In our fast-paced society, some of the things done just a short time ago to impress and retain customers no longer work. Today, business owners can’t always keep on top of the latest and greatest ways to keep their customers loyal.  However, there is one thing that hasn’t changed much over the years – personal interaction without expecting immediate returns: a friendship of sorts.

Communication has always been one of the keys to long-term customer satisfaction.  Without any motive to sell your services, or set up another appointment, something as simple as a follow-up phone call can have a tremendous effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Even if you fail to reach the customer, leaving a brief message could still make them feel appreciated.  

Simply pick up the phone and talk to your customers. This could score more business for you in the future.  Who should be making these calls?  Ideally, the person who will be interacting with the customer in the future. While that may not always be possible, this personalized service and attention to each customer is what will impress upon them that you consider them important, value their business and care about them -- even when they aren’t actively at your dealership buying a vehicle or getting it serviced.

Imagine “Jack”, one of your service advisors.  On a slow day, he takes a list of customers he previously assisted.  Away from distractions, he picks up the phone and spends just a of couple minutes on each call. About an hour later, he may have touched twenty customers, and somewhere in the mix, and without Jack’s prompting, a customer mentions that they want to schedule their next service visit.  Without even trying, Jack has new business lined up for your dealership. A little time spent cultivating his customer base today could yield significant business in the future, both from these customers and any they refer to the dealership by being happy, satisfied customers.

If you have the resources, and your employees value customer relationships, have them take a bit of time to pick up the phone and bring a smile to your customers’ faces. It’s not so much what is said on the phone, it’s simply being remembered. 

It’s the personal thought that counts and it’s that personalized attention you bring to customers that will keep them coming back.

If you work in a dealership, my bet is that you are either celebrating because you exceeded your goals, are breathing a sigh of relief that you met them, or are extremely nervous because you didn’t.

This time of year is generally crammed with reports, RDRs, OEM face downs and accountability. It is also the one-time that management and salespeople reverse roles, in a sense. Let me explain:

At the beginning of every month, each salesperson starts anew. It doesn’t matter whether the salesperson was the top salesperson of the month, or the bottom… they’ve all gone from “heroes to zeroes.” Well, as the clock struck midnight and the year changed to 2018, managers also went to zeroes – all the way up to the General Manager. A new year started, and new goals are crafted – and the dealership resets at zero in both the manufacturer’s and dealer principal’s eyes.

In the middle of all of this, some of your most important people tend to take a backseat at the dealership… your customers!

Customer follow-up post-holiday – especially end-of-year -- tends to get a little less effort. While this is true at the beginning of every month (ever had that top salesperson get fat from the previous month’s paycheck and then relax a little to start the next month?), it’s even more true as the new year arrives.

Well, this is the exact time when you should be your most vigilant with customer follow-up. If your dealership killed it during your holiday sales, you would be wise to double-down on your efforts to cultivate relationships with those new sales and service customers who chose to do business with your dealership, not slack off.

Each month there is only a limited amount of time available to your salespeople and service advisors to make connections and impress these new-to-your-dealership customers. It’s not enough to simply rely on your CRM to send automated follow-up templates. You must be a little more creative and pro-active. Customers can see right through that. It’s a new year and these customers can’t be forgotten because everyone is so busy worrying about – or focusing on – the previous year.

Customer loyalty and retention is a full-time effort. It should be consistent, regardless of Holidays or time of year. It’s not enough to double-down acquisition and service recommendation upsell efforts when the month is ending, while slowing down at the beginning of the month. There’s an old saying in the car business – “If you would take a deal at the end of the month, why aren’t you taking the deal at the beginning?” This saying also applies to customer retention and loyalty. Don’t just focus on these follow-up efforts when times are slow, and business is good. You’ll never know if that next customer follow-up call ends in a new sale if you don’t make it.

Currently, at just about every dealership across the country, everybody is a zero. Don’t take your foot off the gas. Charge into the year making every second count -- whether your efforts are in sales, or service.

Don’t wait for that next person to walk through the door that you weren’t expecting. Reach out to your past customers – especially those that recently purchased – and connect with them. You just may find your dealerships starts the new year with a bang.

A recent article on CustomerThink explains how many companies view requesting customer feedback as a weakness. However, by asking questions you can optimize the results of your CX experience and save money because, sometimes what WE think should improve the customer experience isn’t what the customer wants.

If you don’t consult with customers about what THEY think is wrong with the experience, then craft solutions to solve those issues, you can end up like a fortune teller, attempting to read the minds of your customers without really having a clue.

