When will I see you again? No, I am not talking about the 70’s pop song, although the lyrics just may fit the content here. I am talking about the continued trend in customer defections from our dealerships. 

Customer’s defect for many reasons and the longer an individual owns a car, the harder it can be to keep that customer. It’s not necessarily because the dealer does a poor job of providing an acceptable level of customer experience. Let’s face it, everyone’s life changes. The college student who bought the entry-level economy vehicle graduates, gets married and, perhaps has children. And, while they may have been very happy with their vehicle, they may now need one that better fits their current lifestyle. Manufacturer lineups and vehicles also change. The simple fact that the customer chose a different brand vehicle doesn’t mean they were unhappy with you as a dealer.

A recent Automotive News article shared an Experian study concerning length of vehicle ownership and how it effects brand loyalty. According to the article, “consumers who owned their vehicles for 12 months would purchase their next vehicle in the same brand 57 percent of the time. But for consumers who owned a vehicle for 12 years, the loyalty to the brand dropped an additional 23 percent to only 34 percent.”

So, what can a dealer do about this trend? Well, according to Brad Smith, director of automotive market statistics for Experian Automotive, “the increase in time between dealer interactions, whether they are for sales or service, increases the probability of a consumer defecting to the competition.”

Mr. Smith hit the nail on the head with his simple statement.  A consistent, ongoing relationship is vital to creating and retaining a loyal customer base.  Absence doesn’t necessarily make the heart grow fonder. In fact, quite the opposite happens. A customer without continual, meaningful engagement is very likely to become an ex-customer.

The solution to keeping your defection rate as low as possible is quite simply quality, informative and timely communications.  But not just any communication – and especially not those marketing communications that are sold to you as “retention tools.”  In reality they are perceived by your customers as nothing more than advertisements.  While they do serve a purpose in the marketplace, they are surely not going to engage and retain your current customers. 

A bit more on this: Having just walked the NADA show a few weeks ago, I could not help but notice how many of the exhibitors claimed their products and services were now focused on providing the dealership with loyalty and customer retention solutions. While this may be a good marketing claim for companies that obviously feel the need to jump on the retention bandwagon, many of them have little, or possibly even a negative influence on your customer retention and long term customer loyalty. Why is that? Simply put, many of the products and services being peddled really don’t offer the retail customer any true value. And without real value, you can’t have meaningful customer engagement. Without engagement, you are only adding to the clutter already being received by the customer from the many marketing companies and OEM programs. The result? The customer becomes numb to your marketing efforts and your communications become more and more insignificant as time goes on.

So what is the answer?  If we want to grow a customer’s loyalty and elongate their lifespan as a revenue producing customer, we must interact and communicate with them differently than we do when trying to attract a new customer to a weekend sales event.  That’s where the engagement factor is a key and crucial element to keeping those customers on your team. Try connecting with your existing customers through different styles and types of communications. For example, this past Holiday Season, a Honda dealership created a Holiday cookie recipe contest that generated hundreds of entries. They then sent a dealership branded cookbook to each of the participants, which contained all their favorite recipes. From this point forward, every Holiday Season, hundreds of the dealership’s customers will get a subtle reminder of the dealership every time they use their cookbook. Now, that is real customer engagement!

Another effective tactic is from a from an Ohio Chrysler store that sends out a Thanksgiving recipe every year to its customers. Imagine sitting around the Thanksgiving table and your customer tells everyone that the sweet potato recipe came from her local dealer. Customers actually ask the dealership year after year when the recipe is coming out. They look for it with anticipation -- you can’t buy that type of ongoing positive connection to your store.

There are many other communication components that can build a tremendous following. And they don’t all have to be expensive phone apps, or video text messages --they just have to be engaging and meaningful to your customer.

The largest complaint that consumers have when considering a vehicle purchase is the fact that the process takes too long. Even with all the new technology processes that dealerships have employed over the past few years, the purchase process is still as long and cumbersome as it was twenty years ago.

