In a strategic move towards business optimization, the Norm Reeves BDC Group successfully integrated Generative AI into its operations, ushering in a new era of increased capacity, enhanced efficiency and accelerated business growth.
Sherry Thomas, an automotive industry veteran of over 30 years, currently holds the position of Central BDC Manager and is an integral member of the executive team at The Norm Reeves Dealership Group. In her role, Sherry oversees a remote team of 24 dedicated professionals, providing support to over 10 stores across various states and representing renowned brands such as Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, and Volkswagen.
Primarily on the service side, Sherry leads an OEM award-winning team committed to driving business for the dealership stores under their purview. Her team, recognized for their excellence, operates tirelessly from 4 am to 6 pm, six days a week, managing a staggering volume of 800-1000 inbound service calls daily. Additionally, they proactively engage in outbound calls to cultivate new business opportunities for the dealership group.
Sherry faced a considerable challenge in the lack of visibility into missed calls and voicemails handled by her team. Beyond the iconic flashing red light on the machine, she was left in the dark about the quantity of missed calls and voicemails received.
Expressing her frustration, Thomas remarked, “We had no clarity on what the red flashing light signified. Was it one customer or ten? Were they waiting for 20 minutes or two days? We lacked a comprehensive understanding of the extent of missed calls and voicemails.”
Numa proved to be a game-changer for the Norm Reeves team, offering comprehensive visibility into the quantity and nature of missed calls and voicemails the BDC and Service Advisors received at each location. Using the built-in Generative AI capability, which automatically transcribes and categorizes conversations based on dealership criteria, the team gained rapid access to a summarized overview of missed calls and voicemails. This eliminated the need for manual listening to each one while providing clarity and specifics Sherry and the service managers
Sherry Thomas highlighted the efficiency of Numa, stating,
“With Numa, you don't have to listen to the entire voicemail; you can simply read through it. This not only saves us time in our daily operations but also enables us to deliver an enhanced customer experience.”
A significant portion, up to 30%, of the inbound calls received by the BDC at Norm Reeves were related to status updates, creating a challenge for the mostly remote team. These updates required manual efforts to locate a service advisor, obtain the necessary information, and relay it back to the customer. Recognizing that this process was diverting the team from its core mission of generating new business, Sherry Thomas emphasized the need for a more streamlined approach.
"As a BDC, our primary goal is business generation," Thomas emphasized. "However, the team was spending valuable time tracking down service advisors for status updates, which took away from our core objective."
Numa's Generative AI capability became a pivotal solution, handling and directing every inbound call efficiently. It intelligently triaged status update calls, directing them to the relevant Service Advisor, thus reducing the overall number of calls managed by Sherry's team. This operational improvement allowed the team to refocus on their primary responsibilities – bringing in more business for the dealerships.
"We support numerous Norm Reeves stores, and the reduction in inbound calls using Numa was substantial," Thomas emphasized. "For a couple of our stores, the number of calls was cut in half. It freed up my team's time to concentrate on what they were supposed to be doing, which is bringing in more business."
Since the implementation of Numa, the BDC experienced a decrease of up to 30% in inbound calls, that correlated with a notable increase of up to 30% in BDC team's capacity to make outbound calls. This strategic shift resulted in driving new business for the entire dealership group, showcasing the tangible impact of leveraging Generative AI for enhanced operational efficiency and business growth.
Numa not only played a pivotal role in capturing missed calls and efficiently routing them to the appropriate groups and individuals for the Norm Reeves team but also introduced a new level of granular visibility into each call.
By harnessing Numa's Generative AI capabilities, which automatically triage, label, and summarize conversations, including customer sentiment analysis, Sherry Thomas gained the ability to swiftly identify inefficiencies and take immediate action.
"With Numa, we can effortlessly categorize conversations into different groups such as escalations, needs a reply, status updates, and more, streamlining my ability to navigate through conversations," elaborates Thomas. "As a manager, I no longer need to delve into the entirety of a conversation to understand the nature of a complaint or customer inquiry. A quick scan through the auto-labeled conversation and reading the AI-generated summary provides me with a concise overview of the call. It's a significant time saver and simplifies the coaching process for my team."
