How Electronic Key Control Helps Combat Dealerships’ Top Challenges

It’s tough finding the budget to prioritize all your dealership’s challenges, from employee retention to customer satisfaction to compliance. However, even if you do invest money in one of these areas, there is a common denominator that could be worsening each of these challenges and putting your investments on the line. That denominator is key control.

Consider the role key control plays in the following three areas:

Employee Retention

For many employees — especially salespeople and service advisors — time is money. Anything that extends the sales process longer impacts their earning potential. If your dealership struggles with keys frequently going missing, employees have to spend time searching for them. When they have to cope with longer processes, they have to deal with more frustrated customers, which can increase their stress levels. These factors alone are enough to cause them to look for another job. And turnover will cost you around 33% of an employee's salary.    

Electronic key control systems offer features that allow employees to do their jobs more efficiently, including a mobile app, DMS integration, and automatic electronic key log updates. These capabilities increase employees’ earning potential and reduce frustration, making them want to stick around longer.

Customer Satisfaction

When you’re constantly onboarding new associates, it’s difficult to prioritize customers. Turnover not only creates a lack of continuity for customers, but also creates process breakdowns. New associates are more prone to mistakes like misplacing keys or failing to update a key control log. These errors force other staff members to take longer serving customers, which makes a negative impression on the consumer — especially in the sales department. Every minute counts.

Incidentally, after you’ve implemented tools to make employees' jobs easier, they’ll be happier and more motivated to meet customers’ needs. Your customers will also appreciate not having to wait while sales reps and service advisors track down keys.

Inventory Management 

In recent years, high demand and global shortages have driven up vehicle prices to record highs. This surge in prices has led to a shift in consumer behavior, with more customers opting for used cars to save money. Now, prices are returning to normal and supply is improving. But what does normal look like for year dealership? How do you ensure you don't end up with rapidly depreciating stock on your lot?

With your key control system's advanced reporting features, you can identify which vehicles have been sitting on your lot for extended periods. Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your marketing and sales strategies to prioritize selling aging inventory to potential buyers who are most likely to make a purchase. Agile inventory management allows you to navigate market fluctuations while providing a seamless buying experience for customers.

The challenges of keeping your employees happy, your customers returning, and your stock fresh don’t have to interfere with your dealership's success. Fight them head on by addressing your key control first.