EPISODE 30
What 70% Online Scheduling Adoption Tells Us About the Future
Featuring Guest Tiffani Stefanescu
Episode Description
If you’re still trying to control every slot on your scheduler, you’re probably pushing customers away. Today’s customers don’t want to call. They don’t want to wait. And they don’t want to be told when they can’t come in. They want control, convenience, and clarity. Dealerships that give them that? They’re the ones earning long-term retention. So, how do you design a service experience that gives customers control without losing visibility or profitability?
In this episode, sponsored by DriveSure, Bill Springer sits down with Tiffani Stefanescu, Director of Performance Management at Cox Automotive. With a 13-year career spanning Xtime’s early startup days to her current leadership role, Tiffani shares how data, technology, and cross-brand collaboration can elevate the service experience from first appointment to final trade-in.
Takeaways from this episode:
- The customer scheduling shift: from 10% to 70%+ online appointments and what’s driving it
- Why controlling appointment availability too tightly can drive customers away (and train them to stop using your scheduler)
- How top dealers are locking in that first service appointment before the customer ever leaves the lot
- How declined RO data can be used to identify potential trade-ins and future sales
- The real ROI of alternate transportation (and why it’s worth it)
BILL SPRINGER
and president of Krex Inc.
Tiffani Stefanescu
Director of Performance Management at Cox Automotive
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How Digital Friction Drives Dealership Service Defection
Your dealership may be spending thousands to bring in new customers while quietly losing the ones already in your database. And often, they’re not leaving because of one major failure, but because the experience feels disconnected, inconvenient, or harder than it should be. The solution starts with treating retention as an operating system.
The Convenience Economy: What Customers Actually Value in Service
Convenience isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore, but that doesn’t mean every “convenient” option carries the same weight. Customers are telling dealerships exactly what would make service easier, more valuable, and more worth returning for. The problem is that many of those benefits are either under-promoted, misunderstood, or completely invisible to the people most likely to use them.
The Vanishing Customer: Why Service Customers Leave Without Saying a Word
Customers don’t always leave with a complaint, a bad survey, or a dramatic service lane moment. Sometimes they leave quietly, choosing the path that feels easier the next time they need an oil change, tire replacement, recall repair, or routine maintenance.