AutoNation recently started to roll out a vehicle purchase program, transferring much of the buying process online. It promises consumers a 30-minute in-store automobile purchase transaction. It would seem that AutoNation listened to the auto buying public and may well transform how cars are purchased in the future. They certainly don’t have a shortage of locations available to consumers.

I’m sure the entire industry is watching to see whether they can accomplish this and if car shoppers will embrace it. If their program is successful, and consumers start to realize that they can buy a vehicle almost as swiftly as buying something on Amazon, AutoNation could hold a serious competitive advantage. Given the option to buy a vehicle in 30-minutes, or spend all day at a dealership, my guess is that many consumers would choose the former. They may, in fact, be willing to pay a small premium for the vehicle in exchange for the time they will have saved. If the process is successful and other dealerships are slow to adopt something similar, it could also result in an increase in customer loyalty to AutoNation.

When Henry Ford began building his automobiles, while cars existed, they were out of the reach of many consumer’s budgets.  At that point in history, consumers asked for faster horses because they never dreamed that they would actually be able to afford an automobile. His vision was to make vehicle transportation affordable to the masses. And he accomplished that.

Just as the public in Henry Ford’s time didn’t believe they would ever own a vehicle, consumers, in general, don’t believe that they can purchase a vehicle so efficiently. Henry Ford proved them wrong and AutoNation may just accomplish the same thing.

When did you last walk through the customer entrance of your dealership and look at what is truly being experienced by the customer?

Forget for a moment whether a sales consultant’s work area is messy, or if there are smudges on the windows. Let’s look a little closer at what a customer could see, hear or feel when they interact with your dealership in any department. What’s really taking place behind the doors may be a real surprise to you. Taken from a customer’s perspective, you just might be failing to meet their most basic expectations. As a result, you could be damaging your dealership simply by being unaware of what happens on a daily basis down in the trenches.

Have you made an anonymous phone call to your dealership lately? Almost every store now utilizes some form of inbound call tracking. These systems all provide the ability to record and playback your customer’s inbound calls. When was the last time you actually listened to some of the recorded calls these systems provide?   Imagine a customer that calls your store, the receptionist gives a warm and friendly greeting but puts them through to the wrong department. Or worse, blindly transfers the customer to an employee’s voice mail (without giving them the opportunity to speak with another person that could assist them). Worse yet, many of the calls we have listened to clearly indicate the need for ongoing product training, as many times the sales consultant fails to answer even the most basic product questions. Would this be acceptable customer service?  How often is it happening in your dealership? The answer just might surprise you.

And what about your phone system itself -- Do you have a recording that customers hear when they are on hold? Is the message current and relevant? Imagine the embarrassment if you were still advertising a new car lease special for a 2012 model vehicle with the 2015 models sitting on the showroom floor. Or the “winterize your car today” message still running on July first. While obtaining current and relevant messaging may sound like a core, it’s really not. Visit the website Fiverr.com and you can have a year’s worth of professional messaging done at one time very inexpensively, and simply upload the recordings when the time is appropriate.

What about your Internet/BDC department and those individuals creating emails for marketing campaigns? If a customer “enters” your dealership electronically, are you making sure that those emails and marketing pieces are addressed in a friendly and personal way? It happens more frequently than you may think that an e-mail template is filled with the words “first name” and your message is literally addressed “Dear [First_Name].” It’s these little things that can make the customer turn right around and defect to another dealership. When was the last time you actually took the time to read the correspondence that is sent from you with your name on it? Who is responsible for checking the grammar and sentence structure of the thousands of pieces of correspondence your store sends out each month?

Pretend you are a customer and walk through your front door. Call your own dealership, both day and night, and listen to how you are greeted and what happens when a call is transferred, or put on hold. Is it perhaps terminated unexpectedly? 

Send yourself a test Internet lead from your website, or a third party site, and let the flow of emails find their way to your inbox for a month or two. Do any of these communications surprise, disturb or shock you?

