Maximize Your ALLDATA Investment

Part One: Customer Greeting and Write-up

Whether your shop has a formal write-up area or simply employs a counter area, ALLDATA can play an important role in initiating a successful transaction with your customers. ALLDATA provides the information you need to clearly communicate what a proper diagnosis entails and that you have the know how to do it efficiently. The following are a few of the information types you might access in your ALLDATA system when your customer first arrives:

• OE Parts Prices
  Here you'll find ready access to original equipment parts numbers and prices for most jobs. While you may not use the OE parts, you can get a very good idea what the job will cost. And, you may be surprised to find that some OE parts are less expensive than aftermarket! To make your parts lookup convenient, ALLDATA includes the parts database on the same CD as the rest of the vehicle's information and displays only the parts for the vehicle you have selected. So, you are saved from constant disc-swapping and sifting through a list of parts for vehicles you aren't working on.
• Labor Guide
  Right along with the OE Parts information you will find the other half of what you need to complete an accurate estimate - ALLDATA's labor time guide. Like parts lookups, the jobs you see here are for the vehicle you've selected and display typical hourly flat rates in addition to warranty rates allowed by the car maker.
• Estimating
  If you do not have ALLDATA's powerful Estimating option, you may want to look into adding it now. With this option, you can simply click a box next to the part or labor function you want, and it will be added to the customer estimate. Then, at Estimate Display, you can finish the estimate worksheet by adding the customer name, vehicle data, mileage, and more. Literally in seconds you can produce a professional printed estimate to begin the job.
• Maintenance Schedules
  While you are preparing your customer's estimate, why not offer them the maintenance service recommended by the manufacturer? You can print the maintenance schedule for the vehicle you are working on and let your customer decide whether to add it to the estimate for the day's work. No pressure selling is required - all you need do is make your customer aware that you offer the service. (User surveys consistently reveal that many ALLDATA owners pay for their systems with this feature, alone!)
• Technical Service Bulletins
  While you have your customer's vehicle selected for making the estimate or retrieving maintenance schedules, you can take a few extra seconds to print a list of TSB titles for them. Again, you do not need to sell -- just hand the list to your customer and tell him or her, "These are common problems the factory has identified for your model car. If any of them look like symptoms you have noticed, let us know and we can tell you what it will take to fix them.'' Customer interest TSBs (typically nuisance items) can be selected without having to view all the other TSBs. This allows for a quick review during service greeting and write-up.
• Service Consultant
  Here you will find dozens of articles explaining many kinds of jobs, from "Why Timing Belts Need Replacing," to "What's the Difference Between 4-Wheel ABS and Rear-Wheel ABS?"

You will also find several inspection forms, and Drivability Worksheets and Symptoms Checklists. Using these forms will improve communication between the service writer and the car owner, and between the service writer and the technician. Better communication results in higher levels of customer satisfaction. In addition, Description of Operation articles provide brief consumer-oriented descriptions of system and electronic component function.