Yes.

Now let me explain.

In our industry – as well as life – we continuously talk about transparency. Let’s be brutally honest here. Sometimes honesty isn’t the best policy. Is it always that way in real life? If your wife asks you whether she looks fat, you know you’re always going to say “No.” How about those times you go to a friend’s house for dinner and, well, it’s not exactly great. Do you tell him or her? Of course not. You politely say it is good, make a valiant effort to clean you plate and then pick something up to eat on your way home. We like to call these instances of non truth “white lies” and justify them with the knowledge that, in some cases, it’s better to tell a lie than to upset someone by being honest.

Are there parallels in the business world? Of course there are. I’m certainly not talking about deceiving a customer in a transaction, or lying about something of substance. What I’m talking about are those instances where a lie actually preserves a relationship – similar to the goal of the white lies I previously described. When you’re interacting with people, just because they’re customers doesn’t change the fact that they’re human beings. That customer that comes in and needs a lot of help getting financing because their credit is horrible doesn’t need to be beat up and embarrassed. You never know if there’s a co-signer waiting in the wings. You may know for a fact that they aren’t going to get approved anywhere. But you tell them you’ll try. Perhaps you present their file to some of your sub-prime lenders. But ultimately you call the customer and let them know you can’t help them. Think about this though… Some of the most loyal customers began as special finance customers. When one comes through your doors that you can help and they leave with a car, they will just about kiss you. Not only will they be forever grateful, they’ll send every person they know to you. It’s no different with people with excellent credit. It’s all about treating them with respect and providing an excellent buying experience.

There are times when little white lies can actually improve your customer’s experience. For example, imagine a customer calls a week after trading a vehicle in and says they believe they left something valuable in their vehicle. Perhaps this vehicle has already been detailed and cleaned, or even wholesaled out. The fact is that YOU know there is nothing in the vehicle. You could tell the customer you won’t (or can’t) check for them. In which case they’ll be upset, OR, you could tell them you’ll check and call them if you find anything. Which path do you think will be more conducive to maintaining the customer’s satisfaction?

Our world would probably become chaos if everyone could do nothing but tell the literal truth. Customer loyalty and experience sometimes requires telling the customer what they want to hear simply to let them save face, spare their feelings, or satisfy their needs. Keep in mind that there is a fine line but, for the most part, if you treat people right and use your conscience to make decisions -- just as you would if your wife asked you a question that it would be unwise to answer honestly -- you’ll find yourself making more friends and keeping more customers.

Yes.

Now let me explain.

In our industry – as well as life – we continuously talk about transparency. Let’s be brutally honest here. Sometimes honesty isn’t the best policy. Is it always that way in real life? If your wife asks you whether she looks fat, you know you’re always going to say “No.” How about those times you go to a friend’s house for dinner and, well, it’s not exactly great. Do you tell him or her? Of course not. You politely say it is good, make a valiant effort to clean you plate and then pick something up to eat on your way home. We like to call these instances of non truth “white lies” and justify them with the knowledge that, in some cases, it’s better to tell a lie than to upset someone by being honest.

Are there parallels in the business world? Of course there are. I’m certainly not talking about deceiving a customer in a transaction, or lying about something of substance. What I’m talking about are those instances where a lie actually preserves a relationship – similar to the goal of the white lies I previously described. When you’re interacting with people, just because they’re customers doesn’t change the fact that they’re human beings. That customer that comes in and needs a lot of help getting financing because their credit is horrible doesn’t need to be beat up and embarrassed. You never know if there’s a co-signer waiting in the wings. You may know for a fact that they aren’t going to get approved anywhere. But you tell them you’ll try. Perhaps you present their file to some of your sub-prime lenders. But ultimately you call the customer and let them know you can’t help them. Think about this though… Some of the most loyal customers began as special finance customers. When one comes through your doors that you can help and they leave with a car, they will just about kiss you. Not only will they be forever grateful, they’ll send every person they know to you. It’s no different with people with excellent credit. It’s all about treating them with respect and providing an excellent buying experience.

There are times when little white lies can actually improve your customer’s experience. For example, imagine a customer calls a week after trading a vehicle in and says they believe they left something valuable in their vehicle. Perhaps this vehicle has already been detailed and cleaned, or even wholesaled out. The fact is that YOU know there is nothing in the vehicle. You could tell the customer you won’t (or can’t) check for them. In which case they’ll be upset, OR, you could tell them you’ll check and call them if you find anything. Which path do you think will be more conducive to maintaining the customer’s satisfaction?

