Change of perspective from sales to customer relation.

Challenge

What is the real service that is purchased with a car? Is it a product sold at a price or a lifestyle where the customer participates, an imitation of a role model or a status symbol expressing a position in a hierarchy? How is the flow of information to the customer changed by the Internet and social media? What is the role showrooms and sales staff? How do I maintain customer loyalty to the subsequent purchase?

Background

The process of selling cars is a legacy of the time when the customer entered the showroom impressed by the brand and the beauty of the showrooms appearance, to get the cars presented by the sales person and to conclude a contract after a test drive.

What has then already played a role, namely the cultural perspective, i.e. which car the neighbours, colleagues, or the boss have is in the garage and what they talk about it, as well as how this communication relates to the image appearing in the media, has become massively more important with the rising role of the Internet and social media. The dealership has lost the monopoly on the distribution of information about configurations and prices. This information is discussed in various forums and media and supplemented by videos on Youtube, moving the presentation of the car to friends, colleagues and Internet contacts.

The question of the professional and personal status expressed by the purchase of a car, the lifestyle lived with it, the transport function fulfilled, the role model imitated or the timeline planned to keep the car, and other factors result in the budget which the potential customer will be ready to spend. Mixing of terms of valuation and market or switching between seller and buyer perspective often lead to a contradicting product and communication, where the marketing measures contradict each other, making the efforts useless. A detailed analysis of the terms used and the resulting action reduces costs and increases the efficiency of communication.

An important result of this is that the customer satisfaction and how the customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction is communicated among customers and to prospective customers has become the most important factor. The customer has to be seen and adressed as a member of a culture communicating within a lifestyle community - as the most important multiplier for future sales.

Solution

By appropriate adjustment of the communication policy with an improved proactive information flow, active management of communication in social media and active support of customers throughout the entire life cycle, e.g. during claims settlement, customer loyalty and sales retention is improved.

Conclusion

• How are you working on customer loyalty?
• Is your communication and sales strategy adjusted to the technical changes?