Griffin's ramps up service with all-digital format

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - In an effort to maximize the customer experience and take full advantage of the 21st century interconnectivity, Griffin Muffler & Brake Center in Fort Madison has gone totally digital with their inspections.

"We went cold turkey on this thing," said owner Nannette Griffin Thursday at the service center. "When we went live we threw out all the paper inspections and reports we had."

The new digital inspection process, called "Auto Vitals", is a complete system that interconnects the entire inspection from the customer to the sales person to the technicians. Customers can actually get an email while in the center explaining what is going on with their vehicle, what the trouble spots are, recommendations, and even a picture of the person doing the work on the vehicle.

Griffin said the customer can even see a picture of the part that is bad next to a new part, or a filter that may need replaced. It also lists potential problems that may be coming down the road as well as indicating things that are working properly.

The system was put into place at the beginning of April with a relatively small capital investment, but some staff training and travel were required to get the new digital format up and running.

"This enhances the education process for the customer. They can see what we're doing, when we're doing it," she said. "They can see on an email or a text, and so far the customers we've introduced it to just love it. You don't have to wait until 5 p.m. to find out what's going on with your vehicle. We can provide that car inspection where you are and even deliver the vehicle back to you.

She said the techs do a complete inspection on an iPad and they send it to the front counter where an estimate can be compiled, sometimes while the work is being done, and send it via email or text, whichever the customer prefers.

"We had a customer sitting here and got the email while she was here. She was looking at it and she was just amazed. She saw how dirty her air filter was and, seeing the picture, it just makes it so transparent. You sometimes go to get your car looked at and you get this big long list of what your car needs. This way you can see exactly what it is - and it's gone from selling parts to you to the education of it. The customers appreciate that transparency. It builds trust."

Griffin said she goes through a weekly webinar to keep up to speed on training with the system. And as part of the webinars Griffin attached a video to the chat forum that showed the techs were having trouble knowing who was being buzzed. Because of that a new gadget was created that goes on the technicians collars that vibrates when something needs attention on that particular technician's work orders, or if any communication is needed.

"What it eventually does is it makes the shop more efficient and eliminates miscommunications. Down the road this pays for itself. I think if you look into the future, this is the way the younger generation will be doing business," she said.

How the process works is the sales person starts the inspection and assigns it to a technician and then the work order pops up on their iPad. They go through the inspection and it just groups it in categories, under the car...the motor...and they all have drop downs. Then the tech can go through the drop downs in the template and they can just go down through the inspection. They can even do talk to text with their iPads where the techs can talk into the iPad and it's converted to text.

The system also helps keep closer tabs with inventory, which keeps the shop at a high level of efficiency. In the inspection, the techs can take a picture of any issues and attach it to the inspection report. That's the part where Griffin says she can really educate the customer on a full range of issues.

"I can actually see this as the technician is working. I can start building the estimate while they are working on it, then I can email or text it, whatever they prefer or both," she said. "It can even include videos of why regular maintenance is so important and it becomes more of an educational tool," Griffin said.

The inspection link can be attached to the invoice so customers can see the inspection at any time.

Griffins is located at 535 Avenue G and is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. 7:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday and closed Saturday and Sunday. Their website is www.griffinmuffler.com.