In essence, Generative AI not only facilitates efficient call management but also empowers Sherry to make informed decisions promptly, contributing to enhanced team performance and streamlined managerial responsibilities.
Customer service is a collaborative effort involving multiple departments within the dealership. From the BDC and Service Advisors to Parts and Technicians, seamless teamwork is crucial for delivering an outstanding customer experience. Numa facilitates effortless communication between these teams, providing transparency and promoting accountability across the organization.
Sherry highlights the transformative impact, stating, “The visibility with Numa is incredible. Before Numa, we had no insight into a Service Advisor Inbox or whether they addressed customer concerns promptly. With Numa, identifying and addressing any delays or inefficiencies is simple, preventing potential escalations.”
The significance of communicating with customers in their native language cannot be overstated, as evidenced by a remarkable surge in the likelihood of purchase, reaching 72.4% when linguistic preferences are acknowledged.
Numa's Generative AI empowers dealership employees to seamlessly engage with customers in various languages. When a customer who speaks a different language arrives, the team utilizes Numa's Generative AI capability to communicate with them through text in their preferred language.
Sherry Thomas emphasizes the impact, stating,
"I don't think people understand the power of communicating with customers in their native tongue. You could have a customer right in front of you that speaks a language that nobody on the team knows. All the team has to do is initiate a text-based conversation and use Numa to translate the entire conversation into the customer's language of choice."
Granting customers the ability to communicate in their preferred language not only boosts their confidence but also significantly elevates their willingness to make a purchase. This thoughtful approach, facilitated by Numa's Generative AI, underscores the pivotal role language plays in enhancing customer experience and fostering positive outcomes for dealerships.
The reputation of AI in the dealership landscape has often been marred by previous attempts that failed to deliver the anticipated return on investment. However, according to Sherry Thomas, Numa has broken this trend, showcasing that AI can indeed work seamlessly and effectively.
"Leading up to now, I feel like AI hasn't always been as dependable. But Numa changed that for us," remarks Thomas. "When our tech-savvy advisors witness the AI summaries, its captured details, or the 'write it for me' capabilities, they're genuinely impressed. We've not encountered any instance where the AI provides information that differs from what is actually happening."
Numa's ability to consistently deliver accurate and valuable insights has instilled confidence in its functionality, challenging the previous skepticism surrounding AI within the dealership industry. Sherry's positive experience serves as a testament to the potential for AI to be a reliable and impactful tool for enhancing operational efficiency and customer service.
Numa serves as a comprehensive solution for streamlining communication both with customers and among dealership teams, positioning itself to become the central communication platform at Norm Reeves in the long run.
Sherry Thomas envisions Numa playing a pivotal role, stating,
"95% of our communication now happens through Numa at one of our stores. We're examining this trend and exploring ways to potentially reduce our reliance on tools like Microsoft Teams because Numa consolidates all communication in one place."
Ultimately, Numa's impact extends beyond efficiency gains. It fosters improved relationships with customers, as Thomas notes, "If your focus is on the customer, Numa enables you to establish better relationships with them and empowers your employees to enhance their interactions as well." The prospect of Numa emerging as the central hub for communication reflects its capacity to revolutionize the way dealerships engage both internally and with their valued customers.
–
Numa can be customized to meet your unique dealership needs. See a demo today.
We struggled with CSI before Numa, now we have hit the CSI mark 7 out of the past 8 months.
Jeff Clear
We hired a BDC backup to respond to Numa Sales Inbox, she's selling average 15 cars a month by just responding to the conversations in Numa Sales Inbox.
Arisha Walker
Numa is an integral part of how we communicate with a customer... Tearing it out would be like tearing the transmission out of a car.
Eric Frost
No more hold music. No more unanswered voicemails. Make every customer feel like they’re your top priority.