Taking a little time to “walk through all the doors and peer through the windows of your dealership” could help erase mistakes, improve employee awareness, and reveal unnoticed problems. Take a different department each week of the month.  Your employees will welcome the added attention and your customers will only benefit from it. No matter what actions are found to be needed, if done in the name of making business better and improving customer satisfaction, you’ll reap the rewards. Customers will feel more comfortable and have a more enjoyable experience at your dealership. Encourage all of your employees to pretend that they are customers and to keep their eyes wide open – to take a better look at what is happening in their dealership. You’ll be amazed how different things look.

A couple generations ago, if you didn’t carry cash on your person, perhaps a personal check was accepted at your favorite store.  Then credit cards became an option, followed quickly by debit cards.  And now, with technology changing seemingly overnight, two new payment options are becoming available to consumers at select and very notable retailers.

Apple Pay and CurrentC are two smartphone payment systems.  CurrentC is a new (yet unreleased) smartphone payment system from a group of retailers, including the likes of CVS, Best Buy, WalMart, Sears, and Target. When it is up and running, with a CurrentC transaction, the customer’s payment will be debited from a connected bank account. Whereas Apple Pay’s system is partnered with banks and major credit card providers.  The new Apple Pay system works only on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and integrates security technology that requires a fingerprint to conduct a payment transaction.

Apple Pay was launched on October 20, and has been greeted with lots of hype and controversy. In just three days one million new credit cards were added to Apple's integrated Passbook app. Despite the fact it is only compatible with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, there is clearly phenomenal interest.  This is great news for the retailers that have jumped on board and have started accepting this payment method. But perhaps not such good news for other retailers – consumers may soon stop shopping at places where their new preferred payment method is not accepted.

Retailers are taking notice of the interest in Apple Pay and some are turning their backs on this payment system. This is perhaps not a wise decision as essentially it means turning down customers and prospective new customers. It may be wise for these retailers to observe how quickly Apple Pay has caught on. It is likely to continue to expand as more consumers upgrade their phones.   If the demand warrants it, aren’t more businesses likely to give the customer what they want? That’s the way it usually works. Why not keep your customers happy right from the beginning?

Loyalty doesn’t happen overnight. But losing customers because their wants or needs aren’t being fulfilled can occur instantly.

Every day we are hit with advertising and marketing messages. As consumers, we gravitate to a select number of places that offer the products we want or need to purchase.  If we usually visit Wal-Mart and CVS, but they don’t accept our preferred method of payment, we may drive down the road to another store that will take our money. Will we return to Wal-Mart and CVS? That’s the question with unknown answers. Will retailers jeopardize consumer’s immediate business and the long-term loyalty ramifications if they do not accept the payment the customer prefers?

If two like companies are offering the same product with comparable prices, but one accepts the consumer’s preferred payment method, it’s only logical that it won’t be long before a the customer starts shopping at the place that allows the customer to pay their way.

As Apple Pay (or other virtual payment options) become more popular, businesses will lose the ability to track transactional data. The one thing to keep in mind, however, is that Apple’s Passbook app (which is built into iOS 8) also allows consumers to carry all of their loyalty cards within their virtual wallets. Loyalty programs of the future may end up being the only way for businesses to leverage transactional data to improve and target their marketing efforts.

The question has now transformed from “What’s In Your Wallet?” to “What’s Not in Their Wallet?”… And you better hope that the answer isn’t your business.

Competition in business is usually a good thing.  Sure, we’d all like to have the market cornered, but without a little competition we would perhaps never figure out ways to improve our products or services and keep our customers coming back. 

In an interesting article on Infusionsoft’s “Big Ideas Blog,” a few examples of businesses thinking outside the box were shared. 3Tees is a Singapore based company that prints T-shirts for companies “promoting events with a social cause.” It has a slogan of “You price it. We print it.” The company allows customers to determine the price of the shirts and their pricing strategy has proven successful.  According to the article, the vast majority of customers make genuine offers that both fit within budget and provide an acceptable profit margin. In fact, while the company is willing to reject extreme low-ball offers, they have discovered that only 5% of total bids fit within this category.

