In the final instalment of his three-part series looking at the roles of OEMs, dealers, and customers in the satisfaction process, Mohammad Shahzad discusses the most critical component
We all know how customer satisfaction is crucial to the health of our dealership, but in reality, do you actually know how your business rates it? Do you know what steps you need to take to enhance that satisfaction?
Boiling it down to the most simplistic level, satisfaction from a customer’s standpoint means having his or her needs and expectations met. If customers receive what they want, they will be satisfied.
While the concept is simple in theory, customer satisfaction is a much more challenging and complex issue to resolve in practice. And today those challenges and complexities are arguably greater due to the amount of information available at your customers’ fingertips.
This access to information also has another effect, namely that today’s customers continually expect better service. This is true with everything they buy, whether it’s an airline ticket, a hamburger, or a new car. The increasing level of education and demands of consumers for products and services means that in our industry, those dealerships that have structured their business to meet and exceed these expectations have proven to be successful.
These dealerships do more than simply provide a product or service. They often looked to other industries as a source of inspiration to help them achieve greater success.
Take the case of McDonald’s, where success is not just attributed to the menu. McDonald’s customers want and expect speed, efficiency, low price and convenience. The entire tangible and intangible “package” the company provides has helped establish McDonald’s as a leader in a competitive fast food industry.
TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE
This example illustrates that today’s customers simply aren’t viewing products on a stand-alone basis. They view the product as a package of both tangible and intangible things. A customer expects more from a new automobile than just steel, glass and rubber.
The customer expects the dealership to provide the exact vehicle that fits his or her needs, along with competitive financing and leasing rates and comprehensive warranty and protection coverage. They want to feel peace of mind and a sense of real satisfaction once the vehicle purchase is completed.
A truly satisfied customer is one whose entire list of needs and expectations has been met, whether it’s owning a vehicle that will accelerate from 0-100 km in under seven seconds or the ability to drop it off at their friendly service department in under 10 minutes.
Today’s customer knows they can achieve this level of satisfaction and have a number of ways in which they can do it. At the dealership level, a key part in helping us meet and exceed these expectations boils down to listening to our customers and taking steps to continually improve our processes.
Studies have shown that people will continually seek out those products, services and providers that best satisfy their requirements. It’s therefore important to understand as auto retailers, that a product such as a car itself doesn’t necessarily need to be rated the best in all categories, only in those which our customers value as being important.
THE HUMAN ASPECT
Sometimes we are so busy and involved with both planning and the day-to-day running of our business, we tend to forget how much of an impact customers have on its success.
Yes, we do integrate the faceless, nameless customer in our planning processes, but all too often we tend to think of the customer simply as an entity that buys our products and services.
The irony is, that while we’re so preoccupied with finding ways to bring customers to us via our “planning,” this preoccupation means we are not focusing on the real needs of the customers we have, causing them to leave us for our competitors.
The question is when we are planning strategies for winning over customers, do we really spend enough time thinking of them as fellow human beings who are also planning with the objective of realizing specific goals, needs and expectations?
It’s important to remember that the customer is our boss on the sales front and that boss’s boss when it comes to after sales service.
The smiles that we earn from our customers are our greatest reward. Customers today expect an imaginative, high–quality experience in a multichannel environment and at the dealer level we really need to see this first and foremost as an opportunity.
Your dealership can leverage new strategies and technologies to create operations capable of making good on your customer-centric promise and growing your business.
“The consumer is the biggest winner in the consumer-centric automotive industry. Increased access to information has given consumers considerable power, and in the future that access will have even more impact through negotiated pricing and service.” — Stanley A. Brown, Customer Relationship Management: A Strategic Imperative in the World of e-Business.
The primary task of a dealership is to handle customers’ core concerns and resolve them effectively on a day-to-day basis. Take complaints and turn them into opportunities for regaining trust and strengthening relationships with your customers. By doing so you can increase revenue, boost CSI and maintain long-term retention.
Remember, customers are the fuel and force that drives your dealership’s success. If they are happy, they are loyal. It’s that loyalty that will sustain your business.
