The more structured dealers, with or without the support of the companies they work for, have set up monitoring systems for their activities through the release of feedback from customers since years. It is not often an “autonomous” job, but it derives by the fact that car manufacturers recognize a reward when this feedback is above a certain percentage.
Not all customers are contacted for sales, and this aspect already opens a world of variables; there are those who consider only privates and not companies, others only new and not used. Then others make a distinction between the various sales channels- whether funded or not, only above a certain value or if there were certain margins.
For the After Sales, the sectorization of the feedback may depends on the brand, if the purchase of the car was made from a competitor, if it is a simple coupon under warranty…. the imagination of an Italian Dealer has no limits as well as those who sell these types of services, who sometimes have no skill in the sector.
One aspect that I like to emphasize is that whatever the feedback result is, it must ALWAYS be managed by the Dealer’s staff, in terms of analysis; it cannot be conducted by a random account that analyses the data about buyers of a kitchen in the morning and those about a car in the afternoon.
Having said that, let’s go to the subject of this post … is it still time for feedback, or should we go further?
Let’s face it definitively, the feedback is almost always not needed anymore.
The lost customer will write a negative feedback totally based on his disappointment.
The happy customer frequently avoids leaving a comment, deeming it as superfluous; and, having been satisfied, he finds no reason to share it.
To have useful and constructive feedback, it must be prospective, it must be consultative.
First of all, our reference universe must be identified: is it from a private, a company, new, used, over £10K, repeated purchase etc.
Then you should ask not only the feedback but how the customer would have preferred to be “served”.
Some trivial examples.
Was the delivery of the car in your expectations?
BECOMES
Would you have preferred another type of delivery of the car? If so, which one?
Were you greeted within 5 minutes of entering the salon?
BECOMES
How and when would you have preferred to be welcomed when you entered the dealership?
This kind of activity must be structured and changed when certain targets are reached.
If we decide that 90% is our target, as soon as our dashboard (on the reception process, for example) reaches that value, it will be necessary to change the target.
But the thing to keep in mind is that we must make our interlocutor perceive the importance of his advice and give him immediate monetary value; and on this every Dealer knows how to behave.
The main objective remains to monitor the perception that the customer has of our processes in order to further enhance those rated above the average and to focus on those that are perceived as bad.
This Back Office work becomes an immense source of knowledge even about how the company works and evolves.
If this activity is managed well, and over time, it indissolubly creates a connection with the customer who will feel part of a decision-making process, increasing his loyalty.