One of the biggest reasons 3Tees is successful in their pricing strategy is their belief that, “given enough information and trust,” customers will make fair offers. Allowing customers to make offers for a vehicle purchase is a common practice in sales departments for dealerships. However, the challenges of educating customers on the technical aspects of a given service repair might prove a bit more challenging. In the automobile industry a “You price it. We repair it” pricing model probably wouldn’t go over well, and far be it that anyone would suggest such a thing! 

My point here is that, if the name of the game is customer loyalty, then ultimately, every dealership will have to do something different than what has been done before. Everything changes, especially in our fast-paced world: from implementing new marketing strategies, to offering superior products, or an evolving customer experience. Finding new and creative ways to retain your customers, while still building new business, is an ongoing project, not a one-day or static invention.  Dealerships have a mindset of being notoriously complacent and are often discouraged by management from trying anything that is outside the norm.  How many times do you still see inflated gorillas hawking a weekend sale on the roof of a dealership? Taking a “safe” approach is generally expected and often encouraged in dealerships today. But with overuse of the safe approach, eventually will come diminished results.  You should be thinking about how you can market differently than your competitor down the street. Ask yourself how you can set yourself apart as Cal Worthington did with his stores years ago. While Cal’s approach may have been a bit gimmicky, it worked at the time, and is actually documented in many marketing text books. 

So just think about it. Every so often, it’s perhaps time take a trip up to 10,000 feet, open the doors and look at the landscape of your competition. Try and encourage creative thinking from both your staff and vendors. Unless you are the already the king of the hill when it comes to retaining and acquiring customers, there will come a day when you have to do something just a little different to keep your customers, or lure new ones into your dealership. As a dealer principal or manager, are you willing to take a chance and try a few out of the ordinary ideas to expand your business?

When consumers think of loyalty programs, they typically think of racking up miles, or frequenting a business in exchange for rewards, perks or freebies. No matter what business you patronize, there is a good chance that it is offering some sort of loyalty incentive. In fact, many argue that loyalty programs are so prevalent nowadays that they are losing some of the initial qualities that attracted consumers to them back some 45 years ago. Namely, that feeling of being treated special in exchange for the customer’s ongoing business and continued loyalty. Today, some loyalty programs choose not to even offer rewards. Instead they just provide the concept of receiving lower prices. Many grocery store chains have the regular price and then a loyalty member price. Sale prices are reserved just for members of their loyalty program.  Your information and transaction histories are exchanged with the grocery store for a slightly lower total at the checkout counter.

Loyalty programs have certainly evolved. Many companies are shifting away from traditional rewards and offering experiences and other perks instead. The restaurant chain, Olive Garden, found that it’s “Never Ending Pasta Bowl” promotion was by far the most popular. So it decided to take it a step further and last month introduced the “Never Ending Pasta Pass.” The pass allow customers to enjoy all-you-can-eat pasta as many times as the customer wishes for a period of up to 7 weeks. The offer also allows the customer to extend some of the pass’s perks to as many as 7 guests dining with them. Olive Garden made the offer exclusive by offering just 1,000 passes through their website, at a cost of $100 each.

They sold out completely in just 45 minutes. Some may view this as a loss leader promotion. However, according to an article in USA Today, the restaurant chain came up with this promotion as it wished to provide a VIP experience for some of its most loyal and profitable customers.

Similar to the Starbucks metal gift cards that sell out annually, the Never Ending Pasta Pass offers Olive Garden’s most enthusiastic customers the opportunity to enjoy a VIP experience as many times as they like. It also generates instant (and quantifiable) revenue, while encouraging the pass holder to bring guests. This clever addition helps generate more revenue with each additional dining partner. In addition, a promotion like this (obviously) can generate press, blog articles and social media buzz. Olive Garden even teased consumers who were not able to purchase one by dangling carrots of extra passes that will be handed out through social media properties.

