leads straight from your website. We also collect payments via text messaging, which we'll show you in just a few minutes, and online review generation and reputation management.

So why text messaging? Because your customers prefer it. 89% of consumers say they would prefer to interact with businesses via text message rather than a phone call. And 98% of all text messages are open with 95% of those read within three minutes. So you're going to get answers fast. You're going to be able to get information fast out to whoever needs it to your customers when things come up, you're going to be able to text them and they're going to see that right away. 96% of consumers find phone calls to be disruptive. 78% of US consumers say receiving a text message is the fastest way to reach them for important service updates and purchases. And this is just one of the dealers that uses us. He says, "We used to call Kenect, but 75% of the time they wouldn't answer. So now we text them with Kenect and they immediately text us back."

And what does that look like when they text you? It's this inbox right here. So this is all set up, like I said, through your existing business line. It shows who's texted you, what time it came in and where the conversation may have left off. It also shows you who's assigned to it. So if you have employees that have access to this platform, you can assign them to a specific person, a specific customer and then they can take over the conversation from there. So it's easy for them to see where the conversation is. And if they're gone for the day, it's easy for somebody to just pick up the conversation and maybe respond to them, to the customer because you're responding with that existing business line. So it's all going through one number, it's being filtered through. It's easy for the customer to see, easy for you to connect. And so it's something that's simple and convenient for you and done all through your business line,

The app is similar to the email layout, but in this case you can take it anywhere you want with wherever your phone is, wherever it gets a signal. You can send photos, use your camera for maybe a video chat, especially in your service department. This is very handy so you can show the customer exactly what you're working on. All this is free in the App Store so you can download this and then message your customer from wherever you are.

The top seven ways RV dealers are using Kenect: scheduling appointments, setting automated reminders, and sending status updates. These are things that can go out to customers. Send quick information like hours, maps or your machine is ready for pickup, send targeted warranty reminders, scheduling maintenance notices. You can also collect payments via text message, attach and send photos, videos, and invoices and PDFs. Generate online reviews on and Facebook and capture more leads from Facebook, Instagram, and your website.

Getting paid faster in your service department

So today we wanted to talk about payment collection, how it's affected dealerships in the last year and some things that you can do to increase revenue as we head into the second quarter of 2022. We've seen a change in payment collection methodology, customer convenience via contactless interaction. Cards aren't going away, but will shift to remote forms of payment and it's all about simplicity and convenience. Customers really just want that easy way to get their payment through and to get their equipment back. And it's just something that we've seen over the pandemic, but really has not gone away. Consumers say they would prefer to continue to shop online or on smartphones for home delivery, freeing up time for people and activities more important to them, such as family, friends, work, physical well-being, leisure and entertainment.

This trend started during the pandemic. It actually started before the pandemic, but more people gravitated towards it because more businesses were offering this payment option. And what it does is it allows customers to do this from the comfort of their own home. They don't have to actually go into a shop and they don't have to give their credit card over the phone. They can just type in their information themselves.

So that is where the Text-to-Pay system is going. And we wanted to show you the growth that we've seen that just backs up what we were talking about. We've seen four times year over year growth per location. Some dealers are actually running 80% of service and parts payments through Text-to-Pay. It's all about simplicity and convenience. Customers just want that easy way to get their information to you and to get it paid so they can go pick up their equipment. And this is what the system looks like. So you can see you click the button down there the little icon and then it sends a link to the customer. So they can click on the link and then you fill out the amount, what the description of what you're giving to them, and then the customer completes a transaction. And then at the top there, that logo can be changed to your logo. So it can be changed to any logo you want and whichever dealers using it, we change that out. And it also helps with trust. So your customer is going to get this link and you say, "Hey, you'll know it's from us because our logo's at the top. You'll see it from us." That invoice will show your logo and then the customer will fill out their information, the name on the card and send it right back.

