Automotive News - September 19, 2016 - Supplement - S14

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT Q+A WITH ANDREA RILEY GIVE BUYERS AN EXPERIENCE TO RAVE ABOUT As Ally's chief marketing oﬃcer and a veteran auto industry executive, Andrea Riley knows what it looks like when dealerships are doing it right. She spoke recently about why Ally's new marketing campaign focuses on "Doing it right" and how dealers can put customers at the center of their business. Q: How important is it for dealers to "do right" by its customers? Why is customercentricity a big topic in auto retailing? Riley: There are a number of reasons we think "doing it right" is so important in the auto industry today. But perhaps most important is that for many businesses, their success will pivot on their ability to be customer-centric and satisfy the needs of customers. There is so much transparency and so much access to information that the power has shifted to the customer-particularly in the automotive space. The average customer spends 12 hours researching their auto purchase before they come in to the dealership...Where the difference is going to come for many of those customers is not in the deal, but in the treatment they get from the dealership, the treatment they get from the salesperson, the convenience, the atmosphere and, post-sale, how they are treated through the lifetime of that relationship ...Treating customers right is the right thing to do-it always has been-but now more than ever, if you don't treat people right the word spreads much faster than ever before. Q: How can auto dealers bring the idea of being customer-centric to life? Riley: We launched Ally seven years ago in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. A lot of people said to us, "What are you doing? The world doesn't 14 / ally / SEPTEMBER 2016 need another bank." We said that we agreed, the world doesn't need another bank-but a better bank. We felt there was a lot of room for what I call revolution in the way that banks serviced their dealer customers. We Andrea Riley focused on: What are consumer pain points in banking? What are dealer pain points and how can we solve for those pain points? The consumer-side solutions are things that cost us real money as a company. But we felt that over the long run we would have bigger gains in terms of customer loyalty and advocacy than these things would cost us. That bet has proven true. We did the same thing on the auto side. We said: We are going to have a high-touch, high-value model. We invested in a lot of reps, sent people into the dealerships. We provided training and unique tools that have gained us an incredible amount of loyalty. So I'd say to a dealer: Step back and look at what the customer pain points are. Solve for those pain points. And don't look at the short-term costs. Look at what the value is over time. Q: What can dealers do to improve upon customer service in the F&I space? Riley: It's the most painful part of the process for most customers. I was just with a dealer who had a great quote: "People love shopping for cars; they hate buying cars." You see huge companies like Auto Nation making digital F&I its No. 1 objective; how can we get buyers out in 20 minutes or less. As a consumer you are not comparing your brand experience dealer to dealer, you're comparing your dealership experience to all the brands you transact with in your life. You're asking, is my experience at the dealership similar or different from the Apple Store, Comcast's website or Nordstrom? I know F&I is a huge pain point. Customers feel very well versed in talking about the vehicle itself; they turn to Jell-O when it comes to finance. Dealers will win when customers feel the dealer respects their time and their need for the transaction to happen quickly. Q: One of the things dealers worry about is how to sell cars and build customer relationships when buyers don't come to the dealership right away, and so much is happening outside of their control. Do you have any advice for them? Riley: We are rolling out a new tool this year for dealers to interact more easily with customers in the digital space-through your website, your social pages, the reviews they see online. They are going to form an opinion about your brand based on that content and also how your salesperson interacts with them in the digital space. Be observant about the way the customer is communicating with you. It's those little nuances that will help dealers do a better job of creating that brand impression.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - September 19, 2016 - Supplement