Despite the fact that technology will clearly play a big part in the future of car retailing, and will take over from traditional forms of marketing, there is can still no substitute for good old fashioned quality service. By good service I do not necessarily mean the best deal or the cheapest car. Although obviously those things are important factors when deciding what car to buy and perhaps more importantly where you buy it from, it is the overall experience and back up from the dealer that will ultimately encourage you to continue a long term relationship with that dealer and also ensure that precious commodity, the referral.
Many sales people over the years have looked at notching up short term scores over long term victories.
By this I mean instead of believing that a customer may tell their friends and family about the great service they had and how well they were looked after, ensuring that they come back in 2-3 years time, they have decided on the short term option of selling some punter a car that they may not want or need and worse still at an over inflated price or finance rate.
To be fair the short-termism of the old school car salesperson is now seen by most as having no place in the modern world of car retailing buy believe me it still goes on.
With the rate at which new models and products coming to the market increasing rapidly the cycle of change for car drivers will only become more and more frequent and with all the investment currently being made in customer conquest and retention, not to mention satisfaction, it is high time that sales people were encouraged that if they have given a gold star service and the customer feels loved and their business appreciated that the customer referral is introduced back into the sales process.
I’m sure most people will tell their friends and family if they have been well cared for and we sure know they will tell anyone who’ll listen if they haven’t!
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