As the fixed operations director at AppleTree Honda and Acura, Richard Lupo has overseen the consolidation of the store’s platforms, service advisor retraining, and the leaning into mobile service to maintain and gain new customers.
Lupo, who started in the service department and became a master technician, still loves getting into the details, reading every manual, and learning how to do each aspect of the job.
Getting aligned: At their two stores, Lupo has led a two-year process of pairing down vendors to a fully integrated Reynolds stack — CRM, video MPI, payment, and live feeds from alignment machines and brake lathes all feeding into one screen. A main driver of increasing the efficiency of their service consultants.
“If they're not having to go 13 different screens open, 27 different passwords, go over here to send a text, and over here to get a payment, and over here to do video, and all those kinds of things…it goes right into Reynolds, so they never have to leave that screen,” Lupo explained to Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc.
On retraining staff: Lupo said the dealership has been retraining consultants, starting with a full evaluation that uncovered improvement opportunities for some staff members.
"Our customer-pay mechanical, we have seen a lift in the average hours per repair order, and with no drop in the effective labor rate,” Lupo said.
Going mobile for new customers: A focus for the dealership has also been bringing in vehicles that haven't been to the store before.
One of the top strategies is utilizing the store’s mobile service. It has allowed the dealership to reach customers 30 to 40 miles away who purchased but never had their vehicles serviced at the store.
“We’re reaching out and servicing those customers. You're talking about brand defection, dealer defection, and you're capturing and recapturing those customers, bringing dealer-level service to their driveways."
His goal by the end of the year is to max out the first van and have two more on order. Lupo shared how quickly demand materialized, without a marketing campaign.
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Bringing vendors together for a solution: He worked with two vendors to integrate their tools to overcome the pain points of scheduling from driveway to driveway. Lupo uses Spiffy for vans and logistics software, and Blink AI for online scheduling. He connected the companies himself to develop a solution.
"I got the two of them together. And they knocked it out of the park.”
With that, customers can now book a mobile appointment on the store's website, and the van schedule updates automatically.
Blink AI has also allowed the dealership to go from 80 to 800 online appointments per month. A big part is making it easier for the scheduler to use.
"A traditional online scheduling takes, in some instances, 28 clicks and typing to make an appointment. That is now down to a new customer, five clicks, and a returning customer, as little as three to four clicks,” Lupo said.
Bottom line: None of this is revolutionary, but that’s the best part. What Lupo is doing is just paying attention to the tools, the workflow, and the small inefficiencies that compound over time.
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