The Best Technology Tools in The Automotive Industry
Technology is at the core of the AAMCO franchise business model. AAMCO franchise owners and their technicians are the most well trained in the industry. Our franchise technology helps AAMCO owners run sustainable, scalable, and profitable businesses.
A 21st-century business owner needs 21st-century tools to remain competitive, profitable, and successful over the long term. While AAMCO has remained the worldwide leader in transmission repair for more than six decades, the AAMCO executive team has made significant investments in new technology to ensure that the next 60 years are even brighter.
Over the years, the AAMCO executive team has focused on delivering technologies that will improve the in-store customer experience, drive more sales, and make the day-to-day operations of an AAMCO franchise easier than ever before.
The ability to identify necessary investments to increase system-wide sales and win a new generation of customers stems straight from our executive team. The AAMCO executive team has significant experience as franchise owners. They know first-hand which initiatives will drive profitability for our franchisees.
“We’ve laid down the foundational technology to grow well into the future,” says Mary Shetzline, Chief Financial Officer of AAMCO. “We’re positioned to lead the industry in complex car repair. We’ve made owning and operating an AAMCO center better than ever before. This means that our franchise can scale up to multi-unit ownership and maximize their level of profitability in their centers easier.”
The industry has taken notice. Entrepreneur included AAMCO on its prestigious “Franchise 500” list and once again named AAMCO as the top franchise in category on their annual, “Best of the Best,” list.
“There is no doubt that our brand has recently built significant momentum,” Jim says. “We wanted to position our brand to win in the new economy so that our great brand could be successful for the next 60 years. Technology is driving change very rapidly, and rather than rest on our laurels, we are very focused on making sure that our brand continues to improve. We feel very confident with what we’ve put on the board so far, that we’ve focused on the right initiatives — but we’re equally confident in the investments we have planned for AAMCO.”
Technology Goals: Increase Profits. Simplify. Win.
Here are three franchise technology initiatives that AAMCO has launched that are designed to increase profitability, make the business model easier to run, plus win and retain new customers:
AAMCO Is Winning the Internet
The internet is arguably the most important asset to a new franchise owner. Customers are constantly researching which brands are worthy of their purchase. In the case of the auto repair industry, it is essential to build an online reputation for a positive customer experience. To remain a vital, competitive, and relevant brand, AAMCO has devised a strategy to win every step of the online experience – from attracting customers in organic searches to reviews after their car has been repaired.
This is how AAMCO earns customers’ trust and increases our franchise owners’ ability to make sales:
Be available: Every AAMCO franchise has a website that is accessible, easy to understand, and explains our services in detail. New customers can click to request a quote, get directions, and find coupons.
Be relevant: Every AAMCO website is optimized with SEO keywords to ensure that AAMCO franchise owners are easily found by consumers searching for auto repair. If there is an AAMCO center in the area and customers search for auto maintenance, auto repair, or any number of relevant phrases, the local AAMCO franchise ranks well.
Be trustworthy: AAMCO made a significant investment in the solicitation, monitoring, and management of customer feedback via on-line reviews. No matter the review, AAMCO Centers have a blueprint through which they can either thank customers for positive reviews or sincerely inquire about ways to improve the customer experience.
AAMCO’s Financing Option Simplifies Life
AAMCO is simplifying how customers pay for repairs. Our new national consumer financing platform lets new customers apply for immediate access to credit approval from several financial institutions. Customers fill out information on a website or through a kiosk in an AAMCO center lobby. Customers of varying credit rating scores will find a solution that suits their budgets and eases their financial burden.
“We set out to find better consumer financing options to help our franchise owners convert more jobs into profit and sales, while at the same time serve their customers in a much better way,” says Jim Gregory, President & CEO of AAMCO. “The platforms we have launched nationally have improved the number of credit approvals to our customers and have also increased the average approval amounts significantly. We are very pleased with these consumer financing options, as they help our franchise owners increase their level of profitability.”
AAMCO’S CRM System Increases Franchise Brand Growth
AAMCO is partnered with Salesforce, which delivers cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software. Working together, we created an industry leading CRM for the AAMCO franchise network. AAMCO also rolled out a platform within the CRM to improve the level of support that franchise owners receive. For the first time, AAMCO franchise owners can have access to the entirety of their support network. They can see operations, marketing, accounting, and more. A real-time log records support calls so that the executive team can have visibility and be accountable to AAMCO franchise owners.
The robust CRM also provides dashboards that empower franchise owners to measure their in-store sales performance. They can compare their performance against that of their regional peers or across the entire AAMCO franchise system. A franchisee can tap into to the executive-class analytics and up-to-the-minute data in AAMCO’s mobile app. Franchisees get visibility and transparency to their business data, from anywhere in the world.
“For the first time, our franchise owners have good data and great metrics to measure the success of their stores,” says Jim. “You can log into the platform and see exactly how your store is doing: your car counts, your average sales — as well as insight into how you measure against your peers in your advertising pool, in your region, or across the entirety of the AAMCO franchise network. We’re very proud that we’ve been able to deliver executive-class analytics to help our franchise owners succeed.”
AAMCO started a partnership with ALLDATA and AutoZone, two giant brands in the automotive industry to design a best-in-class Point of Sale (POS) system called AAMCO Management System (AMS).
“We had four key goals that we wanted to accomplish with the AMS system,” Jim says.
We want to make life easier for our franchise owners and their employees in the stores. Make jobs more efficient overall. We wanted to utilize technology to improve the customer experience in our stores. In the future, customers will be greeted by employees with tablets to help start the process even before they walk in the door. We have great mobile technology so that we can provide them detailed information in order to be more transparent and provide them with more options. We wanted to provide much better data to our owners to drive better marketing and more customers to your stores. We wanted to give our franchise owners the ability to check-in on their stores no matter where they are in the world. The AMS system is hosted on cloud-based infrastructure, which can allow owners to have detailed information on their stores, so that they can make better decisions about their stores going forward.”
Bring the Iconic Auto Repair Franchise to Your Community
With nearly 600 auto repair franchise locations across the country, AAMCO has remained a dynamic part of American car culture — as well as a vibrant part of hundreds of local economies — since we began franchising in 1963.
AAMCO is actively seeking single and multi-unit operators who are passionate about the brand and committed to providing the highest-quality service. Interested candidates should have a minimum net worth of $250,000 and liquid assets of at least $60,000 per unit. Depending on the real estate selected, franchisees can expect the total investment to be approximately $223,600-$330,500, with a $39,500 initial franchise fee. Reduced franchise fees are available for honorably discharged veterans. Since the auto repair franchise began offering a discounted pathway to veterans through its VetFran program in 2012, several U.S. veterans have joined the AAMCO franchise owner network.