There are a lot of reasons for Text-to-Pay. We just wanted to go through a few. Collecting deposits and payments for sales and service customers. And you can also collect on service tickets and special order parts with a 98% open rate that we were talking about. You can also allow for after-hours pickups. And this is where it helps in your service department, because you can actually have customers prepay for things. If you're in your service department you can say, "I'm almost done. Maybe an hour left to go. Here's a link to prepay for this and we'll meet you outside." So they don't actually have to come in, you'll have the equipment waiting for them and they can just pick it up right from you without actually having to step foot inside because they've already paid. You can increase over the phone sales and offer curbside pickup, get paid faster and reduce accounts receivable. And that also limits the time that some of your employees have to use on accounts receivable. So instead of spending hours or maybe even days trying to collect bills, stuff like that, your employees can be better used in other areas because your customers are filling out that information. You're saving time for your employees and you're saving time for you and your customers. It's also you get next day funding and it's 100% secure.

The data around Text-to-Pay. This is what we wanted to get to make sure that you know why this is so important and why you really should be taking a look at this. We've seen an 85% faster payment collection with Text-to-Pay. Your customers want you to text them so let them. Payment is on time nearly every time. 45 minutes. That's the average time saved per person in the service department. This is during the day and some dealers are now running 70% of their service payments through Text-to-Pay. 91% of customers would prefer to Text-to-Pay when they start using it. So what we're saying is once you actually started adopting this thing, you're going to start to see that trend pick up. You're going to start to see that customers are going to want this Text-to-Pay system and through the pandemic they've seen it. So they're actually going to expect it from you. They're going to say, "Hey, all these other businesses are using this. Why aren't you?" And also it's not necessarily that they won't use you, but I'm sure that once you have adopted this system, they're going to say, "All right. Yep. I'm going to use Text-to-Pay, because I'm used to it. I know it.” It's simple and convenient. And I just get in my information there, type it in and send it right back to you and then it's all ready to go and I can come pick up my equipment or I know when it's going to be done so I know when to come over. Prepay for stuff without having to call in your number, your credit card number and all that information and having it written down saving minutes, hours, maybe days on all this stuff. So it's really simple and convenient. Your customers expect it so you should really consider adopting it. And especially with the new data that we've seen, it really is the trend that's not going away.

Text-to-Pay growth per location. We've seen four times year over year growth, which we showed you. It's all about simplicity and convenience. Locations with Text-to-Pay, we have 1600-plus locations that are using Text-to-Pay on a regular basis and that growth is expected to continue. This is just over a two-year period right here. We've seen it go from nearly zero to 1600-plus locations, because that's where customers want it and dealers are recognizing that.

We've also seen 15 times growth per month in two years. And that's just because of people using Text-to-Pay. Customers are using it more and customers expect it from you. So this just shows you where the numbers were beforehand. More than 14.5 million through Text-to-Pay in March of 2022. That's a lot. That's just what businesses are doing through Text-to-Pay. That's not anything other than just what customers are sending in in service and sales department. So we just wanted to show you exactly what this looks like and exactly why this trend is really not going away. You can see it here in the first part of 2022, that growth has just blown up and we've seen that trend grow in 2021. But really as the first quarter goes in 2022, we expect this to continue throughout the year and into the second quarter for sure.

Text-to-Pay use cases, we just wanted to go through just a couple of what that would look like in your service department. The customer has a repair done on an RV, you can text the payment to a dealership immediately upon completion rather than having to pay via invoice or wait in line to swap the cart. So you get paid minutes, not hours or days. So they can prepay and come pick it up whenever they want.

This also goes for your sales department. I know we're talking about service department here, but I just wanted to touch on this. Deposits on new units paid via text rather than waiting for a check to clear or for a buyer to come in or swipe the card. With this system, with the Text-to-Pay, your customers can just type in their information themselves and it all gets funneled through your accounts receivable. So you're not having to verify this. Your employees are not having to do all this. It's all being done through our system and verified right on the spot there. It's being done so that your customers can have a way to just type in their information and they get it to you and they are paid almost instantaneously it's confirmed so that they can come and pay for equipment, and then come and pick it up without actually having to step foot inside a showroom or a service bay.