What do you think about adopting such a program as a car dealership? Imagine offering a limited quantity season long car wash pass that includes some service perks over and above what you would normally do for a customer. Or some other privileges, while also extending discounts to the customer’s friends and family members that bring their vehicles in with them.

In general, people like to feel special. Whether it’s showing off a metal gift card at Starbucks, laying down the Never Ending Pasta Pass at Olive Garden, or getting an on-demand car wash without waiting. When creating incentives for your loyal customers, thinking outside the box can make them feel very special while providing a reason for them to bring new customers to your store. And that’s one of the most important attributes that any loyal customer brings to any business – more customers.

I had just finished reading this article on marketsoft.com about customer loyalty, when a business associate told me about a similar situation that happened to him. In his mailbox was a glossy, oversized postcard offering a discounted oil change for his vehicle from the dealership from which he purchased it.  In an attempt to cater to new customers, the dealership was offering a $16.95 oil change, which it claimed, was a savings of over 50 percent off of the regular price of $34.95.  The next day, my associate received an email from the service department at the same dealership. It was reminding him that his oil change was due and that he could schedule an appointment on the dealership’s website and lock in the VIP customer rate of $34.95 for the oil change.

Wait, what?  The VIP customer price is actually the regular price. Where is the VIP rate? As a current customer, it surely appears that he needs to pay double? It may not seem to be a costly mistake on the surface. But stop for a moment and view it as the customer would. Suddenly both of the communication pieces become worthless as the customer level of trust is now fractured.

This happens all too often in the auto industry.  For marketing purposes, customer information and vehicle data is imported into a CRM from a DMS, or many times obtained from outside third party resources. Sometimes the information is duplicated, errors occur between software platforms due to different data structures, multiple entries are created, and of course, sometimes, humans make mistakes with their data entry.  You can probably count dozens of ways that you’ve gathered customer information: in person; from the OEM; purchased marketing lists; and Internet leads are just some that come easily to mind.  Data isn’t routinely scrubbed for duplication or errors. With the numerous software applications being used, it isn’t hard to see how in one instance, one person may be viewed as a valuable prospective new customer, and then in an instant becomes a long-time “VIP” customer

A customer database is a gold mine and should be treated as such. Have you ever taken the time to evaluate how you assign customer ID numbers to your service files? Duplications and old outdated information is the norm, not the exception in most dealerships today. Every dealership would be wise to make a concerted effort to go through their customer database, update phone numbers, emails, remove duplicate entries, and ensure that the data is correct. How many times has your store sent out a service reminder to an individual that no longer has the vehicle? Without accurate data, how can you correctly target your customers and prospects? Customer attrition will surely accelerate if you make the mistake my associate’s dealership did of targeting the same customer with different messages, offering a higher price for a “VIP” customer than a new customer:  that’s a great way to drive away loyal customers.

It is common knowledge that it costs significantly more to attract and obtain new customers than it does to retain current ones.  With little or no profit in the discounted oil change, it is fair to assume the dealership hopes to sell additional services to the customer when they first visit, as well as capture their future business.  However, what is surprising is that, like many other companies, this dealership appears to be focusing the majority of their efforts on customer acquisition, instead of customer retention.

Looking at the volume of car dealers that use newspaper ads and television commercials to deliver sales offers, the audience is clearly directed to acquiring new customers instead of delivering messages to their existing customer base.  While acquisition is always a necessity in order for businesses to grow, the marketing efforts used are often out of proportion to the energies, resources and potential returns on maintaining existing customers. 

The marketsoft.com article shared a research study by Harris Interactive, which found that “only 38% of businesses are primarily focused on repeat customers for revenue growth, while nearly half (49%) are still focused on new customers.”  Assuming these numbers hold true with car dealerships, as they do with other businesses, it comes as no surprise that the dealership my associate has used for years is trying to capture new business by luring him in with a service special. However, the dealership is actually shooting itself in the foot by sending him both offers so he can see how little value he has as a regular, loyal customer.

