The Most Important Thing

The most important thing in our business today isn’t even a thing. It’s the person we call the customer that pays the bills. Surely your dealership would treat that customer who is without a doubt the most important person incredibly well, correct? Go back in your service area and watch the advisor staff take care of your customers. Listen to the interactions for one hour and see if any of these customer care diseases live in your dealership.

The Approach

When the phone rings, does anybody answer it? Do you think your other advisors are saying in their minds “someone else will get it?” Do they acknowledge the customer on the first contact, or ignore them while they’re typing on the computer, or answering the phone call? Did they even go out and look at the customers concern at the vehicle? Did they check the history of this individual to determine what maintenance items should be suggested? I know these are just a few questions that I hope capture your attention about the most important individual in your dealership.

We’ve all had experiences with companies that provide poor customer care and get irritated with all of the interruptions before you are taken care of. How many interruptions do you allow your customers to experience dealing with your dealership? Does your staff even answer the phone promptly? The difference between good and poor customer care lies in the small details that are overlooked in our day-to-day operation. We get so accustomed to run from this problem to that problem to put out a fire, we stop seeing operational issues because that is our normal. I’m confident you see some or all of these issues in your dealership. I’m confident because I’ve literally been in thousands of dealerships all across the United States and have been pretty observant.

The Effort

So the next question has to be, what are you going to do about it? What direct actions can be taken to remove this from your customer experience? It must start by training the staff best practice processes that eliminate this. They must operate as a team and never question what action needs to be taken that particular time. When the phone rings and you are with a customer do you ignore it or answer? What’s your policy?

Make it a constant effort to train your staff with the best practice processes, and never allow your customers to be treated like a cowboy herding cattle again. Provide them a customer service experience that without question, illustrates how much you care about them at every interaction. I am privileged to say this is what our company is all about. If you need help with this we should chat.

Sincerely,
Rob Gehring, President
Fixed Performance Inc.
rgehring@fixedperformance.com
1-888-205-8718 

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