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Got your attention? Good! Every business needs a marketing and advertising plan, and to create a budget for that plan. However, the biggest bang for your buck, and the area of the greatest return on your efforts is what you and your employees do each and every day- Providing an Amazing Customer Experience! And that cost little to nothing. Before you spend a dime on advertising or marketing, make sure that you are providing an amazing customer experience. Build value and focus on the customer at each visit. This will also help with customer retention. What are your strategies to provide an Amazing Customer Experience?

Do customers really have clear expectations when they arrive at your shop? Think about it. Who is responsible for setting clear expectations? Consumers may have a preconceived idea about what to expect, but when it comes down to what or who sets the expectation, it's the shop's responsibility. Great customer service is created by the shop and its people. The consumer will judge that experience, but they don't create it, you do. We may think that the consumer will tell us what they expect from us. I think it's the opposite. Henry Ford once said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

(Warning and apologies for the long post) As you can see by my profile, I’m pretty new to AutoShopOwner.com but after browsing around quite a bit and communicating with @Alex and a couple of other leaders around here, I figured it would be worth the investment to become and Advertiser Member for the purpose of introducing our service and getting some feedback. It is not my intent to bombard with promotion but rather provide information about a capability that few realize is even possible. I’d like to start this introduction with a couple of statements. It is becoming increasingly difficult and frustrating to reach customers by phone since they often don’t answer the phone and often don’t check their voicemail. Most people text more than they talk these days. If you agree, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to TextBox! TextBox was conceptualized back in 2012 from this video (See YourCarIsReady Video) Following are some of the capabilities we offer along with comparisons to other text messaging options we have encountered. Text Enable Your Existing Shop Telephone Number TextBox- Text-enables your existing shop telephone number. Your telephone number is part of your brand and part of your value. TextBox leverages the value of that number by opening up the text communications channel. People are probably already texting your number… they’re just not getting anywhere. Adding ‘Call or Text’ to your shop signage, website, Facebook page and any other marketing materials that include your telephone number will enhance those marketing efforts and provide more leads. Frequently, when you call somebody they text you back. Likewise, when you text somebody, they may call you back. Since TextBox uses your existing phone number. Both of those work! Others- Some use a shared 5 or 6 digit short codes. Some require you to introduce a completely new number that might not even be a local number. Some use email-to-text which requires you to find out what carrier the customer uses. If somebody calls the number you text them from, usually, the call goes nowhere. Not a very good customer experience. If you call a customer from your shop telephone number and they respond via text, the text goes nowhere. True Two-Way Texting TextBox- TextBox offers true two-way texting from the comfort of a full size keyboard and computer screen and keyboard anywhere you happen to be. You can name and tag contacts and review unlimited conversation history. Others- Many are one-way only. If a customer replies or initiates a text, the text fails and you never see it. Many don’t have an interface where you can review previous text messages in a conversational thread. With email-to-text, each message is a separate email message. It’s almost impossible to keep up with. Most Shop Management systems that have a text module are one-way only. Multiple Interfaces TextBox- The most used TextBox interface is through a small app that is installed on Windows computers and/or laptops. It automatically starts when the computer starts and pops up to alert you when new texts arrive. We also provide tablet and mobile apps that allow you to see and respond to TextBox messages wherever you happen to be. Others- Most require you to remember to open and log in to a web browser and remember to check the page to see if any texts have come in. Very few also have tablet or mobile interfaces. Cost TextBox- Most shops don’t need anything more than our $49/month small business plan. Larger shops with multiple service advisors with direct numbers can text-enable each additional number for only $29/month. There are no contracts or term commitments. We even offer a free trial and don’t even ask for billing information. Others- We have been surprised at some of the services that appear to do less but cost much more. Frequently Answered Questions: Will it mess up my phone service? NO. The voice and text networks are completely separate. Can multiple people use it? YES. And everything is automatically synchronized. How long does it take to get set up? Usually fully operational within a few hours. Are there any contracts or term commitments? NO. Service is month-to-month. For those who have taken the time to read all the way down this far, we’re making a special introductory offer hoping you will provide feedback here on the forum about your experience with the ease of getting started, the power and efficiency of TextBox and our outstanding customer service. The first 10 members here who PM me here or contact us directly and mention AutoShopOwner.com will receive: A completely no obligation trial from now to the end of March 2017. An automatic free month every year if they sign up for service after the trial. Of course, I’d be happy to answer any questions in this thread, via private message in this form, buy phone or… by text. John Fabrega Founder Line1 Communications & TextBox 850.205.1111 (Call or Text)