Phil Gilbert Motor Group
Enhancing the customer and employee experience with Superservice Triage and Podium integration.
About the dealer group
Phil Gilbert Motor Group is a multi-franchise dealership based in Sydney, representing Toyota, Kia, Hyundai and GWM. They pride themselves on delivering exceptional service experiences for our customers.
However, like many dealerships, they face ongoing challenges in managing service appointments efficiently and maintaining clear, timely communication with their customers. With high volumes of bookings and multiple communication platforms in play, they sometimes encountered inconsistent messaging, delays, and difficulty tracking conversations.
Rebecca Browne, Marketing Director / Brand Manager, shares their motivation for trialling the integration:
At Phil Gilbert Motor Group, we’re always looking for ways to improve both operational efficiency and the customer experience. When the opportunity to pilot the integration between Superservice Triage (our VHC solution) and Podium (our Messaging Platform) came up, we saw it as the perfect way to address some of our key challenges.
Both platforms are already integral to our operations, so centralising communication into a single thread felt like a natural next step. It’s all about delivering seamless interactions for our customers while making life easier for our team.
Before the integration
Which challenges did your dealer group want to address?
Service communication challenges
Rebecca explains, “Before the integration, we relied on a mix of SMS platforms that were manually managed. While this worked to some extent, it had its downsides. Customers would sometimes get messages from different numbers, which could be confusing and inconsistent. Plus, our Service Advisors had to juggle multiple tasks and remember to send updates manually, which led to delays and, occasionally, missed updates.”
“Although these methods were functional, they weren’t efficient or customer-friendly. Consolidating touchpoints into a single communication thread via Superservice Triage has made a huge impact.”
The integration experience
Can you describe how this integration has improved your customer and employee experience?
Customer benefits
“The integration has been transformative,” Rebecca says. “Customers now get real-time updates and service recommendations from a single, branded number. This not only reduces confusion but also builds trust. Inspection videos sent promptly via SMS have been especially effective in speeding up approvals.”
“With all updates, approvals, and interactions occurring within a single thread, customers find it much easier to track their service journey.”
Employee benefits
“For our team, the benefits are just as significant,” Rebecca explains. “They no longer have to toggle between multiple platforms, which saves time and reduces errors. Automation of SMS updates directly from Superservice Triage has also been a huge efficiency boost. And having a consolidated communication thread provides a clear reference point for future appointments. What’s great is that they can now spend more time providing excellent customer service, instead of managing so many tools.”
In your opinion, are there any specific features that have really made an impact?
We believe the features which have made the biggest impact would be:
- Single messaging thread for all customer interactions.
- Real-time updates, increasing workshop efficiency.
- Consistent branding, with messages sent from the same number.
- Streamlined workflows for service teams, enhancing productivity.
Results and metrics
What results have you seen since the integration was implemented?
While the project has only recently launched, Rebecca shares some early positive indicators, including:
- Faster repair approvals.
- Fewer missed appointments.
- Increased upsell opportunities due to timely and clear communication.
- Improved team efficiency, with staff spending less time managing communication tools.
Future plans
What are your next steps for the integration?
Rebecca is optimistic about the long-term potential of the integration. “We’re planning to expand its capabilities,” she says. “The next step is to integrate Podium’s Feedback tool and Google review invitations, which will help us close the loop on customer experiences. We’re also exploring ways to include payment communication in the single thread.”