Paul and Polly Rupp have never backed away from the future.
“I’m an engineer and I’m really into efficiency,” Rupp says. Even the name of their shop infers this—New Concept Auto Service (Overland Park, Kans.).
Rupp may be the only shop owner with a NCAS-approved acronym list to keep communication simple, terse and technical.
“On their first visit, customers get an MRI done for free—Maintenance and Repair Inspection,” he says.
“It helps us secure their business and gain repeat business after an incredibly thorough inspection. We do it for free, they’re in our system and they’re excited to return.”
It’s not the only acronym Rupp champions. CAT = catalytic converter. DR = distribution rotor. RADCAP = radiator cap.
All these acronyms help Rupp’s team increase efficiency and productivity in their communications, but the way he uses them falls under a greater acronym umbrella—KPIs, or key performance indicators. He also has a tool to help him and his staff collect, store and interpret data of all types—the KUKUI All-in-One Success Platform.
He had a previous data platform but was unsatisfied with its performance. Once New Concept implemented KUKUI, everything changed.
“It was like going from DOS to Windows,” he says.
Spoken like a true engineer.
Intuitive, Simple & Effective Data
KUKUI's All-in-One Success Platform provides a previously unfathomable amount of data from its performance dashboard. It provides immediate, real-time access to shop revenue, car count, customer conversion rate, email address capture rate and much, much more. Understanding metrics such as these provides a comprehensive glimpse into why your shop functions the way it does—and a roadmap to more customers, more revenue, more everything.
“I know all the KPIs are on there,” Rupp says.
“When they first launched the new platform, I was amazed: the graphics are so simple, logical and easy to look at and understand. It’s quite refreshing. It’s easy on the eyes. I struggled with our old platform, and the KUKUI Dashboard is seamless. It’s very easy to process and access the information.”
On the marketing side of things, Polly Rupp enjoys the reviews feature of the dashboard.
“I gravitate toward outreach,” she says, “and in a repair shop, whenever you have the time to look and respond, you can. The KUKUI reviews system is intuitive, simple and makes it easy to respond to our customers.”
Using an integrated, comprehensive and real-time reviews system allows shops to increase their net promoter score—another useful KPI. The net promoter score is a measure of how many customers promote the shop, denigrate the shop or are somewhere in between. Responding to reviews is a slick way to recognize your customers and meet them where on their own terms—through their mobile phones. The marketplace, after all, has gone digital.
The customer map feature of the dashboard enables owners and staff to check how much they earn in different parts of the community, showing the 10,000-foot-view of where your customers live. This data allows you to adjust your ad campaign, including Google, Facebook and Yelp ads, SEO efforts, direct website visits, and direct mail.
You know the old saying: “If you can’t beat ‘em, capture ‘em in a multimedia digital and direct-mail campaign blitz using data from the KUKUI dashboard.”
The No. 1 KPI: The RUSH Number
More than anything, Rupp is confident that KUKUI enables quick action in the shop, increasing efficiency and keeping all the wheels moving. And he’s excited for what KUKUI could mean for his favorite KPI.
Speaking to him, you can hear the gears grinding about what makes his shop tick.
“I started poking and pulling at the USH number—unfinished sold hours,” Rupp says. “Basically, when a tech says he doesn’t have cars to work on, we provide them more from the lot. Meanwhile, the previous job’s parts arrive, and now they have too much work. I started walking around the lot and looking at the five, six, seven cars that needed work, and I added up the estimated hours. That’s the USH number.”
Add another letter—R, for Rupp—and we’ve got the RUSH number KPI.
“Yes!” Paul says with a laugh.
“We want to see that on a KUKUI dial. It’s an important number to track. I am dead serious about putting it on the dashboard.”
Will KUKUI respond? As a data-driven company, there’s only one possible response.
“It’s going to change the industry!” Rupp says.
To learn how KUKUI can change your shop’s numbers for the better, check out kukui.com/analytics.
