The importance of truly outstanding customer service and a great customer experience.....

Good morning Dealer Elite members and friends,

In my travels I visit hundreds of dealerships as a consultant and sometime as an observer or even as a consumer. Some of the things I see amaze me, some in a good way and some in a bad way. For example I was touring a series of dealership locations over the weekend and I must say that each dealership had a different customer experience.

It was saturday and it was quite warm so I was dressed casually and I visited several dealerships from entry level import dealerships to very high end dealerships.

Here are my observations:

One: It does not matter how expensive the car is or how fancy the dealership or product is it is the customer who matters. Salespeople think they can see who will buy and who will not buy. They even choose who they will talk to based on what they think of the customer.

This makes no sense, you never know who is buying and who is not. Actually most of the people visiting your dealership are in the market for a car and more importantly a salesperson. Engage everyone and treat them like gold so they will not only have a great impression of the brand and location but more importantly a great experience at the dealership.

Why? Well the answer is simple, people love cars, but they hate buying them. If you make the experience enjoyable and fun they are more likely to buy and more likely to pay more as well.

When visited these dealerships what I found was that dealerships like Toyota, Honda, VW and Ford dealerships provided excellent customer service as did most of the high line stores like Audi, Porsche. The very high line stores however provided a very low level of service.

Actually they provided a lot of attitude, but not a lot of service. I felt like they were doing me a favour to even talk to me. I assumed they they have very few walk in clients and would provide a Hilton level of service. Customers who can afford their cars are used to this level of service anyway. Actually I had the same experience in a Rolls Store and even in is Fisker and Testla location.

Simply put, treat everyone like gold, it's that simple.

Customers have choices, and it is critical that you show them why your brand and more importantly your dealership is the place to do business.

I had an bad experience at an Audi dealership 14 years ago and in took my 14 years to even consider looking at one again. Some customers will never look at the brand again, that is how important it is to treat customers right, every time.

Want loyalty? Want more Gross on every car deal? Want Great CSI for sales and service? Want repeat customers and referrals?

The answer is simple, treat customers right, every time!