Transparent and holistic payment process
- Jalique Ehrbar
- May 3, 2022
- 3 min read
The Wahl-Group starts into a digital future with bezahl.de
The Wahl Group stands for tradition and modernity - for over 120 years the name Wahl has been associated with mobility in Siegerland and beyond. As the world's oldest existing BMW dealership and a RENAULT partner that has now been in existence for over 60 years, the Wahl Group can look back on impressive growth. It now sells more than 25,000 BMW, MINI, ALPINA, RENAULT, DACIA, ALPINE, ŠKODA and FORD vehicles at 29 locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Creation of a Holistic payment process
The cooperation between the Wahl Group and bezahl.de started in January 2021. The decisive factor for the cooperation between the two companies is the holistic mapping of the payment process. "What's special about bezahl.de is that it's not a normal payment solution, but holistic support for the processes in the dealership - from payment to receivables management," explains Thomas Bruss, CIO/CDO of the Wahl Group. The typical challenges in practice, such as the time-consuming querying of the payment status and the availability of the employees in accounting, especially in the evenings or at weekends, can be easily solved with pay.de. Thanks to the live payment status, Wahl-Group salespeople can now competently provide information about incoming payments from customers at any time of the day, without having to consult the accounting department. Which is also happy about the transparent tracking of claims.
Positive Feedback from employees for the digital Introduction
In times of Corona, the process of introducing a new system is a challenge: Employees from a wide variety of areas have to be trained and instructed. The Wahl-Group and bezahl.de were able to prove together that introductory measures such as training courses can be implemented digitally and lead to success. In addition to digital training programs, the retail group has opted for internal training videos, which have been well received by the sales and scheduling employees. Mr. Bruss draws a positive balance of the implementation process: "We have already received initial feedback from sellers who accept bezahl.de well, precisely because it does not involve any additional effort for them, but is integrated into their normal sales tools." Thanks to full integration into the SPS (BMW) and CarLiner (Renault) sales workstations, payment invitations can now be sent automatically from the same tool in which the sales staff plan their daily deliveries. There is maximum transparency.
Competent Support from the bezahl.de team
Another success factor for the smooth start of the cooperation is the communication with the bezahl.de team. Mr. Bruss is particularly impressed by the competent and personal support: "You can tell immediately that the team at bezahl.de has experience in the car trade and knows our pain points and problems. I rate that as very positive.” This applies both to the preliminary support provided by the sales team and to the actual project support, in which a technical contact person and a sales partner with a great deal of experience were always involved. Even after the successful start of the cooperation, the 1:1 support by a personal contact person remains in place and thus ensures a positive working atmosphere.
Extension to the car service Planned
After the successful implementation in the car trade, both companies are expanding their cooperation in the next step to the service and after-sales area. The Wahl Group records around 140,000 workshop visits a year and each one is linked to a written invoice. The payment process, the accounting as well as the control and reminder system are consequently much more complex than in sales. "Since we carry out significantly more processes in service, a tool that helps us to understand the payment status and the payment methods is even more important than in sales," confirms Thomas Bruss. The integrated receivables management in particular facilitates many downstream processes in administration and accounting. In addition, the bezahl.de smartkasse should play an essential role in simplifying back-office processes. With the self-service terminal, customers of the Wahl Group will be able to pay their workshop bills without contact or cash. In addition to shorter waiting times and a faster pick-up process, bezahl.de ensures a clean flow of data into the cash register and accounting systems of the retail group, regardless of the payment method chosen.
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