It’s important to have an ongoing effort of eliminating multiple customer files and ensuring that the data you have is accurate.  Investing in the resources to review and clean your data can pay off immediately. It enables your dealership to generate the correct marketing pieces to each precisely targeted segment of prospective customers. It can also save you from the embarrassment of sending lowball customer acquisition offers to customers who don’t qualify for the offer. This then leads to better customer loyalty, a rise in customer retention and a lessening of customer attrition.

It sounds backwards, at first, but when was the last time you asked your customers for a complaint or some constructive criticism?  If you’re like most dealerships, you’re doing everything you can to avoid complaints and negative reviews. In the past, you may have even ignored customers that voiced a complaint. However, in today’s world of instant feedback and review sites, it’s key to understand the importance of taking care of your customers. Failing to listen to them could damage your reputation. This is why many dealerships survey their customer via e-mail within 24-48 hours of purchase or vehicle service.

Why would you want to purposely bring attention to the shortcomings of your dealership or your staff? The answer: It’s a great way to improve customer service in the future.

Imagine your service writer or cashier handing a comment card to the customer when the work has been performed.  Are you likely to get the card completed on the spot?  Statistically the odds are small.  Your team’s follow up call a couple of days later may not yield a truthful answer either – unless the proper question is being asked.

According to a recent blog on Forbes.com, by Salesforce.com Vice President & Chairman of Customer Care Management & Consulting, John Goodman, many companies believe that when complaints decline satisfaction levels increase when, in fact, that’s typically not the case. The blog goes on to state: “…not even 25% of customers bring their service issues forward because it’s often just too much hassle. Many of them still believe companies won’t care and/or won’t fix the problem to their satisfaction, even if they did receive their complaint.”  

Genuine complaints can be valuable – you can’t fix things that you don’t know need correcting.  Consider a service advisor that over-promises the timeliness or cost of a repair. The work takes longer than expected and costs more than estimated. And the customer doesn’t voice the complaint.  There clearly was a problem (at least from the customer’s perception) and management should know so the advisor can be trained properly so as to provide more accurate information in the future. 

Goodman advises that you use the verbiage, “We can only resolve problems we know about” when soliciting feedback from customers. Using a message like this will invite the customer to open up and bring to the forefront any complaints. In this way the problem can be handled and the customer does not feel the need to defect to another dealership, give low marks on an OEM survey, or post negative comments on social media. It’s far better to hear the bad before they go home and take their unresolved issues to Facebook or Yelp! Inviting their feedback immediately can help solve problems faster and help the dealership improve through a more accurate awareness of customer experiences.

If your dealership can capture honest and immediate feedback from the majority of its customers, your success rate to resolve the issues can skyrocket.  Along the way, asking for complaints may yield some great positive reviews or feedback as well.

At your service desks, a sign that reads:  How did we do today?  Tell us, we really want to know. Or you something along the lines of, “Now accepting complaints” or “Wanted: Your Complaints. We want to be perfect.”

If you request legitimate complaints or ask your customers for ways that you can improve your levels of service - you’re bound to get some.  This proactive solicitation of complaints will impress your customers. If you then actually take steps to change your processes to avoid the same problem in the future, customers will see that you really care (or at least the original complainer will). And that’s how customer loyalty is built… one customer at a time.

If you implement a process like this, you may find that more complaints can actually lead to increased customer satisfaction levels.

Is your car dealership doing everything possible to keep your customers satisfied and happy?  Now, more than ever, your reputation for building relationships and retaining customers may depend on your company’s focus on providing the very best customer service.

How is good customer service defined?  There isn’t a clear cookie-cutter answer to the question on what makes up “good” service, however bad service is easier to define.  In your dealership, an extended time to receive a price on a vehicle, a phone that goes unanswered, or an email inquiry that takes hours, not minutes for a reply, could fall in the category of poor, or at least less than satisfactory customer service. And something as simple as giving the customer upfront, factual information the first time could mean the difference between a good customer service experience and a bad one.

