Dealerships are turning to technology and new processes to help improve customer experience and boost loyalty
Survival in today’s automotive market may hinge on a car dealership’s ability to provide an integrated customer experience strategy — a key factor in improving retention, according to EY’s Future of Automotive Retail report.
To tackle the issue, dealers can start by dividing the customer experience into two categories: time and satisfaction. Time is the new currency in retailing — the thing no one has more of, and satisfaction is a key factor in loyalty and therefore retention, according to Andy Moss, CEO of Roadster, a U.S.-based commerce platform for car buying.
“What we see is that the time it takes to go through a (traditional) car buying process is something that consumers don’t expect anymore because they don’t do that in any other (retail) category,” said Moss, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “If you can apply technology to make things more self-serving, if in the dealership you can use that same technology to expedite the process, that is a huge factor in consumer retention.”
The technology advantage
It’s no secret that dealers need to implement, upgrade or even expand the online part of their business to help consumers save time and add efficiency to the buying process. But if dealers can also empower their frontline salesperson to do more of the transaction using technology, and provide more of a one-person style approach to dealing with the customer, they could also increase customer satisfaction and therefore retention.
The problem that many dealers face is that their frontline salesperson needs to stay with the customer at all times, and that is not always the case. According to a recent study from Roadster, salespeople leave their customer every 20 minutes during a typical car buying transaction and that translates into lower levels of satisfaction from the consumer.
“What we see is that the time it takes to go through a (traditional) car buying process is something that consumers don’t expect anymore because they don’t do that in any other (retail) category,”
“Our theory coming in was, if the satisfaction is really high with the salesperson, and time saved is important in driving satisfaction, then how much time is the customer spending alone? How much time is the salesperson leaving their side to go do things in the (car buying) process?” said Michelle Denogean, CMO of Roadster. “What we found was this: every time the salesperson leaves the customer’s side, satisfaction drops. And when they’ve left more than three times, it drops by 30 per cent.”
Satisfaction and retention are directly connected, she said. Satisfaction is also tightly correlated with a salesperson leaving a customer’s side — and considering 25 per cent of the time the customer has no idea what that salesperson is doing when they are away — the situation plays on their level of happiness.
It’s an indication that dealers need to learn to make the hand-off between what the consumer did at home to the moment they walked into the dealership. This is the omni-channel aspect of the customer experience.
“That’s where technology can really come into play: if you can empower your salespeople with technology then all of a sudden they don’t have to leave the customer, they’re not waiting for other people in that process,” said Denogean. In other words it’s about trying to drive that efficiency by pushing the salesperson to increase the customer’s satisfaction and make it an overall better experience.
The study also revealed a number of inefficiencies with the in-store sales process that result in a customer becoming frustrated. Nearly a quarter of consumers surveyed stated they were asked to provide information they already had completed online: 41 per cent were asked to re-submit basic contact information, 43 per cent were asked to re-fill out their credit applications, 33 per cent were asked to re-state their desired payment terms, and 25 per cent were asked to re-state their vehicle of choice.
It’s an indication that dealers need to learn to make the hand-off between what the consumer did at home to the moment they walked into the dealership. This is the omni-channel aspect of the customer experience.
Sales & service perspective
On the sales and service side of the equation, the process of improving customer retention begins right at the top, with the owner. If the owner of the dealership demonstrates leadership and succeeds in showcasing the importance of treating their customers well, employees will follow suit, according to Denis Tardif, CEO of Suly. The Quebec-based company is known for its service and sales retention strategies.
“When I walk into a new dealership I always spend about 10 minutes observing my surroundings,” said Tardif. “Before even meeting the owner, I already know who they are just by the way the dealership is maintained, and by the attitude of the staff.”
He said dealers need to take a moment to really look at their employees when they’re working — especially considering this: the primary reason a customer returns to the dealership to get their vehicle serviced is often related to the technical advisor. If they are smiling and are able to meet the customer’s needs, chances are that person will return to the dealership again and again.
Employees must also have the necessary training (and the time to be trained) to sell and inform the consumer. They need to be able to explain the importance of getting their vehicle serviced regularly, and this information needs to be exchanged when the customer’s vehicle is delivered. The salesperson also needs to take notes about the customer/prospect to offer a more personalized experience the next time they connect — whether by phone, online or in-person.
“If I call you and I hear a lot of noise in the background, and you mention that it’s your daughter’s birthday party, I need to take the time to write that down so that I can ask for news about her in the future,” said Tardif. “This information will allow me to impress the customer and it ensures a more personalized discussion that makes them feel special.”
Phone service
Another issue that dealers need to tackle involves incoming calls. Tardif said the majority of appointments are made over the phone, and advises answering these calls within a reasonable timeframe (less than 45 seconds), and to ensure the person answering the phone is trained and has the time to actually make the appointment.
The phone is arguably one of the biggest issues a dealer faces to improving the customer experience, according to Mike Haeg, VP of Automotive at CarWars — a U.S.-based company that helps dealers “own the phone.” He said it’s a problem that is quietly happening behind the scenes.
“Maybe they ask for the service department, maybe they ask for sales. Whatever the case, they end up talking to a receptionist who is very likely friendly and helpful, and who transfers them — but then the caller sits on hold for minutes at a time, and they either end up with the wrong department, they go to voicemail, or they hang up because nobody will help them. Or worse, they hang up without even leaving a message,” said Haeg, adding that the problem is related to the call not being connected to someone that could help the prospective customer.
Right now at any given time across the industry, within the U.S. and Canada, approximately 30-40 per cent of calls made to dealerships do not reach someone who can help, said Haeg. This means that four in 10 calls are transferred to the wrong department, or voicemail, or the caller will hang up without leaving a message. “That’s four of 10, which is a really gnarly customer experience.”
He said most dealers do not even realize this is happening, or if they do they have either given up or they’ve resigned themselves to the situation. More importantly, they don’t know how or what to train their staff on.
“If someone handles the phone at your dealership, instead of just cold transferring the call to a different department and then hanging up and hoping somebody answers, maybe transfer the call, wait on the line, and if nobody picks up, then re-engage that caller and try to help them in another way,” said Haeg. “We call that a warm transfer.”
With that in mind, perhaps the simplest way to improve the customer experience is to ask yourself this: what are the things that you like or dislike about your own experience with online and in-store retail businesses, and how can you reflect these observations in your own business?
“It does require some training,” said Haeg. “It’s not rocket science, which is good news.”
