Service at a Car Price
Most car brands do not pay enough attention to their service. They emphasize the presentation of their products, their positioning in the market, but unfortunately not the dealer center employees. However, exactly employees are the ones who form the initial consumer brand perception.
Earlier people have been choosing the company considering the goods’ prices and properties. Today, the fundamental factor for making preferences is all customer experience of consumer interaction with the company and designing a competent customer service.
A client has become very demanding for service. It requests a new strategy of behavior and, as a consequence, new killer features for clients. However, any new strategy does not cancel the basic quality standards compliance. The basis of customer service remains the focus on customer needs. A deep understanding of the client and his needs will make a company be client-oriented. The key to the success of such companies is to constantly assess their customers and respond quickly to changes in their needs.
We have conducted research in Eastern and Central Europe and compared two car brands: the first one is a luxury brand and the second one is a mass brand. Among those customers, who might be interested in buying a car, 24% and 64% respectively did not receive any support during their decision to purchase.
Automotive research by Scheduling
Service managers deal with customers who are focused on the consumption of different products in the same way. It would be good if they worked equally well. Nevertheless, according to the research data, they perform equally bad. The employees simply missed the opportunity to additionally stimulate a customer to buy a car.
Almost 70% of the dealership staff did not even make an effort to influence the client’s decision to buy a car in the premium segment.
50% of employees in Eastern Europe did not hesitate to ask why a client had no intention to buy a car.
In Europe, the number of uninterested employees is 67%.
The study confirmed the undeniable truth. One of the most important factors of good service is the ability to communicate with a client. If you aim to improve your relationships with customers, reach a new level of sales and just become a successful company, you should always remember that an employee is the first milestone that represents your business.
What actions can the service manager carry out in addition to the direct function — to sell the car:
- Offer to exchange used cars and accept old ones for recycling;
- Take part in the creation of a car order at the dealership, taking into account the client’s preferences and tastes;
- Carry out pre-sale preparation of the car and its after-sales and warranty service — passing of scheduled maintenance during the warranty period (replacement of operating materials, technical diagnostics, warranty repair, etc.);
- Sells special bank products for lending and insurance of sold cars;
- Sells original (branded) spare parts. For this purpose, a separate workstation for the spare parts specialist is equipped in the demonstration hall to select and order the necessary part from the catalog or issue from the dealer center’s warehouse.
- Choose luxury services in respect of a client-focused on the purchase of an elite car brand;
- Focus on the consumer experience of a particular customer.
Think of customer service as more than just a seller-buyer relationship. You deal with real people, and the quality of service you provide will be the cornerstone around which the relationship is built.
