What is so important about loyal customer? re:member group's very own VPO Tim Clemens breaks it down in a helpful YouTube video clip. See why loyal customers drive more profit to your dealership here: Why are Loyal Customers Important?

What is so important about loyal customer? re:member group's very own VPO Tim Clemens breaks it down in a helpful YouTube video clip. See why loyal customers drive more profit to your dealership here: Why are Loyal Customers Important?

Your dealership is great. Otherwise you wouldn’t work there, right?

But how do you show people how great the customer experience is, without ‘differentiating’ like the other guys?

Too often, I view dealership websites that say the same thing as everyone else, even if it may be true in their case.

‘Best service in (city), guaranteed.’

‘No one will beat our prices.’

‘Our staff are your neighbors, and provide unmatched customer service.’

While these may be true (especially the fact that your staff may live in the neighborhood they sell to), your competition has every right to say them as well. And they will.

So what can you do to provide an experience the other guys can’t? One suggestion is a sincere follow-up from the sale. Given, this isn’t in the dealership, but it is an important piece to let customers know they’re appreciated. It’s much better than a template email asking to complete a survey. To me, nothing says ‘we’re done with you’ than a form email.

This is only a suggestion, but what are some truly unique things you do in your dealership that are TRULY different from the guys down the block?

Will Michaelson

re:member group

Business Development Manager

will@remembergroup.com

Your dealership is great. Otherwise you wouldn’t work there, right?

But how do you show people how great the customer experience is, without ‘differentiating’ like the other guys?

Too often, I view dealership websites that say the same thing as everyone else, even if it may be true in their case.

‘Best service in (city), guaranteed.’

‘No one will beat our prices.’

‘Our staff are your neighbors, and provide unmatched customer service.’

While these may be true (especially the fact that your staff may live in the neighborhood they sell to), your competition has every right to say them as well. And they will.

So what can you do to provide an experience the other guys can’t? One suggestion is a sincere follow-up from the sale. Given, this isn’t in the dealership, but it is an important piece to let customers know they’re appreciated. It’s much better than a template email asking to complete a survey. To me, nothing says ‘we’re done with you’ than a form email.

This is only a suggestion, but what are some truly unique things you do in your dealership that are TRULY different from the guys down the block?

Will Michaelson

re:member group

Business Development Manager

will@remembergroup.com

This summer has been a series of ups and downs for the hockey fan in me. On July 4th, I got to see my hometown Minnesota Wild pick up the 2 best free agents on the market, along with a few solid core players. In the weeks that have passed, I’ve gone from figuring out where the championship parade would begin, to accepting that the NHL may be cancelled this year.

That’s classic Minnesota sports luck for you: Fans get hopeful and excited about a great team, then something gums up the works and the excitement quickly fades. What a buzzkill.

Think about your last vehicle purchase, and the lengthy process you had to go through, even after you made the purchase. For me, it was quite like the high-and-crash I saw with the Wild.

I went with a friend and test drove a car. I was in love on the spot, and my logical friend saw the benefits in the car, as well as how well it was taken care of. The price was right, and I wanted to buy it then and there. My friend tells me to this day I was so giddy about the car in the salesman’s office he nearly had to slap me to bring me back to earth.

That was true excitement. Like ‘2 free agents to my team’ excited.

Then came the post-purchase discussions. Paperwork and F&I offerings. Excitement turned to impatience. I certainly understand the paperwork and after-sell is required, but I couldn’t believe how much fun I wasn’t having.

I know instant gratification isn’t always the best, and that you have to wait for some things. But why not make it fun in the meantime? While discussing paperwork, go over the great features of the car again. Get the customer even more fired up to be driving off the lot. My overall emotion after the purchase was relief after it was done. I was excited, sure, but also a little exhausted in the process.

Now, obviously this is just one experience at one dealership. How about you? Are your dealerships ‘fans’ fired up about buying a car from you, or are they just fatigued by your sales process?