Would you believe that failing to properly respond to a customer could haunt your car dealership for years to come?

According to this article, on Forbes.com, a poor customer service experience could result in a customer avoiding doing business for two years or longer.    

Today’s busy customers don’t want to wait to get answers or assistance.  It may be hard to convert minutes into dollars, but the longer a customer waits to receive information, answers or a resolution to a problem, the likelihood of dollars lost increases. Simultaneously, the probability of that customer returning to your dealership decreases  

According to the article, a quick resolution to a reported problem will more than likely yield a positive customer service experience. The root of great customer service begins and ends with the customer’s belief that you have their best interests in mind. Let’s face it; even though the auto industry’s reputation has improved over the last few years, consumers are generally still cautious when it comes to auto dealerships.

Imagine John Smith, a business executive with a six-figure income.  After his initial online research, he has chosen your dealership, based on customer reviews and the prompt, well-written email that he received after he submitted a lead to your store.  Upon his arrival, a sales manager greets John warmly when he steps inside the showroom.  He is shown the vehicle he inquired about and is given a fair and upfront price.  John appreciates the friendly, no-pressure approach of the sales consultant and manager that handles the sale.  Within a couple hours, he’s driving home his new luxury sedan.  John didn’t encounter any hassles while he was at your store, he was treated with respect and was given the opportunity to share his opinions and provide feedback about the store and the employees he dealt with.  Because of this, John is a satisfied customer and promises to be in for all of his service work.  A relationship was born.

From the receptionist to the general manager, everyone at a dealership has the opportunity to show that they care and have a genuine interest in the customer.  Sometimes it doesn’t take much more than a smile to have a good customer experience, but retaining customers for life takes outstanding service by outstanding employees.

​There are many stories of young kids or teens starting successful businesses. And there are as well the simple stories of kids mowing lawns or washing cars to earn extra money while their friends are out playing. A similar story gained national media attention when a 12-year old decided to open a lemonade stand in his neighborhood. He even convinced a neighbor to allow him to display a sign advertising the lemonade stand in his yard. Most people would applaud this behavior. However, apparently, one of the neighbors wasn’t too keen about it. In fact, this neighbor actually complained to the city about this teen’s “illegal business” – 4 times. City officials investigated and stated, “We’re not out there trying to put lemonade stands out of business.” Kudos to them.

This particular neighbor complained because he said the lemonade stand “causes excessive noise, traffic and trash and illegal parking.” Ironically, it appears that his repeated complaints have actually made city officials aware of the fact that he is also operating a home-based business illegally. That’s karma for you.

All businesses, and especially car dealers, have people who just don’t like them. Whether that’s because of a poor experience the customer had, or is based on something the customer heard about, they will exist. Typically, these are the customers that you listen to the most due to fear that other customers and potential customers will hear their complaints. Many dealership managers take these personally and, while some may have merit, their initial reaction is one of anger.

People all have opinions. Rather than dwell on the detractors, change your focus to all of the positive comments you receive from happy customers. To when things have gone right. It’s certainly important to handle legitimate customer complaints, when possible. And these complaints can have a positive aspect – they should be used as a learning tool to prevent reoccurrences of similar problems. It’s way too easy to get sidetracked by negativity and allow it to negatively alter your behavior. If you keep your focus on ensuring that your customers have the best experience possible, you will see happier customers. In this way, just as the community around the boy with the lemonade stand did, your customers and local community will rally behind you when you need them most.

I’m fairly certain that this teenager did not set out with a goal of creating a booming lemonade stand that would rake in a fortune. However, through the media and the assistance of a local radio host who actually committed one of his staff to assist in its operation, business has been surprisingly good!

And it all started with a dream, a little hard work, and a commitment to overcome obstacles.