Organization is key in any business and running your own dealership is by no means an exception to this rule. Not only does this help your employees and salespeople to operate more efficiently but it also helps when prospective buyers are coming to view your showroom. There is no worse scenario than if someone is interested in a car and wants to take it for a test drive, but, due to the lack of organization, you take a while to find the keys or even worse are not able to find the relevant paperwork. It reflects badly on your dealership.
Then there is the security aspect. No matter how sophisticated the security and surveillance systems are you have in place at your dealership, all a potential thief needs to do is gain access to your keys to be able to get their hands on any of the valuable assets within your showroom. That’s why you need to review and consider just how secure your current key management system is.
Options for Key Management
At the moment as a dealership, if you organise your keys in the traditional method of having them on a single keyring with tags attached to each one, you’re immediately going to want to consider changing this to a more modern key management system. All of the modern key management systems have three main parts. Firstly you have the key management software. This is the technology that behind the scenes runs the entire system. The type of software you have can varies and typically you can tailor the level of access you want youand members of staff to have. This means that you have complete and full oversight of your keys. As the owner of a dealership, this is the top-level management you’re going to want to ensure security of your assets.
Identifying Which Key is Which
If you choose to upgrade to a key management system you will need an intelligent key tag attached to each of the keys. This means that the system can then identify which key is for which car, saving you the hassle that you would have usually encountered going through a countless number of keys until you find the right one. Instead, through the interface of the key management system, you will be able to uniquely identify what keys match the vehicle straight away. This system also gives you a great overview of what vehicles are where at any time, knowing which vehicles have been taken for a test drive and what employees have been dealing with which cars should you need to audit for any reason.
Invest In Tamper-Proof Key Rings
The keys in your dealership are one of your most valuable assets. If someone gets access to your keys they get access to your vehicles. Tamper-proof keyrings are a great way to give your keys that extra layer of security that they really do warrant. As the name suggests, these keyrings are able to demonstrate to you clearly if someone has tampered with them. Each of the keyrings has its own unique serial number, providing a thorough end-to-end audit trail which can assist greatly in any investigations. To provide your dealership with tamper proof key rings, consider MBR Marketing: https://mbrmarketing.com/key-control-systems/tamper-proof-key-rings who is one of the top suppliers of key control systems and supplies for dealerships and automotive fleets in the United States.
The Danger of Disorganisation
Having no set process or system in place in your dealership can cause much bigger problems than just a delay in finding a set of keys. A lack of organisation can mean that one of your employees may accidentally lose a key somewhere in the showroom for example. Although this may not seem like the end of the world it is going to incur extra costs from a locksmith and to get an extra set of keys cut. Not to mention the time that has been wasted in replacing the keys. As is true in every business including car dealerships, time is money. Not to mention the damage to your reputation if you had a prospective buyer on hand waiting to test drive the vehicle.
A Positive Customer Experience
Turning the dangers of disorganisation on its head, having an organised key system can lead to a more positive customer experience, leading to more chance of securing those all-important deals. If a customer wants to test drive one of the cars in your showroom there is no better impression to give them than that you’re an organised dealership. Instantly being able to find the key for that vehicle so that they are wasting minimal time and can get the car on the road and the test drive completed ASAP. This positive experience, coupled with a quality car and a successful test drive experience can then be a great way for word of mouth to spread about your dealership and to ultimately increase sales.
Summary
Taking the time to ensure the keys are protected and organised in your dealership is well worth the investment. After all, it only takes one unfortunate scenario or security breach for valuable assets to be stolen or damaged, potentially causing financial and reputation loss. In this article we’ve covered some great ways to implement robust organisation and security into your dealership to ensure that your keys are as organised as possible and your assets protected. So take the steps you need today so that is one less worry you have to deal with and you can focus on vehicle sales and your customers.