Will Michaelson

Sales Associate

952.224.8002 (Office)

Will@remembergroup.com

This summer has been a series of ups and downs for the hockey fan in me. On July 4th, I got to see my hometown Minnesota Wild pick up the 2 best free agents on the market, along with a few solid core players. In the weeks that have passed, I’ve gone from figuring out where the championship parade would begin, to accepting that the NHL may be cancelled this year.

That’s classic Minnesota sports luck for you: Fans get hopeful and excited about a great team, then something gums up the works and the excitement quickly fades. What a buzzkill.

Think about your last vehicle purchase, and the lengthy process you had to go through, even after you made the purchase. For me, it was quite like the high-and-crash I saw with the Wild.

I went with a friend and test drove a car. I was in love on the spot, and my logical friend saw the benefits in the car, as well as how well it was taken care of. The price was right, and I wanted to buy it then and there. My friend tells me to this day I was so giddy about the car in the salesman’s office he nearly had to slap me to bring me back to earth.

That was true excitement. Like ‘2 free agents to my team’ excited.

Then came the post-purchase discussions. Paperwork and F&I offerings. Excitement turned to impatience. I certainly understand the paperwork and after-sell is required, but I couldn’t believe how much fun I wasn’t having.

I know instant gratification isn’t always the best, and that you have to wait for some things. But why not make it fun in the meantime? While discussing paperwork, go over the great features of the car again. Get the customer even more fired up to be driving off the lot. My overall emotion after the purchase was relief after it was done. I was excited, sure, but also a little exhausted in the process.

Now, obviously this is just one experience at one dealership. How about you? Are your dealerships ‘fans’ fired up about buying a car from you, or are they just fatigued by your sales process?

Will Michaelson

Sales Associate

952.224.8002 (Office)

Will@remembergroup.com

I like Facebook. It’s a nice place to check up on my friends, and see what’s going on that day.  I also check Twitter occasionally. Social Media is a great way to share pictures and news pertinent to me, but there’s one thing I don’t go on these sites for, and that’s to be sold on something.

I recently read a blog post on Hanafin Loyalty’s website, titled ‘An Open Letter to Millennials’ (you can find that blog post here), where the author asks Millennial consumers how they prefer to be contacted about products. My answer to him? I don’t. At least not over social media outlets.

I know I might be burned at the stake for my opinions on social media advertising, but this post interested me. I am a big fan of traditional advertising, and the primary reason for that is because it isn’t as intrusive as new media.

One part of that blog that caught me was when the author asked about connecting with Millennial consumers over a text message. That left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t much like the thought of a company having my phone number and texting me news from their company, or the latest and greatest product.  This feels like an invasion of privacy to me, similar to telemarketer calls during dinner. I love being connected to the world, but I want it on my terms.

By now businesses should know not to constantly bombard their followers with product offerings, and instead provide information relevant to consumers. I love companies that show their human side, providing trivia in status updates to get consumers interacting, but many companies still see social media as an extra marketing ‘weapon’.

Maybe I’m being too old-fashioned, but I’ll take a 30-second spot about a new car over a status update on it any day.

This was more of a rant, but I do have a question: Are you using Facebook more to connect with your fans, or sell to them?

Will Michaelson

Sales Associate

Re:member group

Phone: 952.224.8002

I like Facebook. It’s a nice place to check up on my friends, and see what’s going on that day.  I also check Twitter occasionally. Social Media is a great way to share pictures and news pertinent to me, but there’s one thing I don’t go on these sites for, and that’s to be sold on something.

I recently read a blog post on Hanafin Loyalty’s website, titled ‘An Open Letter to Millennials’ (you can find that blog post here), where the author asks Millennial consumers how they prefer to be contacted about products. My answer to him? I don’t. At least not over social media outlets.

I know I might be burned at the stake for my opinions on social media advertising, but this post interested me. I am a big fan of traditional advertising, and the primary reason for that is because it isn’t as intrusive as new media.

One part of that blog that caught me was when the author asked about connecting with Millennial consumers over a text message. That left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t much like the thought of a company having my phone number and texting me news from their company, or the latest and greatest product.  This feels like an invasion of privacy to me, similar to telemarketer calls during dinner. I love being connected to the world, but I want it on my terms.

