From the Editors

Who is your customer experience manager?

Last month my family headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for my niece’s birthday. Shortly after we entered the restaurant, we were approached by a man who introduced himself as the customer experience manager (or something similar to that). I kind of giggled at the title, but it turns out it was appropriate for his role, and it may be a title to consider at a dealership.

Seeing our handfuls of bags and wrapped boxes, the customer experience manager asked us what we were celebrating, and after we told him, he wished my niece a happy birthday. A little while later he returned and offered my niece a free bottle of sauce or free dessert, along with a BWW towel.

Then last week, Dave McMahon, another colleague and I were out to lunch at another BWW, and our host asked us if we wanted to play trivia, specifically pointing out that it was free. Later, he dropped off free wing coupons that he “just happened” to find in the store for our next visit. And before we left, he made sure to wish an 18-year-old a happy birthday over the speaker system. I can imagine he was also a customer experience manager.

So what’s the lesson here? BWW has hired these employees to make sure their customers are enjoying their visit. A quick Google search found Gap also has customer experience managers, who, from the job description, are charged with overseeing the overall store environment to make sure customers are being properly cared for.

Who is serving in that role at your dealership? Maybe you don’t have the resources to hire someone as a customer experience manager, but anyone can fill this role. You can even think about making it a title or job description for everyone on staff.

As we’ve heard from industry experts time and time again, the customer experience is what brings buyers into your dealership. Make sure everyone at your dealership knows that. If any men walk into your dealership with their children this week, ask them if they had a good Father’s Day. If a prospect is looking at a helmet, ask if she’d like to try one on. If an employee in sales notices a clothing rack is forlorn, train them so they know to fix it. The next customer might not stop to look at the unkempt products.

Little steps in customer service go a long way to make the customer experience better, and customers will remember the little things.

Liz Hochstedler is the associate editor of Powersports Business, a trade magazine for the powersports industry. She reports on the powersports industry through Powersports Business’ varied media, including in the magazine and online. She assembles the brand’s twice-a-week e-news and handles a variety of assignments for the magazine. Powersports Business is known for its exclusive national dealer surveys, in-depth industry analysis and dealership conference, Profit Xcelerator.

Contact: ehochstedler@powersportsbusiness.com
Website: www.powersportsbusiness.com

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One Comment

  1. What an amazing idea to bring to the motorcycle industry. As an industry veteran i would walk in to dealerships across the USA just to check out the store and products they sold. So many times i would walk around and no one would even acknowledge i was even there. Every customer should be greeted with at least a hello. the BWW story probably contributes to the company having a record stock year.

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