On top of that, customer experience is an ever-evolving thing. You could create the best customer experience in the world and flourish from it. But, if you just maintain the status-quo, you may soon find that your customer experience is outdated – not unlike that laptop or iPhone which is succeeded by the “next best thing.” Customer experience is dynamic and should be a continuous initiative.

When developing any CX initiative, keep in mind that the only way to truly know issues of importance to your customers is to ask them. Find out what they want improved or how their experience is negatively impacted by asking them directly!

However, you won’t get all the data just by asking your customers, because they don’t always respond honestly -- perhaps they are too polite, afraid to offend anyone. So, you also need to ask your employees. I promise you this is far from a weakness, but rather a show of strength, leadership and caring.

By asking questions of your customers and employees your dealership can show that it cares about them; that you are open to suggestions, ideas and criticism. Nobody thinks anyone is perfect, I guarantee you that. The person who thinks they are perfect is the one that probably isn’t.

Take the time to be inquisitive. Never stop asking questions of both your customers and employees. Then adapt, change processes or implement new ones and you will see that everyone works better together to win the game.

Today, consumers have grown used to loyalty programs and they have become the norm. So, to keep their customers’ interest, businesses have been forced to become more innovative and creative with their rewards. In fact, experiential rewards which transcend simple discounts or free services are very much on the rise.

As loyalty programs seek to further entice members to focus on gaining points towards rewards these members desire, a new trend is developing … and the interesting part is that those rewards are products and services at other businesses!

While this may seem counterproductive to the foundational goal of a loyalty program – keeping customers loyal to your product -- it’s quite clever. It’s also not that new, it’s just expanded beyond magazine subscriptions and such. Now, many global brands have teamed up with the retail behemoth Amazon, allowing customers to use loyalty program points to purchase items.

Two large brands I know off recently partnered with Amazon: Hilton Honors and American Express. Both have strong loyal customer bases. Hilton loyalists tend to stay at Hilton hotels exclusively, so they can earn points – like frequent fliers -- who tend to choose a single airline. Points are more valuable – and rewards easier to earn – when they aren’t spread thin across many retailers.

Why then, would Hilton and American Express choose to partner with Amazon, allowing customers to utilize their earned loyalty points as currency on the retail giants site?

Because Amazon has EVERYTHING. Think about it. In the past, a customer with a bunch of Hilton points could only look forward to someday utilizing those points for a future hotel stay. And, customers with the most points are mainly business travelers. Their companies pay for travel, which reduces enticing rewards to just personal vacations.

Businesses have the challenge of keeping rewards fresh, interesting and desirable to their customers. By partnering with Amazon, allowing members to utilize points on the site, they literally transform available loyalty rewards into anything a customer desires! And, the biggest benefit of this is that the loyalty rewards offered will always be attractive to the program’s members!

While some members may choose to use their points towards Amazon purchases, others will continue to use them in the more traditional way (such as towards future hotel stays in the Hilton).

Either way, the consumer is motivated to continue their loyalty with the original business. While also excited and motivated to earn loyalty points. Seems like a win-win-win in my book -- for the brands that have implemented this, their customers and, of course, Amazon.

For many marketers, most consumer messages have long been based on some sort of sense of urgency. Take dealerships, for example. Even when the customer is in the dealership, everything is about the “big sale” and the threat of “buy now or lose this deal.”  

The problem is, it is no longer effective. Consumers have become numb to these messages; the simple reason being that they don’t believe them! There’s always a big sale and consumers fully expect that, if they come in next weekend, or a month from now, there will still be a big sale and a good deal to be had. They believe this because they have all the information needed to confirm it through the many Internet resources available to them.  

But what does this have to do with customer loyalty? 

First, by continuously throwing out these messages, you thoroughly destroy whatever credibility you may have built prior to them coming in. Rightly or wrongly, consumers are already jaded when dealing with car dealerships. This is simply exacerbated if they come in only to be met with high-pressure salespeople extolling how the dealership only wants to earn their business “right now!” Not in the future. Not for life. Not even for another day.  

Imagine going on a first date and telling them that tonight is the only chance they get to have a relationship with you. You’d probably get laughed at right before your date gets up and leaves you standing there with a disbelieving look.  

Relationships with your dealership are no different. In fact, it’s much harder for a business to build a relationship with a customer than it is on a personal level. And, by beginning the relationship with a message of “this is your one and only chance,” you send a message contrary to the one you should be sending.  

Customer loyalty is built on emotion. That’s why we spend our money on brands we love and that make us feel appreciated. Those brands don’t focus on immediacy, or messages of “right now!” Rather, their message is focused on long-term customer relationships by catering to emotions.  