Our world would probably become chaos if everyone could do nothing but tell the literal truth. Customer loyalty and experience sometimes requires telling the customer what they want to hear simply to let them save face, spare their feelings, or satisfy their needs. Keep in mind that there is a fine line but, for the most part, if you treat people right and use your conscience to make decisions -- just as you would if your wife asked you a question that it would be unwise to answer honestly -- you’ll find yourself making more friends and keeping more customers.

The reason that consumers don’t trust us is simple… the messages we send them aren’t believable.

Point in case: Doug Demiro, a former manager of Porsche Cars North America, and now author of a popular column on automotive website Jalopnik, answered a reader’s question in his column that illustrates this point very clearly.

The question essentially boiled down to this: “Do those letters and e-mails from dealers saying they really want your trade-in actually mean anything? Do dealers really want your trade-in? Are they going to pay top dollar for your vehicle because they have some customer who desperately wants it?”

His answer: NO

Go ahead and read the article. It’s pretty much how consumers perceive these offers. The comments are also rather entertaining. It’s all consumers sharing experiences in which they received a similar offer and actually wanted to take the dealership up on it -- until they found out the dealer couldn’t deliver, or that the offer was unobtainable. And now, in general, they assume ALL offers are simply ploys and conspiratorial plots to entice the customer into the dealership.

Are they right? Is that what we’re doing?

Well, that all depends on how responsible a dealership is in handling their marketing. Dealerships who turn over their entire DMS to outsourced BDCs, direct mail companies, extended warranty companies, or any other vendor without first segmenting out and vetting that database to ensure that it is correct for that targeted message; that the recipients of the message qualify for the offer; are in fact, for the most part, doing more harm than good.

All this type of poorly thought out, uncoordinated mass blanketing of promotion does is create an aura of mistrust with existing customers. By blasting them with irrelevant messages you make it more difficult for the customer to believe ANY message they receive - even if it does apply to them. This practice, which is still more widespread than many realize, in turn gets projected onto the retail auto industry as a whole.

That being said, smart dealers understand the importance of segmentation and relevant messaging. When a dealership realizes that “spray and pray” hurts more than it helps and takes the time to segment its database and send relevant messages to those customers most likely to be interested, the campaigns - no matter what form of marketing it is - will always perform better. Why? While you may be marketing to less people, those people are more likely to take you up on your offer. They’re more likely to convert when they come in, since they will actually qualify. And you’ll spend less money to achieve better results. The side effect of segmenting your marketing messages is that you will start to earn your customers’ trust. They still may not believe everything you send them (even if it’s true). But, when they come in and discover that you can actually fulfill the offer, not only will you win their business, but also their trust. And that’s something all dealerships and our industry certainly needs to do.

The reason that consumers don’t trust us is simple… the messages we send them aren’t believable.

Point in case: Doug Demiro, a former manager of Porsche Cars North America, and now author of a popular column on automotive website Jalopnik, answered a reader’s question in his column that illustrates this point very clearly.

The question essentially boiled down to this: “Do those letters and e-mails from dealers saying they really want your trade-in actually mean anything? Do dealers really want your trade-in? Are they going to pay top dollar for your vehicle because they have some customer who desperately wants it?”

His answer: NO

Go ahead and read the article. It’s pretty much how consumers perceive these offers. The comments are also rather entertaining. It’s all consumers sharing experiences in which they received a similar offer and actually wanted to take the dealership up on it -- until they found out the dealer couldn’t deliver, or that the offer was unobtainable. And now, in general, they assume ALL offers are simply ploys and conspiratorial plots to entice the customer into the dealership.

Are they right? Is that what we’re doing?

Well, that all depends on how responsible a dealership is in handling their marketing. Dealerships who turn over their entire DMS to outsourced BDCs, direct mail companies, extended warranty companies, or any other vendor without first segmenting out and vetting that database to ensure that it is correct for that targeted message; that the recipients of the message qualify for the offer; are in fact, for the most part, doing more harm than good.

All this type of poorly thought out, uncoordinated mass blanketing of promotion does is create an aura of mistrust with existing customers. By blasting them with irrelevant messages you make it more difficult for the customer to believe ANY message they receive - even if it does apply to them. This practice, which is still more widespread than many realize, in turn gets projected onto the retail auto industry as a whole.

