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Customer Story

Adapting to new technology at Havoline Xpress & Tire Pros

Adapting to new technology at Havoline Xpress & Tire Pros

Tire Pros Success with Podium

 

Doug Levene owns and operates 12 Havoline Xpress & Tire Pros shops in Alabama. During his 27 years in business, he has always focused on delivering high-quality customer service and being an asset to the community. Because of this he has been able to foster a loyal customer base that keeps coming back time and again.

Even with that steady stream of repeat business coming in, Levene is always on the lookout for ways to attract new customers to his businesses. He realized more and more people are relying on Google to find his business, especially younger consumers, so he decided to place more of an emphasis on the online reputation of his 12 locations.

“Online reviews are extremely important, especially for a service business like ours,” said Levene. “Many younger people and millennials are relying on online reviews to determine whether or not they want to do business with you.”

LOOKING FOR A BETTER WAY

In the past, Levene’s Havoline Xpress & Tire Pros locations utilized an email-based tool to invite customers to review the business. The problem with this solution was it didn’t drive reviews onto public facing review sites like Google  or Facebook.

So even though they were receiving feedback on the business, potential customers weren’t able to see it to help aid in their decision-making process. When Levene heard about Podium and how it was helping other Tire Pros locations improve their online reputation, he knew he had to give it a try.

QUICK AND EASY ROLLOUT

The store managers and employees were quick to buy  into Podium once they saw how easy it was to invite customers to leave a review, and how easy it was for customers to actually leave a review. Many locations saw  immediate results.

“Podium worked closely with me and my store managers to ensure we had the training necessary to be successful,” Levene said. “What we liked most about Podium was how instantaneous the text message invitation was to our customers. Other solutions we looked at sent invitations out the next day or later, and that seemed intrusive to us.”

Levene also put together an incentive to motivate the teams at each of the locations to collect reviews. The store manager whose location has the highest percentage of reviews based on the number of cars they see will receive a bonus.

MORE RELEVANT REVIEWS

In just over five months since implementing, Levene’s 12 Havoline Xpress & Tire Pros locations have collected more than 1,100 reviews and boast a 4.8 star rating across all review platforms. Levene notes having recent and relevant reviews is giving his business more credibility with online searchers.

Levene also likes how the act of asking customers for feedback lets them know that you care about their business, which results in increased repeat business.

“We’re extremely happy with Podium and everything, it’s helped us accomplish,” related Levene. “Podium has done everything they said it would do for our business.”