Dealers are with receiving more leads per location per month with texts. And this is where we shift from Text-to-Pay to actual leads and where your service department can really benefit from sales, of course, too. We've seen a 40% increase in tax leads year over year. If presented with an option to call or fill out a contact us form or text, customers would want to text 75% of the time. And we've seen this trend grow over the pandemic, too. Because what that means is customers are actually, they're going on your website, they're texting in information because you're offering them a “text us” button that we can add to your website. So you're showing them that, "Hey, you can just ask a question anytime and we're there to answer it." So the digital buying through the entire funnel is more common.

More people are buying remotely, digitally and as for communication, two-hour visits versus 15-minute conversation. So people are buying over text. The whole transaction is being done over texts. Google, Amazon have trained us. It's really simple and convenient. Faster buying cycles so that means that you're actually speeding up the process, because you're not having to actually have somebody come in in-person or even over the phone. You're just having a text. They text you, they see some piece of equipment on your website or they see it somewhere out in the worldwide web and they see it and they want to text you for more information, and you can text them back with all the information, all that they want. You can even do video chats and show them what you're looking at. So it's really easy and convenient for them. And it's somewhere where you probably should be adding this to your repertoire, because you want to make sure that you're adding something that the customer is expecting.

Customer convenience is king!

Nearly 70% of consumers say they would pay more for a product if the buying process was convenient. So if you're adding this text feature for leads and if they can text you real quick with questions that are fast. A couple minutes here, they don't have to actually wait for you to come talk to in-person or wait for you on the phone if you're playing phone tag, you can just text them. They're going to respond like we showed you within three minutes. So it's going to be simple and convenient for them.

It's really fast, that buying cycle is really fast. We've seen a 55% increase in text message volume per dealer year over year. And that's because they realize that, "Hey customers like this." And especially in the service department, this is where this all really hammers home because service departments are where customers want to be in and out. They don't want to spend a lot of time in service departments. I mean, I know I don't. So we want to make sure that that process is fast and easy. And dealers are now completing entire transactions via text, both sales and service and that's new.

That means from lead to payment, dealers are actually conversing with the client, with the customer over the phone, via text without actually having to pick up the phone and talk and without actually having to meet you in-person. That may seem a little impersonal, but it's where customers want to be. And imagine if you can use this and finish these transactions within minutes, because the customer already knows what they're looking for. That's why they've texted you. They've seen that piece of equipment or they've seen your repair, your service fees or whatever that you've advertised or put on your website or put out in the web. And they're going to say, "Okay, well, I'm going to text them and I'm going to see what this is all about." And that'll take minutes. It'll take seconds even if it's really that fast if they know exactly what they want and they're correct and you say, "Yep, that's what we offer." And they say, "Sure, I'll pay for it. Send me the invoice." So all of that's done over text, entire transaction. All of that's new. Really, dealers have not done this before. We've seen it a lot over the pandemic and really it's grown over the first quarter here and there is no sign of that slowing down.

Also, text messages with images. This is where you can also help with upsells and where you can also help in the service department. We've seen an 80% increase in MMS message a per dealer year over year. And when pictures are sent back and forth, it usually indicates a service upsell or a serious sales engagement. And what that means is if your customer's like, "Hey, I want this piece of equipment." And you say, "Yep, that's totally fine. Here it is. It might take a little while for it to get in. But in the meantime, we also have this piece of equipment that we have in stock right now so you don't have to wait a couple weeks for it to be shipped in." Your customer's probably going to say, "Yep, I'll take the slightly more expensive one." Or they could say, "Maybe I don't, but what else do you have in there?" So you're able to show them via text without them actually coming in. You can show them pictures of what you're talking about. You can also do video chats and show them around the showroom or show them around the service department. Especially if you're working on their equipment and the part maybe not is not coming in fast enough you can say, "Here are our options and here's what it looks like." So text message images, those are on the rise and they're definitely becoming more of a forefront for dealers because they know that customers want to see that. And they don't actually want to come into the showroom or the service bay.

