People are motivated by many different things. Some by money. Some by time off. But one of the most universal ways to motivate an employee is by recognition. For the most part that recognition comes from external sources; perhaps a customer compliments the employee either in person or via an online forum – then management reacts and shares that feedback with the employee…

Customer satisfaction is one of the burning issues in businesses today. To invest or not to invest into CS improvement? Many companies are still in doubt whether their investment will pay off at the end of the day. Using quantified examples and appropriate methodology, Cisco and IBSG (Internet Business Solutions Group) have drawn up a report with their point of view…

Whether you are the biggest shipper of PCs worldwide, a local bakery, or a small Mid-Western car dealership – you need to provide your customers with the best service support – and resolve all emerging issues in almost an instant.

Why? Your clients are demanding it.

SMS and other …

Business and, as a matter of fact all relationships depend upon good communication. If you do not know something it makes perfect sense to ask. When you do, you may get an answer you either like or dislike, but you will have the most powerful thing, the answer.

This is why OEM’s have CSI (customer satisfaction index) and this is how dealers are…

Customer feedback is important to any business’ growth. That’s why many send out customer satisfaction surveys and managers pay attention to that feedback.

However, sometimes the feedback system is faulty or gets misinterpreted to the point of being useless. Take the feedback system Uber used to have. At the end of each trip riders were prompted to leave…

Automotive recalls present an opportunity to maintain and improve dealer and brand integrity while winning back lost customers and attracting new customers that typically do not service at a factory-certified dealer. Historically, however, recalled vehicle owners have been viewed as a nuisance by dealership personnel. They can at times be frustrated and emotionally volatile;…

Yesterday, my 80 year old mother, took her SUV to the local dealer for an oil change.  Even though it is a lease, she likes to treat it like she would if she owned it and have the oil changed every 3000 miles or so.  So, she pulled into the service lane of the store where she has bought a new vehicle every three years since I was 16 (over 35 years), and where she has had her car serviced every three months since then.  My mom believes that the dealer is the best…

A hot topic of much discussion today is the decrease in the sales process. There are many opinions on whether shortening the time it takes consumers to buy a vehicle is the answer to providing a better customer experience. There’s no doubt that it can be arduous and exhausting for a consumer to buy a car - from finding the right one, to filling out paperwork,…

With almost everything consumers purchase, there’s an owner’s manual or set of instructions for them to use.  For decades, car manufacturers have included an owner’s manual with new vehicles. Sadly, it is no secret that this tidy three hundred-page booklet is one of the least read publications produced in mass quantity. 

Some car dealerships require that…

Automotive News recently carried a story about a lawsuit filed by Subaru of America against one of their franchisees. The lawsuit accuses a Southern California dealership of falsifying 224 CSI surveys in an effort to increase their CSI scores. This was after…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBANY, N.Y. – February 16th, 2015 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) today announced its President and CEO Mike Esposito will speak at the INSIGHT15 Customer Loyalty and Retention Conference, March 24th through March 26th at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, FL. Esposito will present "A Better Way to Customer Loyalty: Focus on Employees First, Customers Second" to auto dealers attending the…

There’s no doubt that customer satisfaction is important to all car dealerships. Whether a dealership actually cares about making the customer happy, or merely wants to ensure that their CSI scores stay acceptable to the OEM, these scores play a major factor in the overall health of a dealership. Poor online reviews can sway a buyer to go somewhere else. Poor CSI scores can…

This article appeared in the March 2014 issue of Auto Success magazine.

If your dealership consistently receives higher-than-average CSI scores, you may believe that a good percentage of your customers are happy and therefore loyal. But you may be wrong. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are two completely different…

I do a lot of work with our sales people at AutoNetTV. One of the recurring statements/themes in our coachings and trainings is, “Did you focus on the value?” One of the analogies we like to use is; you walk into my office and I hold up a pair of scissors. I ask, “Do you want to buy these for $2 dollars?” Typically the response is, “No, I don’t need scissors and if I did I…

Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are two different things. The Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) scores that many dealerships and manufacturers rely on as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) do not really have much to do with building loyalty. Customers can be loyal to a company and have an unsatisfactory experience, or they can have a very satisfactory experience without being loyal to the company.

I believe the CSI surveys should be phased out and replaced with…

AutoWeek spotlighted the ’53 Mercury on their website, and it got me thinking how sad it is that such a storied brand has fallen by the wayside, and that dealerships that aren’t careful can also end up like the dodo bird or Mercury brand.

CSI is critical to SURVIVAL

One of the intangible benefits for our Live Chat products is that it can help guard your CSI. Not just the CSI the factory measures, but the one that has your customers posting…

Today, more than ever, online reviews can make or break your month selling vehicles.  We can search for online reputation management companies and we will get hundreds if not thousands of opinions on how to manipulate the system of posting positive reviews.  Many of these companies state that they have a secret to help your dealership look like they are flawless.  This is done utilizing a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Studies by consumer behavior and search experts say that 7 out of 10…

It is a simple matter of life.  People enjoy being around other people who are having fun!  Positive experiences are contagious.

This past Father’s Day weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my 10 year old son play in the Texas State 10U baseball tournament.  It was hot, the teams were tough, and we were at the baseball fields from 8 AM until 11 PM Saturday and Sunday.  The weekend was enjoyable and will be a Father’s Day I will always remember.  Some might think that it is because…