TechMan says web bookings can help garages ‘sell while they sleep’

TechMan, the garage management system built by an independent garage, say they are rolling out their new ‘web booking’ system after successfully integrating it for a number of customers in recent months. One garage piloting the system saw profits generated from invoiced web bookings reach £18,877 in the seven months to January 2018 – a run rate of over £30,000 per year.

Once enabled, it works by generating a simple copy-and-paste code script, which the garage then adds to their website to enable web bookings. After this, motorists clicking the ‘Book Now’ button on the garage website are simply prompted to input their vehicle registration, before going on to select a date and time for their visit. Finally, they provide key details like name, email and contact telephone number to complete the booking process.

TechMan says the system has proved successful both in capturing more work than traditional enquiry emails or ‘booking request’ forms and also in reducing workload burden too.

“We’ve seen a lot of business being generated by garages outside of business hours,” said Leo Freebairn, TechMan’s national sales manager. “Drivers like the certainty of being able to make a solid confirmed booking at their convenience.”

The web booking system works through a direct live link between the garage website and TechMan, eliminating the risk of double-bookings. Users have a reporting tool to monitor the bookings generated in real-time too.

“This ensures garages see the level of return on investment they are gaining from their current digital marketing activities,” said Freebairn.

TechMan says operationally it’s a big labour-saver compared to enquiry forms where a member of staff needs to manually intervene later to check the customer can be fitted in when they wish visit, before trying to re-contact them to confirm the booking and then add the details into the workshop diary or management systems.

“We’re taking a lot of stress and administrative work away by automating all of this,” said Freebairn. “The customer is only offered time slots that are actually available right from the outset.”