What is great automotive customer service?
Automotive customer service is a focused strategy that caters to customer expectations at every stage of the car-buying and car-servicing experience. In the world of car dealerships, customer service is often the most critical factor separating successful dealerships from those struggling to maintain market share in sales & service. But what exactly is great automotive customer service, and why is it so important to the industry? Let’s break down what customer service in the auto industry should be, what sales & service customers expect, and how dealerships can improve their approach.
What Should Automotive Customer Service Be?
Automotive customer service should be a well-oiled machine that prioritizes every customer interaction, whether in sales, service, or post-sale follow-up. A car dealership’s reputation—and its ability to gain and retain customers—depends heavily on how they treat their clientele. Ideally, automotive customer service should:
Be proactive: Dealerships should anticipate issues and concerns before customers even express them. This might mean reaching out to inform customers about upcoming service needs, recalls, or opportunities for trade-ins.
Be personalized: Knowing each customer’s history with the dealership can dramatically improve satisfaction. If a customer bought a car two years ago, referencing that vehicle in communications creates a sense of personal connection and trust.
Be seamless across departments: Whether a customer is speaking to the sales team, service center, or finance department, their experience should feel connected and consistent. A siloed approach to customer service is a quick way to lose potential loyalists.
In short, automotive customer service should be a holistic approach to ensuring that each customer feels valued, understood, and supported, no matter where they are in the buying journey.
What Do Customers Expect from Car Dealerships?
Customers have very clear expectations when it comes to customer service at car dealerships, and meeting these expectations is key to increasing market share. Today’s consumers are empowered with more information than ever, and they expect a dealership’s customer service to reflect that. Here are the primary expectations:
Transparency and honesty: Customers don’t want to feel like they’re being taken advantage of. Whether discussing pricing, warranties, or trade-in values, transparency is crucial. If customers feel misled at any point, their trust is lost, and they’ll take their business elsewhere.
Quick response times: In a world where everything is instant, customers expect timely responses to their inquiries. This could mean quickly addressing online reviews, responding to a service request, or following up on post-sale questions.
Problem resolution: How a dealership handles complaints or negative experiences can make or break its reputation. Customers expect swift, efficient, and empathetic resolution when something goes wrong, whether that’s a service issue or dissatisfaction with the car-buying process.
In short, customers expect dealerships to prioritize honesty, efficiency, and respect. If those expectations aren’t met, it’s not just one customer lost—the negative word-of-mouth and online reviews can significantly damage the dealership’s market share.
How Can Dealerships Improve Customer Service?
Improving customer service isn’t about reinventing the wheel; it’s about refining processes and putting customer satisfaction at the forefront of your dealership’s priorities. Here’s how dealerships can meet and exceed customer expectations:
Train your staff: Effective customer service starts with knowledgeable, trained employees who understand how to interact with customers and solve problems. Salespeople and service advisors should be well-versed not only in their specific departments but also in customer satisfaction best practices.
Invest in technology: Utilize CRM systems to track customer interactions, maintain service history, and send proactive reminders. With the right technology, you can anticipate customer needs and create a smooth experience from start to finish.
Create a feedback loop: Implement a system for gathering feedback, both positive and negative, from your customers. This can help identify areas where your dealership may be falling short and allows for quick course correction. Importantly, show customers that you’re acting on their feedback; this builds trust and loyalty.
Delegate customer service management: Dealership managers are often pulled in several directions—sales targets, service goals, inventory management. By delegating customer service management to dedicated professionals, dealership leadership can focus on their primary goal: selling cars and servicing vehicles.
Having spent years in the automotive sales and service environment, I’ve seen firsthand how the quality of customer service can dramatically impact a dealership’s bottom line. In one case, we had a customer whose service experience had been subpar—multiple appointments were missed, and the repair took longer than expected. What could have been a lost customer was salvaged because we were quick to acknowledge the mistake, offered a free service, and personally followed up after the repair. That customer became a loyal buyer, coming back two years later to purchase a new car from the same dealership.
How 10x Customer Service Can Help
At 10x Customer Service, we understand how overwhelming it can be for dealership managers to juggle both customer satisfaction and business operations. That’s why we offer a solution that takes customer service management off your plate, allowing you to focus on what you do best—selling cars and servicing your customers' vehicles. Our team of professional customer service agents is trained to handle complaints, manage customer inquiries, and proactively resolve issues before they escalate.
Enhance customer satisfaction: We ensure that every customer interaction is handled promptly and professionally, leading to higher satisfaction and better online reviews.
Increase market share: When customers feel valued and heard, they’re more likely to return and recommend your dealership to others.
Free up dealership management: By outsourcing customer service, your management team can focus on selling more cars and delivering exceptional service, all while knowing customer issues are being expertly handled.
In the competitive automotive market, exceptional customer service is key to winning—and retaining—market share. Let 10x Customer Service help your dealership achieve those goals by turning customer service into a strategic advantage. For more information visit www.10xcustomerservice.com