PROJECT PROFILE:
Louisville, KY
ABOUT TAFEL MOTORS
Since 1958, Louisville, Ky.-based Tafel Motors Company has been delivering exceptional Mercedes-Benz shopping and service experiences. Under current owner David Peterson, Tafel Motors is dedicated to ensuring that buying and maintaining a luxury car is just as pleasant as driving one.
PROBLEM: WARY OF STAND-ALONE RFID SERVICES
In 2014, Tafel Motors began exploring ways to provide a more engaging customer experience, especially in its service center. Joe Atkinson, Tafel’s General Manager, saw the potential for RFID technology that welcomed guests to the dealership and alerted Service and Sales personnel of their arrival, but realized that an RFID system could not operate as a silo. “We wanted a system that could fully integrate with all of our key business operations,” Atkinson says. “In other words, much more than just ‘flash my name’ on a screen.’
Tafel’s new RFID-based Automated Guest Recognition Service had to integrate not only with its service center system but also with automotive Mastermind, the dealership’s analytics platform. And it had to do it in real time – even when a guest came in with no appointment or for a complimentary car wash where no repair order is opened.
WHY TAFEL CHOSE EYEQ
Tafel chose to work with EyeQ because of its deep experience deploying integrated guest recognition solutions across the automotive industry, and because of its open partnerships with dozens of dealer technologies in CRM, loaner systems, mobile tablets, and analytics platforms, including automotive Mastermind. The entire integration process—from site inspection to RFID system installation to quality testing and training—was completed in under five weeks.
OUTCOME #1: BETTER SERVICE, BETTER CSI
According to Atkinson, Tafel has used EyeQ’s RFID technology to great advantage in its service center. Not only do the welcome screens provide each incoming customer with a “Ritz Carlton” level of personalized greeting, creating a more positive experience, the system has helped the service department identify areas to streamline operations and save customers valuable time.
“The results have been improved CSI, retention, and efficiency with my service staff,” says Atkinson.
OUTCOME #2: SUSTAINED SALES LIFT
The biggest and most notable impact of the EyeQ integration has been a dramatic lift in monthly sales. The dealership had seen a solid boost after first implementing automotive Mastermind, but these results were significantly amplified by EyeQ’s Guest Recognition Services.
“When we added the seamless EyeQ / automotive Mastermind integration, our results are now consistently even higher,” says Atkinson. “We are selling considerably more cars.”
According to Atkinson, the integration of EyeQ’s technology with automotive Mastermind has resulted in a consistent 37% boost in monthly sales.
