Successful marketing doesn’t stop at getting customers to a dealership’s doorstep. It encompasses the entire customer experience, including how a dealership treats its customers and its employees. It’s important to understand that a dealership’s employees are part of its brand – without them, the business fails.
A BIG congratulations to the following clients on Automotive News' list of '2018 Best Dealerships to Work For':
Honda of Mentor - Ohio
Capitol Toyota of Salem - Oregon
Elite Acura - New Jersey
AutoNation Toyota Corpus Christi - Texas
Sewell Toyota - Texas
At its core, successful marketing is a helpful and hassle-free customer experience. Your dealership’s customer experience plays a significant role in retention – more than you may realize. The customer experience is proven to affect all aspects of a dealership’s business - your car sales, service retention, and even where consumers go for repairs. Why? Simply because there’s nothing more personal or persuasive than face-to-face interaction with customers.
In fact, personally introducing a consumer to the Service Manager or a representative increases that customer’s likelihood of returning to the dealership for maintenance and repairs – 53% say it comes into play when deciding where to repair their vehicle1. Additionally, customers introduced to the Service Department at the time of purchase are 2.3x more likely to return to the dealer they purchased from within one year, compared to customers who are not introduced to the Service Department2.
In terms of vehicle sales, 85% of customers stated that their experience with the Service Department influenced their likelihood of purchasing another vehicle from that dealership3. Meanwhile, one in six new car buyers do not buy from the first dealership they visit due to a poor sales experience4.
A dealership’s in-store customer experience must meet or exceed its marketing experience. Think of how often associates interact with customers - they welcome customers to the dealership, they draw customers to the showroom, or they guide them to purchase or consideration. Ultimately, your people can make or break the customer experience at your dealership, influencing all areas of your business.
For this reason, GSM wants to congratulate five of our rock star dealership partners that won a spot on Automotive News’ list of the ‘2018 Best Dealerships to Work For.’ This prestigious list represents the top 100 dealerships to work for in North America. We are proud of our clients – a dealership that treats its employees well also treats its customers well.
1,2 COX Automotive: Maintenance and Repair Study, 2016
3 COX Automotive: Insights, January 2017
4 COX Automotive: Car Buyer Journey, 2018