Think of the last commercial you saw that brought tears to your eyes. What about that business involved in philanthropic efforts that you care about?  Or, if nothing else, the one that always delivers excellent customer service and fulfills its brand promise? Those are the businesses which build loyalty organically and enjoy a stable base of loyal customers built on a strong foundation.  

The next time your dealership is tempted to push a customer into deciding “right now,” consider how that will affect the long-term relationship you have yet to build. If lifetime customer value means anything to you, and you would like to see hundreds of thousands of dollars flow into your dealership from repeat, service and referral business, you may want to reconsider your tactics. 

Of course, if you are only interested in the immediate gross profit and don’t care about the future, you may find yourself in an eternal search for the next date. And that may be a lonely journey. 

I know that in writing this article, I’m completely violating the first rule of the fight club. However, my guess is that your dealership doesn’t have one, so I’m willing to risk the wrath of Tyler Durden to help you get started in creating a fight club of your own.  

First, I’m not talking about the fight club that involves salespeople arguing over half-deals taking it “out back” to settle it. The fight club I’m talking about involves one simple truth: 

Your salespeople should be fighting to work in your service drive.  

You know this is true. I bet that you also fight tooth and nail to get your salespeople to work your service drive but, more importantly, to get them excited to do it!  

Look, you’re probably spending somewhere north of $5,800 per month on sales-related software, of which over 90 percent is dedicated to showroom or Internet sales. The average dealer also spends $28,000 per month on advertising. However, most dealers allocate less than 5 percent to service. Yet the average profit per vehicle retailed in service is almost 20 percent higher than walk-in or Internet sales. Why? Because the typical service customer doesn’t come prepared to buy, which means they haven’t had time to price shop you, or research all 24 touchpoints consumers supposedly visit!  

So, why does the average dealer have NO dedicated sales professional for service lane sales? 

Every dealer is going to fall into some sales from their service drive. But, if you’re sitting back thinking about how many service lane sales your store generates every month, that’s the exact opposite of what you should be thinking. Stop focusing on the ones you sold and shift your focus to the ones you didn’t! 

The main challenges in successful service lane sales are people and processes. Integrating a sales process into the service lane isn’t rocket science, but it must be tailored to service customers. Simply throwing a salesperson into the service drive, saying “Go get ‘em, tiger!” will only accomplish two things: it will alienate your service customers; and it will cost you more money from those salespeople drinking the “good” coffee you have for service customers. 

In addition, your service writers don’t have any skin in this game. For every customer you succeed at dragging out of service and selling a car to, that’s a repair order they don’t get a commission on. Sales and service have always butted heads, but that’s only because most dealerships don’t operate as a cohesive unit, but rather as two entities.  

Get your service advisors on board the sales train by including them in your sales meetings. Start spiffing them for bringing prime sales candidates to your attention -- You know -- that customer about to be presented with a $3,000 repair estimate. You might find that suddenly there is less friction and more cooperation between sales and service.  

Don’t throw that super-aggressive closer out there and expect results. Service customers are willing to listen, but they don’t want to feel harassed. In addition, blanket selling to your service customers is unwise. You should know who is coming in to service the next day. By reviewing the service appointments, you can identify customers that are great candidates for a new vehicle. Have value propositions waiting for them when they arrive. I’ve found the most effective sales personality in the service lane is your soft sell guy. The salesperson who presents a value proposition in a non-aggressive, fact-based way can avoid alienating service customers. The customer is then more open to listening to the proposition.  

By failing to have a good service sales process in place, most dealerships are not only missing out on additional sales, but those sales which are typically the most profitable. Gather the troops. Have a heart to heart. Get everyone on the same page. Train the best soft-sell sales candidates you have on how to handle service customers and put them in the service lane. Identify the best prospects and approach them with a previously prepared value proposition in a non-aggressive manner. You’ll find that your service to sales units increase, while holding some good profit. And that’s what it’s all about.

When it comes to customer loyalty, one thing I find that many businesses fail to analyze -- and perhaps one of the most essential ingredients to earning and keeping customer loyalty – is quality.  

Customers may love you and love your staff; they may keep coming into your beautiful facility packed with all kinds luxuries. But, in the end, if the output from their visit isn’t of the expected quality, you may quickly find that the customer’s eyes cloud over and they start to look at taking their business to your nearest competitor. 

Examples of poor quality in service could include failing to fix a vehicle right the first time; forgetting to put the air filter in the car; communication errors; mistakes on the bill; or even something as small as returning the vehicle with a dirty carpet.  