That being said, smart dealers understand the importance of segmentation and relevant messaging. When a dealership realizes that “spray and pray” hurts more than it helps and takes the time to segment its database and send relevant messages to those customers most likely to be interested, the campaigns - no matter what form of marketing it is - will always perform better. Why? While you may be marketing to less people, those people are more likely to take you up on your offer. They’re more likely to convert when they come in, since they will actually qualify. And you’ll spend less money to achieve better results. The side effect of segmenting your marketing messages is that you will start to earn your customers’ trust. They still may not believe everything you send them (even if it’s true). But, when they come in and discover that you can actually fulfill the offer, not only will you win their business, but also their trust. And that’s something all dealerships and our industry certainly needs to do.

In the automotive industry, hundreds of customers pass through dealerships on a daily basis. Each of these customers will interact with dealership staff multiple times during their visit - whether they’re there to buy a car, or for a simple oil change. It’s very easy to function as an organization with a focus on efficiency - how quickly can you complete a repair, how quickly can you get someone in and out of the finance office, etc.  We are, after all, in a society that’s always on the move. The trend is to speed things up for the customer. By doing so, however, we neglect the biggest part of customer’s experience and the most important piece of the big puzzle that is customer loyalty: personal interaction.

All too often we go through our days thinking that if we don't get complaints, our customers are happy. But, that’s not usually the case. Running the dealership like an assembly line serves only to depersonalize the experience. While you may not hear a complaint, you shouldn’t assume that every one of your customers had a good experience. You’d think that if there was something substantially poor about their experience, the customer would inform you. And some customers would. But what about little things that affect the experience? In many cases the customer either doesn’t feel it’s worth mentioning, or doesn’t think anything will be done about it. Those customers complete the transaction with you and go on their way leaving dealership employees with the impression that their experience was satisfactory, assuming they will return. And, in many cases they do…

Until another company offers them a superior customer experience.

All of a sudden, this repeat customer simply stops coming in. Oftentimes, we’re left clueless as to why. Did we do something wrong? Was there a bad experience that we didn’t know about? Is it a price thing? Did they move? We mine the DMS and email coupons and offers to dormant service customers that used to come regularly, to invite them back. Sometimes they respond or take advantage of our offers, and sometimes we’re left wondering.

So how then are we supposed to know whether a customer really had a good experience during their visit? It’s very simple. We ask.

Human interaction is the single most effective way of gauging the thoughts of another. Just as you can tell when someone isn’t telling you the truth, or is unhappy despite what they may say, the same occurs when your sales manager or service advisor makes sure they speak to the customer before they leave. Take the time to thank the customer for their visit and ask them how their experience went after each and every transaction. This can help to identify problems. Perhaps it was something as small as the fact that the restrooms were dirty, or there were no paper towels. Perhaps the car wasn’t washed to their satisfaction or there are greasy fingerprints in their car. The customer may just leave feeling irritated. Having knowledge of that fact right then would allow you to fix that issue so that another customer does not have the same problem.

Make it a point to train your employees in the importance of conducting exit interviews with every customer. If they’re in sales, a manager TO is the perfect opportunity to thank the customer and ask how their experience was. You’d be surprised how that previously quiet customer all of a sudden opens up when a new face with authority asks them. In service, have your service advisors or, if possible, your service manager do the same thing prior to a customer leaving. Identifying customer complaints or service hiccups can go a long way towards ensuring that the experience for every customer is as optimal (and consistent) as possible. It doesn’t take much to lose a customer nowadays. Taking a few extra minutes with each customer will show them that you care and that will go a long ways towards earning and keeping their business.

In the automotive industry, hundreds of customers pass through dealerships on a daily basis. Each of these customers will interact with dealership staff multiple times during their visit - whether they’re there to buy a car, or for a simple oil change. It’s very easy to function as an organization with a focus on efficiency - how quickly can you complete a repair, how quickly can you get someone in and out of the finance office, etc.  We are, after all, in a society that’s always on the move. The trend is to speed things up for the customer. By doing so, however, we neglect the biggest part of customer’s experience and the most important piece of the big puzzle that is customer loyalty: personal interaction.

All too often we go through our days thinking that if we don't get complaints, our customers are happy. But, that’s not usually the case. Running the dealership like an assembly line serves only to depersonalize the experience. While you may not hear a complaint, you shouldn’t assume that every one of your customers had a good experience. You’d think that if there was something substantially poor about their experience, the customer would inform you. And some customers would. But what about little things that affect the experience? In many cases the customer either doesn’t feel it’s worth mentioning, or doesn’t think anything will be done about it. Those customers complete the transaction with you and go on their way leaving dealership employees with the impression that their experience was satisfactory, assuming they will return. And, in many cases they do…

Until another company offers them a superior customer experience.

