Customer touches are critical
Scenario (based upon a real-life customer service call center report) – The call center discovers a service customer that is totally unhappy with his experience at a certain dealership. The frame of the motorcycle had chips on it from where the mechanic hit the frame with a tool, probably a wrench. Additionally, a fuel injector was replaced in an effort to correct the performance issues with the motorcycle, but the motorcycle did not perform any differently. The customer told the call center specialist that he was looking for a new dealership and a new service department.
What Now? – Some customers have a bad experience and will not say anything. Without a follow-up call after the service was completed, this customer would have been lost to the dealership forever. Inevitably even more business would be lost to the dealership because this customer would share his experience with other motorcycle enthusiasts in the area as well as online. It is vital to a dealership’s business to stop as many situations like this one as possible. Dealerships must reach out to customers regularly – especially after recent dealership experiences – to stay aware of problems, ideas and successes. In this case, the service department manager must get this customer back into the shop to address the situation. Do what it takes to reverse this customer’s experience, even if the service manager does not feel responsible for the entire problem. In the long run, it will be worth it.
Lesson Learned – Customers are the source of more relevant information to a dealership than any other source. Customers can tell you why you lose customers, why you win customers, what you are doing wrong, what you are doing right and contribute ideas you may never consider. Failing to avail yourself of this information is a huge mistake.
