Google has partnered with Paragon Automotive, the largest Honda and Acura dealer in the nation, to create new technology that leverages the tech giant’s platform to make it easier for consumers to do business with the dealership.
“We are always pursuing perfection, especially the areas that affect our customer experience,” said Brian Benstock, general manager and VP at Paragon Honda. “Time is the new currency, so we’ve got to move at the speed of the customer,” said Benstock. “If we don’t disrupt ourselves, the customer will do it for us.”
In an effort to improve the customer experience, Paragon is utilizing technology to make it easier for their customers to shop, buy, and maintain their car. Paragon partnered with three technology providers; Google, Team Velocity, and RedCap Technologies, to reinvent the customer experience and to create a frictionless future for their consumers.
Paragon collaborated with Google to develop an automated voice-activated assistant that makes it easier for their customers to communicate with them through “Google Assistant,” which allows customers to use their voice to schedule appointments with the dealership. Through their partnership with RedCap, Paragon also offers a free pick up and drop off service so customers can do business with Paragon without visiting the dealership. Paragon also uses Team Velocity’s Apollo platform to manage, measure, and optimize their omni-channel marketing campaigns to acquire and retain more customers for less cost.
Paragon is using technology to automate the management and optimization of data-driven marketing campaigns that attract, sell, and service more customers for less cost. “The modern consumer doesn’t want to be sold, so we help them buy, by talking to them about what is relevant to them,” said Benstock. “Instead of advertising what we want to promote, we deliver personalized offers that are relevant to each individual customer.”
Paragon creates and delivers hyper-personalized offers to in-market consumers via multiple advertising channels through Apollo, Team Velocity’s omni-channel marketing platform. When consumers click on the offer, it links them to a personal website that has all the offers that are relevant to them, their car, and where they are in their ownership cycle. “Customers appreciate personal offers and they convert much higher,” said Benstock. Paragon utilizes hundreds of Apollo’s ready-to-go campaigns to promote all of the dealerships profit centers, and they use Apollo’s automated intelligence to automatically optimize campaigns to maximize ROI by spending more where the dealership makes more, and less where they make less.
Paragon is also leveraging technology to make it easier for customers to service their vehicle with the dealership after they buy. Car maintenance is an inconvenience that’s amplified when it requires visiting a dealership during working hours. In an industry first, Paragon has teamed up with Google, Team Velocity and RedCap to build an app for Google Assistant that makes it easy for customers to use Google Assistant to contact the dealership or schedule service with the use of their voice. With a few words, customers can contact the dealership and schedule a service. “We are humbled that Google chose Paragon to be the first dealership they worked with to create this new application of Google Assistant and Google Home,” said Benstock. “Their technology is everywhere, and our integration makes it much easier for customers to do business with us.” The app guides consumers through a series of voice-assisted prompts, resulting in scheduling a service appointment without having to speak with a person.
Paragon’s Google Assistant integration makes it easier for consumers to access Paragon Direct, a free service that will pick up, service, and return customers vehicles to their home within 24 hours—without stepping foot inside the dealership. “The whole notion of having to come to a dealership for service is outdated. If a customer doesn’t want to set foot in the dealership, they shouldn’t have to,” said Benstock. With Paragon Direct, the dealership has multiple cars being delivered hourly, so it can be very difficult to manage all the drivers, customers and the communications between them.
To manage all this activity, Paragon uses RedCap’s technology platform to monitor and optimize their deliveries and the customer experience. “RedCap makes it easy for our customers to communicate with our drivers for pickups and drop-offs,” added Benstock. “The redcap mobile site functions similar to Uber, in that our customers can track where their car is and can dynamically communicate with the driver to let them know if they are running late.” David Zwick, managing director of RedCap, added, “The best service experience for the customer is that the customer does not have to experience the service at all.”
“Our customers don’t have time to waste when buying or servicing their car. Technology has changed their expectations so we are using technology to deliver a more personalized, friction-free experience that exceeds those expectations,” said Benstock.