All of a sudden, this repeat customer simply stops coming in. Oftentimes, we’re left clueless as to why. Did we do something wrong? Was there a bad experience that we didn’t know about? Is it a price thing? Did they move? We mine the DMS and email coupons and offers to dormant service customers that used to come regularly, to invite them back. Sometimes they respond or take advantage of our offers, and sometimes we’re left wondering.

So how then are we supposed to know whether a customer really had a good experience during their visit? It’s very simple. We ask.

Human interaction is the single most effective way of gauging the thoughts of another. Just as you can tell when someone isn’t telling you the truth, or is unhappy despite what they may say, the same occurs when your sales manager or service advisor makes sure they speak to the customer before they leave. Take the time to thank the customer for their visit and ask them how their experience went after each and every transaction. This can help to identify problems. Perhaps it was something as small as the fact that the restrooms were dirty, or there were no paper towels. Perhaps the car wasn’t washed to their satisfaction or there are greasy fingerprints in their car. The customer may just leave feeling irritated. Having knowledge of that fact right then would allow you to fix that issue so that another customer does not have the same problem.

Make it a point to train your employees in the importance of conducting exit interviews with every customer. If they’re in sales, a manager TO is the perfect opportunity to thank the customer and ask how their experience was. You’d be surprised how that previously quiet customer all of a sudden opens up when a new face with authority asks them. In service, have your service advisors or, if possible, your service manager do the same thing prior to a customer leaving. Identifying customer complaints or service hiccups can go a long way towards ensuring that the experience for every customer is as optimal (and consistent) as possible. It doesn’t take much to lose a customer nowadays. Taking a few extra minutes with each customer will show them that you care and that will go a long ways towards earning and keeping their business.

There is a group of people that seems to sit in limbo when it comes to dealership marketing messages, especially when it comes to service. This group of people tend to have cars in the 2-year old range. Yes, they’re probably getting the dealer’s random e-mail messages with service coupons. But, this is also the time when these vehicle owners may have to start shelling out more significant money for repair or maintenance work.
 

Many consumers don’t realize that they can still purchase extended warranties and/or prepaid maintenance plans once they have left the finance office. How often do your service advisors inform customers that they are still eligible? Are you sending relevant messages to this group of people? The manufacturer and finance companies are. An acquaintance of mine has a 2-year old car and has received numerous solicitations from Ally Financial for an extended warranty. They even offered 0% interest and to roll it into his monthly payment. Yet he received zero offers along this line from his dealership.
 

Extended warranties and prepaid maintenance programs bring in great revenue to dealerships. I bet that your finance departments are doing their best to sell these at the point of purchase. Why, then, aren’t service advisors making an effort to offer these programs to customers? Chances are their pay plans aren’t structured in a way that gives them any incentive to do so.
 

Consider educating your service advisors. Train them and implement a process in which they inform ideal service candidates about these programs and incentivize them to sell them. You may find that your post-sale warranty and prepaid maintenance penetration increases. Not only does this increase revenue but, at least in the case of prepaid maintenance, it ensures that the customer is tied to your dealership for as long as they own the vehicle. There’s no better person to sell a new car to then the one that bought their current one from you and that has been getting it serviced with you for years.

There is a group of people that seems to sit in limbo when it comes to dealership marketing messages, especially when it comes to service. This group of people tend to have cars in the 2-year old range. Yes, they’re probably getting the dealer’s random e-mail messages with service coupons. But, this is also the time when these vehicle owners may have to start shelling out more significant money for repair or maintenance work.
 

Many consumers don’t realize that they can still purchase extended warranties and/or prepaid maintenance plans once they have left the finance office. How often do your service advisors inform customers that they are still eligible? Are you sending relevant messages to this group of people? The manufacturer and finance companies are. An acquaintance of mine has a 2-year old car and has received numerous solicitations from Ally Financial for an extended warranty. They even offered 0% interest and to roll it into his monthly payment. Yet he received zero offers along this line from his dealership.
 

Extended warranties and prepaid maintenance programs bring in great revenue to dealerships. I bet that your finance departments are doing their best to sell these at the point of purchase. Why, then, aren’t service advisors making an effort to offer these programs to customers? Chances are their pay plans aren’t structured in a way that gives them any incentive to do so.
 

