Your dealership’s good reputation can be lost in the blink of an eye when customers get vocal on social media
Social spaces are a voice and a contact point for your dealership business, so it’s only natural that your customers will use these them to enquire about products or services, make complaints, express compliments or raise any concerns they may have.
Social Media is a unique public environment that has its own culture and expectations. Traditional customer service and public relations may not be enough to handle complaints, negativity or inappropriateness online.
The fact that complaints will be aired in public is an extra incentive for customers to use your social channels to force a quick response. It can take a long time to build up a good reputation for your business but it can be lost quickly through poor judgment or mishandling of customers.
However, many complaints and negative situations can be turned into positive ones with exceptional customer service. By dealing with complaints efficiently and showing you care about your customers, the positive impression this gives to your dealership often outweighs the negativity brought to light by the original complaint.
I had an angry customer voice a complaint recently on social media. When this serious situation with negative comments came to my attention, the first step I took was to review and confirm the history of events. Without delay, I spoke to the customer to acknowledge the concerns and assured that I would resolve the situation swiftly within an agreed upon time.
After this, I followed up with the department manager involved and got the issues fixed, had the vehicle re-checked, invited the customer for final delivery, and thanked the customer in person. Here is the customer response posted on the same social media site, after resolution:
“A negative quickly turned into a positive after speaking with Shah (Customer Relations Manager). Customer service at its best!!!”
I have been dealing with customer concerns for over 30 years and have closely observed the severe impact of digital social media — and it has changed the footprint of the customer service landscape. In fact, it’s now much more of a challenge to resolve issues posted on social media.
In the past, customers preferred face-to-face conversation to review their issues, which was easier to resolve through dialogue and body language. Now, customers who fail to express a concern or issue to an on duty manager can turn to social media easily while in your dealership and express their experience to hundreds of their friends or followers. We must be more vigilant when facing such customers.
When feedback is positive, the impact can be tremendous on your business. However, if the response is negative, social media channels provide a near instant amplification for unhappy customers who can turn into a vile, unrelenting beast that tears your dealership down, if not handled professionally. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you’ll need to take certain steps to ensure complaints are handled correctly.
Have a written SOP (standard operating procedure), a clear policy and process for handling complaints on social media, and train your customer satisfaction team, so that those responding to complaints do so in a correct and consistent manner. Establish a dedicated customer relations department to monitor, measure and manage customer concerns.
Create a separate customer service account on social media sites to provide your customers with a dedicated place they can go for help. Once the issue is resolved, inform customers that your help account exists, and ask them to use it in future.
If a negative or controversial comment comes up on social media take a screen capture or document it in some way. Some things can be deleted or modified by the poster, so it is important to have proof if the matter is contested or the issue escalates.
Do not delete negative comments. It is an illusion anyway, and will bring into question your integrity to not only the complainer, but also to all of your followers. However, if you do find any racist or derogatory comments, you can block users who abuse the site.
Clearly, dealing with customer complaints on social media is important, but more important is how you respond to comments, both negative and positive. Monitor your accounts regularly so you’re in a position to respond as soon as possible. The time it takes to respond is a key factor in getting customer service right.
A speedy response will instill confidence in your business, while a slow response can make the customer feel unimportant. Even if you’re unable to resolve an issue immediately, letting customers know you’re listening is better than silence.
Apologize for any inconvenience caused or for any fault on the part of your dealership business practice. Don’t be afraid to take the blame if the fault does lie with your product or service but do also reassure the customer that you will do your best to resolve the problem. Accepting responsibility will go a long way to building trust with not only the person complaining, but also the viewing audience, some of whom may be in the process of weighing up whether to choose you over your competitors.
Resolve issues in the place they were raised and consider closing off the issue publicly where it was first raised, so the audience can see it was resolved for the customer, or that you’re endeavoring to fix the issue. You might even thank the customer for raising the issue.
If a problem escalates or you feel that it can’t be resolved with a few replies, ask the customer to send you their contact details so you can reach out and resolve the issue privately.
Understanding how to deal with angry customers on social media is actually quite a challenge. Responding to social-media complaints is absolutely critical for your dealership business. You cannot control complaints completely — all you can do is to monitor, measure and manage effectively within your means and resources.
Social media is a quick and powerful conversation tool, which can also be used to connect, engage, and establish trust and loyalty with your current and prospective customers.
