Dealers targeted to benefit from nizeX updates

Customer loyalty program, call center among recent additions

This spring has been a busy one for nizeX, the company known for its Lizzy DMS. In March, nizeX announced the release of Lizzy 3.0 and two other launches came in the following months, with a customer loyalty program and customer contact center unveiled.

“Every step we take is genuinely 100 percent customer-driven, so when we do these new releases, it’s to fix problems or enhance what the dealers are doing,” nizeX president and COO Glenn Hancock said. “Usually when we do these things, there are at least five or 10 customers waiting for it to be done.”

Updates to Lizzy

Lizzy Version 3.0 includes a number of updates to enhance operations throughout a dealership, such as a built-in CRM, a complete F&I package and a warranty module.

The new integrated accounting module significantly reduces time spent managing the general ledger, while also reducing user errors. The inventory system tracks exact quantities in each bin location, and the service module has been tied to the payroll module for easier technician scheduling.

Also included was a new shipping module that allows users to print FedEx and UPS labels directly from the DMS. A refurbished communication system pulls orders as they come into a web store and sends tracking information back to the e-commerce site. And a new management system for inventory eases the process for dealerships with multiple locations or warehouses.

“All of our customers are pretty happy with the products that we’ve added, especially the UPS integration and those kinds of things. They’ve been wanting that for a little while,” Hancock said.

But those weren’t the only enhancements to the DMS. NizeX also revealed its customer loyalty program, which allows dealers to customize features specifically for their stores. Dealers can choose how many points customers earn per dollar spent, what points are worth, when or if points expire and what items customers earn points on. Dealerships also have the ability to create multiple loyalty programs, such as a free program available to all customers and a paid program with special benefits.

As with previous DMS updates, Lizzy customers don’t have to pay any added fees to use the 3.0 revisions or the customer loyalty program.

“We don’t charge for the different features. We basically give the dealers a complete system,” Hancock said.

Customer call center

Also new to nizeX’s offerings is a customer contact center that has been dispatched to help dealers stay in contact with their regular shoppers.

Through his years in the powersports, lawn and garden and outdoor power equipment industries, Hancock has noticed a division with dealers wanting to follow up with customers but not finding the time to do so.

“I go into dealerships all the time, and one of the things I fail to see them do more often than not is communicate with customers,” Hancock reported.

It’s well known that keeping in touch with current customers can encourage them to come back and spend more in the future, so Hancock wanted to help dealers fill that obligation. With that goal in mind, nizeX created a U.S. customer contact center, which makes follow-up calls on behalf of participating dealerships.

The center, which has been under consideration for years, offers post-sales and service follow ups, survey calls, service complete notifications, promotional marketing of dealership events and special order notifications. Once a dealership signs up for the program, staff members can choose when follow-ups should occur, such as a week or two weeks following a sale or service. Then, when a purchase is made or an R.O. is closed, nizeX’s Lizzy DMS automatically triggers a follow up and schedules it with one of the contact center reps.

“The one thing that we have that’s actually a huge advantage over any of our competitors, our CRM database is actually built into our system,” Hancock said.

The contact center rep then has access to the customer’s full CRM file, including the service ticket that was recently closed, or information on the sale that was made.

“We’re basically trying to give the dealer a person that basically works there that does nothing but communicates with the customer on their behalf,” Hancock explained.

Another benefit to having the CRM linked between the dealership and the contact center is that dealers can see in real time if a follow up has been completed, so they know if they’re getting a return on their investment. Contact center reps can also alert dealership staff through the CRM if a call comes in that requires a response from management.

“We’re kind of in a unique position because we’re able to communicate a lot better with our customers than any other system would be able to do,” Hancock said.

To better prepare the call center staff for the types of customer responses they’ll receive, nizeX trains each employee on the ins and outs of a dealership, and many of its reps are former dealership staff themselves.

“We actually have dealerships that are close by us, so we’re getting to the point where not only those [customer contact center] people, but people that are hired for tech support that work for us, we’re having them spend time in the dealerships and actually work in the dealerships,” Hancock reported.

When dealerships sign up for customer contact center services, their stores are evaluated for personal needs, so custom action plans can be developed. Contact center pricing varies depending on the services needed, but subscription plans start at $75 per month.

Though nizeX has already been quite busy this year with all these additions, more are in the works. A chat function will soon be available through the contact center, and more software updates are in development.

“We’re not the standard business system that gets something working and leaves it alone,” Hancock said. “We’re always adding to the system. It’s constantly changing.”