Sometimes the customer will inform you and you can immediately address the situation. But other times the customer may just stay quiet and/or not notice until later. Either way, there was a bump in the road for the customer because the service they received wasn’t of high enough quality.  

Being reactive is much more expensive than being proactive. Think about it. When customer hiccups do occur, dealerships will often not only fix the problem, but also throw in something “extra” as an apology. That extra could be a free oil change, or a gift card. Regardless of what it is, those extras cost money and detract from revenue.  

Dealerships with a quality control process in place that helps ensure they don’t happen in the first place, and identifies these issues before the customer even becomes aware of any problem, find less occurrences of poor quality work.  

What does a quality control process look like? It could be as simple as having the service advisor inspect the vehicle before giving it back to the customer. Perhaps a second technician could do a once-over inspection after the work is completed, just to get a fresh set of eyes on the vehicle. In sales have a sales manager review the deal with a customer prior to sending it to F&I. This can help ensure nothing was missed, that the customer understands all the terms, and that it includes everything the customer has voiced they want included in the deal.  

These simple stop-gaps installed within regular dealership processes can prevent issues from arising. Whether service or sales, many tasks are routine and the simple process of performing the same tasks day in and day out can lead to fatigue or carelessness. No dealership wants to make mistakes. But they do happen – it’s just part of being human.  

To keep the highest quality possible, all staff need to be on the same page and share an ambition for quality, which is of utmost importance in the quest for customer loyalty. 

In building customer loyalty, one of the first things that comes to mind is the customer experience. Many businesses focus on the overall experience and end up missing small things which detract from the customer experience and can even drive people away. Perhaps the bathroom was dirty, or the water cooler was empty. Or it could be something at the dealership which is not quite as obvious – such as emails.  

What? How can an email drive a customer away?  

The obvious way is by bombarding customers with irrelevant e-mails, or, what is now referred to as spam. However, this isn’t a blog about spamming customers.  

Let’s assume your dealership is sending out relevant emails, at appropriate times, via your CRM. Perhaps it’s time for the customer to service their vehicle, or the customer is a new prospect you are reaching out to for the first time. While there is typically a process set up in the CRM for these type of communications, it can be perilous to fail to pay attention to what’s happening in the virtual engagement between your dealership and the customer.  

An article on Business2Community explains that in email communications, simple things can detract from that communication and even turn the customer off. The article shares things that should be avoided in any email communication, as follows: 

1. Spelling, grammar and language mistakes. 
2. Emails that contained sensitive information. 
3. Emails that don’t visually look like a brand’s website.  
4. Emails that take too long to arrive in the inbox. 
5. Emails that reach the SPAM box, rather than the inbox. 
6. Emails that get categorized as a ‘promotion.’ 

Remember that how your email LOOKS is almost as important as what it SAYS. It’s not uncommon to find spelling, grammar and language mistakes in dealership templates. Those mistakes are then going out to every customer targeted for that message, making the dealership appear unprofessional to its customers. In addition, if the email design is completely different to the look and feel of the dealership’s website, that can cause a disconnect in the minds of the customer. It then either ends up ignored completely, or is not at all memorable.  

When communicating with a customer in real-time, time also comes into play. The customer is waiting for an answer to a question – perhaps, “What price can I get,” or, “Is my vehicle ready yet?” The longer it takes to receive an answer, the less pleased they will be with the dealership experience.  

Of course, the final hiccup is one that no dealership wants – namely, communications that go into the consumer’s SPAM mailbox. The instant you hear that customers are receiving your emails in SPAM, a red flag should rise. Actions should immediately be taken with your email provider to resolve this issue, as it could very easily cost revenue via a lost sale. 

It is important to not just sit back and trust that your communication tools are working properly. Regularly inspect to ensure they are. An easy way to keep up with how your communication tools are working is to input yourself into the CRM as a customer. Then let the processes happen just as they would for any customer. When those emails arrive, inspect them for any of the issues mentioned above.  

Don’t just sit back and rely on technology. Small interactional mistakes can create big problems when it comes to retention, loyalty and revenue. When analyzing the overall experience to improve it, make sure you’re not blind to the small things. Each piece of the puzzle needs to be in place before examining the result. Then you can truly know if you have a completed puzzle, or if a piece is out of place. 

While today’s businesses understand the need to provide an excellent customer experience, many don’t truly understand what customer experience means. What’s more, some don’t even realize they already have most of the things needed to provide a truly great customer experience. 

According to an article published by Which-50, 61% of marketing leaders stated that their company has a CXO (Chief Experience Officer), or equivalent position. This alone illustrates the importance modern businesses place on customer experience. However, according to the article, many are misguided and tend to focus on crafting the experience, when what they should be focusing on is the customer’s needs and wants. The fact is, you can’t create a great customer experience if you don’t know what experience your customers want. 