Consider educating your service advisors. Train them and implement a process in which they inform ideal service candidates about these programs and incentivize them to sell them. You may find that your post-sale warranty and prepaid maintenance penetration increases. Not only does this increase revenue but, at least in the case of prepaid maintenance, it ensures that the customer is tied to your dealership for as long as they own the vehicle. There’s no better person to sell a new car to then the one that bought their current one from you and that has been getting it serviced with you for years.

In our industry, one universal sales practice is to tailor your techniques to the wants and needs of the customer in front of you. If you have a young male drooling over that sports car, you’ll probably be talking about performance specs, 0-60 times and horsepower. If you have a young family, you’re probably going to be reviewing all of the safety features of the vehicle. To anybody that’s been in sales for a while, this is old news. Now, however, we have a whole new group of consumers that are slowly, but surely, entering into their prime spending years - Millennials. The question is, are we really engaging them in a way that earns their business and encourages customer loyalty?

These will be the customers that your service department will try to retain, while also being repeat customers in sales for many years to come. While they still need cars and will buy them, the question is whether or not we know enough about the factors that contribute to creating a brand advocate out of a Millennial. Do they have the same types of loyalty traits that we’ve pursued in the past? A glimpse into this finicky group of young people published on Business Insider, may cause you to change your sales techniques.

In a study run by the “America@250,” it was found that sustainability is one of the most important factors to Millennials.

• 34% of Millennials find it important that the vehicle they purchase uses little to no fuel, versus 26% of Baby Boomers.
• Only 24% responded that the fact that the vehicle was made in America was important, as compared to 42% of Baby Boomers.
• 16% of Millennials said that whether the manufacturer takes care of the environment is important and matters to them, versus 6% of Baby Boomers.

Apparently, fuel economy is not only an important consideration in vehicle choice, but also an important attribute in whether or not the brand can earn their loyalty.

If sustainability and social responsibility are important to Millennials when it comes to brand loyalty, perhaps it makes sense at your dealership to consider adopting - or highlighting - ways in which you can fulfill these expectations. Items as small as clean waste disposal in service, recycling, community service and outreach, may go far into convincing a Millennial to buy a vehicle from you and to earn their loyalty. Next time you find a Millennial standing in front of you (whether that’s physically or virtually) thinking about purchasing a vehicle, you might want to include these details in your “why buy from us” pitch. It might just tip that prospect towards your dealership, versus your competition.

In our industry, one universal sales practice is to tailor your techniques to the wants and needs of the customer in front of you. If you have a young male drooling over that sports car, you’ll probably be talking about performance specs, 0-60 times and horsepower. If you have a young family, you’re probably going to be reviewing all of the safety features of the vehicle. To anybody that’s been in sales for a while, this is old news. Now, however, we have a whole new group of consumers that are slowly, but surely, entering into their prime spending years - Millennials. The question is, are we really engaging them in a way that earns their business and encourages customer loyalty?

These will be the customers that your service department will try to retain, while also being repeat customers in sales for many years to come. While they still need cars and will buy them, the question is whether or not we know enough about the factors that contribute to creating a brand advocate out of a Millennial. Do they have the same types of loyalty traits that we’ve pursued in the past? A glimpse into this finicky group of young people published on Business Insider, may cause you to change your sales techniques.

In a study run by the “America@250,” it was found that sustainability is one of the most important factors to Millennials.

• 34% of Millennials find it important that the vehicle they purchase uses little to no fuel, versus 26% of Baby Boomers.
• Only 24% responded that the fact that the vehicle was made in America was important, as compared to 42% of Baby Boomers.
• 16% of Millennials said that whether the manufacturer takes care of the environment is important and matters to them, versus 6% of Baby Boomers.

Apparently, fuel economy is not only an important consideration in vehicle choice, but also an important attribute in whether or not the brand can earn their loyalty.

If sustainability and social responsibility are important to Millennials when it comes to brand loyalty, perhaps it makes sense at your dealership to consider adopting - or highlighting - ways in which you can fulfill these expectations. Items as small as clean waste disposal in service, recycling, community service and outreach, may go far into convincing a Millennial to buy a vehicle from you and to earn their loyalty. Next time you find a Millennial standing in front of you (whether that’s physically or virtually) thinking about purchasing a vehicle, you might want to include these details in your “why buy from us” pitch. It might just tip that prospect towards your dealership, versus your competition.