So, the importance of convenience, this is where it all boils down to. This is what customers are looking for. Purchase intent versus asking questions. 90% of decisions are made before they come in or call. What that means is when they're texting you and they're saying, "Do you still have this piece of equipment or this part?" They've already made their decision. They know that they want this because they've seen the price. They've looked around to other places and they know that you have it and so that's why they're contacting you. They're making sure that you have it and you're able to sell it to them.

Customers are buying independent of discounts. Like we just talked about, they're willing to pay more for things that they know is there and that they know that they want. The digital funnel, digital across the entire funnel; less than a third of young customers prefer conducting a sale in-person at a dealership. Responders are even more interested in contactless services. Half of responders are willing to pay extra for this service. This is just a quote about young consumers, but we really have seen this throughout the entire funnel of consumers. It doesn't necessarily mean just young consumers.

We might seem to think that older consumers don't use texts, but that's not true. We've seen texts come in from all walks of life, because that's what we've seen over the last year and a half or the last two years with the pandemic. Businesses have used that, have used the Text-to-Pay and they've used the texts for communication because they know people couldn't have come in to their service department or their sales floor or anything like that. So they know that they have to find a different way to get in touch with customers. That's why customers are using this. You may not have thought that three years ago or four years ago. Even customers may not thought that, but really what this pandemic has shown us is we had to adapt really quick. And so that's why customers are using this more in all walks of life. It all boils down to convenience and simplicity. Once customers have gotten a hold of Text-to-Pay, they realize how easy it is and how simple it is and they don't want to go back.

Six benefits of texting

The six benefits of texting if you haven't really considered it, we just wanted to hammer home the six benefits of texting. Generating more leads via website widget, that's the little “text us” button that we put at the bottom of your website. And that's when customers are looking around on the internet and they see something, maybe they go to your website, they'll see that button and they'll say, "Okay, that's how I get a hold of them and I can text them."

Generating dozens of five star-reviews standing out online to sell more units. Using video chat in sales and service for more effective communication. Collecting deposits and payments from sales and service customers like we were talking about. Text from your existing business line instead of your personal cell number. We just want to make sure that you know that you don't have to have another number. You don't have to give out your personal cell number, especially for leads and stuff. All that's done through the platform and you can have people text in and it's all done through your existing business line. You can save time and sell more by sending photos, videos, and surveys and et cetera.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to text us in and/or call us. We really want to make sure that you understand how texting can benefit you and how texting payments can help. Because this really is a time where you need to be offering customers that extra tool so that they can pay via text or they can get a hold of you faster. They're used to that. So we want to make sure that you are staying on top of new technology and you're making sure you're keeping revenue flowing in your service department.

Also, if you contact us, we'll be able to give you a free demo so we can show you how this tool works and each little platform would be catered directly to your own dealership. So that is a personal touch that you can get right as you get a free demo. And it'll just show you exactly how that works and what customers will see when they text you in.

Questions here, let me take a look. "So how does it work to set up your business line? Do you actually have to get a new number?" No. Like I just talked about, you don't have to get a new number. We set this all up through your carrier. So if you adopt Kenect and you put it into your system, we have that existing business line, and we add texting to that. So you don't have to contact them at all. You don't have to reach out or get a new number or anything. We set that up. We say, "We're just adding texting." And your customers can still call in if they need to. They still have that number. And they're still able to reach you that way. You're just adding that extra tool that the customer is expecting.

Okay. Well, thank you so much. Again, contact us if you have any questions. We're standing by ready to answer. And with that, have a great rest of your week. Thanks for joining us.

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