It’s easy to look at your business operations and decide what experience you think your customers will want. You may, however, be misguided by your knowledge and personal bias. Perhaps you think they want speed, when what they really want is service. Or vice versa. Unless you put the customer first; talk to them, ask them and then truly adopt the what they tell you they want, you’ll never have a great customer experience.  

Having a customer-first business environment doesn’t mean that you neglect the company by putting it second. Rather, a great business knows and fosters an attitude that customers and company are equally as important. They know that they work together.  

While this is all well and good, your dealership can’t jeopardize its livelihood for the sake of customer experience. If you do, you may have the happiest customers in the world staring at the “Out of Business” sign hanging on the door.  

The opposite is just as true in that a dealership completely focused on revenue and the bottom line, with no regard for the customer, will also be forced out of business due to a lack of customers. For any business to thrive and grow, a symbiotic relationship should exist between healthy business revenue and satisfied customers. 

How, then, are you supposed to focus on the customer, while also on your bottom line? Through a deep examination of how your dealership can financially support a great customer experience, and then deliver the experience your customers want.  

Your dealership does not have to build movie theaters to provide a great customer experience. In fact, most great dealerships don’t have anything of the sort. The focus should be on the experience your customers want. Then analyze the tools you already have, along with affordable solutions you can acquire, that will enhance or improve the customer experience. 

By approaching customer experience in this manner, your dealership should be able to create an improved customer experience that is financially sustainable. And that’s the only way for the customer experience to remain consistent. 

As times change, so do consumer desires. What hasn’t changed are the fundamental business practices which have led to customer loyalty for hundreds of years. That small shop owner in the early 1900’s kept his customers coming back through friendly and familiar customer service. Granted, those customers didn’t have as many choices as today, but that’s why businesses need to work harder these days to create loyalty. Today, for consumers it is all about convenience.  

An interesting article in Automotive News shares why Audi has been able to post 96 straight months of increasing auto sales and soared from #18 in 2008, to its current position of #1. It’s not due to great deals or superior vehicles. Instead, it is fundamental changes in business practices at the OEM level which support dealers and allow them to provide better and faster customer service. Two key changes credited for this consistent increase in sales are overnighting parts and empowering dealerships to make decisions.  

Previously, Audi used a slower method to ship parts for customer repairs. Customers were frequently forced to reschedule appointments as the parts did not arrive on time. In fact, according to the article, Audi previously discouraged dealers from ordering parts overnight. By changing their parts shipping policies to all overnight, Audi dealers receive parts faster and can turn around customer repairs with greater speed and efficiency.  

Audi also changed its goodwill repair program and now allows service managers to perform goodwill repairs without authorization from the factory. Service managers can fix problems immediately, rather than making the customer wait, which of course means an improved customer experience.  

While overnight shipping is costlier, the benefits derived from increased customer satisfaction proved to be well worth it. Of course, Audi was nervous about giving its dealerships an open wallet with the goodwill repair program. However, after an initial spike in goodwill repairs, the program relaxed into a stable amount, which alleviated those concerns.  

Modern customer loyalty is cemented in convenience and experience. Customers don’t have time to wait around or reschedule. Nor do they like the aggravation when the employee has no power to fix their problem. They will simply vote with their wallets and head to the next dealer or independent.  

By consistently providing convenient and friendly service, quickly and proactively fixing problems as they appear, you can keep those customers coming into you shops. In addition, if you wisely work a well-run equity mining program, that can also translate into additional sales, without the expense of acquiring new sales customers.  

Evaluate your service department and see just how convenient it is to your customers. In addition, analyze your dealership’s use of an existing OEM goodwill program, if one exists. Is it being used regularly, or not at all? If your manufacturer doesn’t have a goodwill repair program, consider creating one at your dealership and empower staff to individually decide when it’s needed to fix a customer experience issue.  

Your service staff will be motivated to fix problems rather than be left feeling powerless. Customers will not only appreciate it, but forgive. Sure, mistakes happen. But a mistake will only hurt loyalty if it cannot be resolved to the customer’s satisfaction 

There’s nothing worse for your bottom line than regularly losing business that should be yours. It’s certainly much less expensive to fix a problem and have that customer stay loyal, than to spend the money to acquire a new customer to replace them. 

Consider that as you ponder whether your dealership should have a goodwill repair program -- or not. I promise you’ll come out further ahead by having one. Audi discovered this – and it took them to the top and has kept them there!