By now businesses should know not to constantly bombard their followers with product offerings, and instead provide information relevant to consumers. I love companies that show their human side, providing trivia in status updates to get consumers interacting, but many companies still see social media as an extra marketing ‘weapon’.

Maybe I’m being too old-fashioned, but I’ll take a 30-second spot about a new car over a status update on it any day.

This was more of a rant, but I do have a question: Are you using Facebook more to connect with your fans, or sell to them?

Will Michaelson

Sales Associate

Re:member group

Phone: 952.224.8002

Building customer loyalty comes down to one thing: Delighting customers. As I discussed in my last blog, we begin to delight customers by The Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.

At the re:member group, we know that a systematic approach to building customer loyalty works. Our Dealership programs yield an increase of service revenue by as much as 39 percent among Members and have increased sales by 7.5 percent. But I’ll be the first to admit that our Loyalty Marketing Solutions are simply a tool, and successful only in companies that are dedicated to building customer loyalty by treating customers the way they want to be treated.

This starts with hiring the right people. This is so important, it bears repeating: If you want to build customer loyalty, hire the right people. Your staff has the power to earn the enthusiastic loyalty of your customers by creating economically rational ways to delight them. Delighting customers means putting kindness and intelligence into action. Quite often, a customer is delighted by something small that doesn’t cost a great deal of money—for example Bonus Points, or a spontaneous offer to wash the customer’s car or print discount coupons to the restaurant down the street.

You can’t script or incentivize employees to delight customers, however. Doing so makes the gesture mechanical, and defeats its purpose. At the same time, scripting or incentivizing shouldn’t be necessary if you have the right people. If you have hired the right people, they come to work motivated to delight customers. In short, you don’t need to pay them extra to delight a customer, because they already see it as part of their job.

One sales person we know is stuck in the sixties, still using expressions like “right on” and “groovy.” But he makes such an impression on his customers, they write him notes telling him they love their “groovy new car.”

Let’s face it. Companies aren’t equipped to train core values. Our parents either did, or didn’t, do that a long time ago. Companies are equipped to hire the right people, though—those that have an inner desire to delight customers. Companies are also equipped to give these people the opportunity to do it.

What are you doing to delight customers? If you’re an employer, are you hiring the right people? If you’re an employee, are you enriching the lives of your customers, and those you work for?

Building customer loyalty comes down to one thing: Delighting customers. As I discussed in my last blog, we begin to delight customers by The Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.

At the re:member group, we know that a systematic approach to building customer loyalty works. Our Dealership programs yield an increase of service revenue by as much as 39 percent among Members and have increased sales by 7.5 percent. But I’ll be the first to admit that our Loyalty Marketing Solutions are simply a tool, and successful only in companies that are dedicated to building customer loyalty by treating customers the way they want to be treated.

This starts with hiring the right people. This is so important, it bears repeating: If you want to build customer loyalty, hire the right people. Your staff has the power to earn the enthusiastic loyalty of your customers by creating economically rational ways to delight them. Delighting customers means putting kindness and intelligence into action. Quite often, a customer is delighted by something small that doesn’t cost a great deal of money—for example Bonus Points, or a spontaneous offer to wash the customer’s car or print discount coupons to the restaurant down the street.

You can’t script or incentivize employees to delight customers, however. Doing so makes the gesture mechanical, and defeats its purpose. At the same time, scripting or incentivizing shouldn’t be necessary if you have the right people. If you have hired the right people, they come to work motivated to delight customers. In short, you don’t need to pay them extra to delight a customer, because they already see it as part of their job.

One sales person we know is stuck in the sixties, still using expressions like “right on” and “groovy.” But he makes such an impression on his customers, they write him notes telling him they love their “groovy new car.”

Let’s face it. Companies aren’t equipped to train core values. Our parents either did, or didn’t, do that a long time ago. Companies are equipped to hire the right people, though—those that have an inner desire to delight customers. Companies are also equipped to give these people the opportunity to do it.

What are you doing to delight customers? If you’re an employer, are you hiring the right people? If you’re an employee, are you enriching the lives of your customers, and those you work for?