Garage owners are busy people. Admin and general organisational tasks can be an inconvenience and a challenge, but it’s clearly an important part of the operation, especially when it comes to managing your diary, progressing jobs and overseeing general workflow.
A simple garage management system can simplify all these tasks, saving you time and hassle. Most systems also have features to help you communicate with customers in an automated way. With some applications customers can book appointments, check in themselves when they drop their vehicle off, and get appointment and MOT reminders from the system. The ideal simple garage management system for many garage owners is one that can manage their diary whilst making garage ownership life easier to navigate.
In this article we’re going to explore how a simple garage management system can revolutionise your garage operations at a low cost and with minimal disruption.
Manage appointments
When dealing with modern-day businesses, customers are used to being able to do things quickly without the need to contact a company by telephone. When booking a restaurant or even a holiday they can do this without speaking to anyone – there’s no friction to acquiring customers. The customer can do it all themselves online saving the company time and money whilst providing customers with total convenience.
Many garages are still catching up when it comes to what customers now want and expect. A simple garage management system can manage your diary, allow customers to book with ease and manage your workflow whilst you focus on the jobs at hand.
Manage tasks
A simple garage management system will also let you take control in situations where you need to as you can get a clear overview of appointments, make notes and make changes.
Ultimately, having a system in place helps you to avoid double bookings or overbooking, reduce waiting times, and optimise your garage's workflow.
Get vehicle information in a single-click
Most simple garage management systems allow you to access live vehicle information, MOT history and lookup addresses immediately whenever you need to.
Get repeat custom and avoid ‘no shows’
Garage management systems are the communications bridge between you and your customers. Most simple systems should enable you to communicate directly with customers via SMS and email, meaning you need to spend less time on the phone. You can send customers appointment reminders and MOT and service reminders automatically, helping you retain customers and generate increased business. A simple garage management system can make your life easier, protect your time, and improve customer satisfaction whilst making complete business sense.
Make check-in easy for you and your customer
Are you tired of having to stop in the middle of a job to deal with a customer arriving to drop their vehicle off? Do customers like standing around waiting and staring at you until they manage to get your attention? No and no. Most simple garage management systems come with an in-built customer check in feature making checking in vehicles much more seamless for both parties.
Simplify all aspects of finance
A simple garage management system often includes invoicing and billing capabilities and can integrate with your accounting software. You can generate invoices, track payments, and manage financial transactions effortlessly with the right system in place.
A simple garage management system can also help you make more informed business decisions thanks to its reporting capabilities. Get valuable insights into revenue, expenses, labour hours and customer trends. Analysing this data can help you identify areas for improvement, measure performance, and make better strategic decisions.
Consider your garage's specific needs and budget when choosing a garage management system and opt for a solution that offers the right features for you. The fact that you should have access to all the features we’ve analysed here with a simple system means most garages don’t need to spend large amounts on complex systems if they would only need a fraction of the features available.
A simple but effective solution is all that most garages need.
Are you looking to move away from paper and embrace technology by implementing a simple garage management system?
We can help.
Introducing Simple GMS
Simple GMS is exactly how it sounds – simple! It’s a basic solution with all the features we’ve discussed here to help you move away from paper-based operations. Manage jobs, customers, vehicles, finances and more via our single, easy-to-use application. Book your demonstration today and we can show you how it all works and how easy it is to use and implement. Plus, there’s no obligation!
Book yours now.