Digital Dealer - February 2020 - 15

Process & Performance

DEALER OPS & LEADERSHIP
By
Ted Rubin
President & Founder,
ActivEngage, Inc.

Optimizing Your Process for Success
Elevating the Customer Experience Starts Within

Being a dealer today is tough.

Margins are getting narrower. Managing inventory is becoming increasingly difficult. Hiring, managing,
and retaining staff is harder than it's
ever been. Turning car buyers into lifetime
customers is nearly impossible. And, while
many of these issues have constricted
operations for a long time, technology has
magnified them while simultaneously creating new obstacles.
So, how do you make it work? Where can
you find the most effective tweak or twist to
help you improve your bottom line?

The Key is Optimization
Optimizing the customer journey may be
the fastest and easiest way to impact sales.
In a broader sense, optimization is key
to any successful business because when
you make the best use of your resources,
it creates efficiencies that lead to higher
revenue and profit. When you apply it to the
customer journey, optimization creates a
valuable experience that results in stronger
relationships with customers and increased
loyalty to your store and brand.
By analyzing your processes, you'll be
able to not only improve your customers'
journey but also find additional efficiencies,
consistencies, and enhancements that can
further increase your own benefit.

Focus on Human Interactions First
So, now that you've set the stage, where
do we start? We start within the organization itself. The first step in optimizing the
customer journey is to create a customer-centric dealership. Put the needs of your
customers at the forefront of operations
and ensure that all customer-facing teams
are on the same page.
Consider that both your customers and
your employees are human beings and how
that is to your advantage. A recent PwC
study shows that 59% of all consumers feel
that companies have lost touch with the

February 2020

human element of the customer experience.
Using your very human staff to engage with
customers can be a powerful differentiator for your dealership in a world driven
by self-checkouts and automated emails.
Remember that people still want to buy cars
from people; technology is just the conduit.
Another key element in employee-customer interactions is consistency. Create
consistent interactions throughout the
buying journey so that customers are comfortable and more willing to move down the
funnel. Consistency establishes calm and
confidence for both customers and employees-and it creates a more effective way to
measure success. It is imperative that you
can identify where you are succeeding and
where you can improve as your organization
evolves.

Train Staff to Uncover Buyer Needs
Companies that relate to consumers on a
personal, human level foster unique relationships that enable greater customer loyalty and trust. To do any of this, your team
needs to be skilled in the art of listening.
Your employees have to identify the
needs of the customer, even when customers are not explicit about what their
needs are. Many times, customers have not
consciously identified their actual needs
themselves. But focused attention on your
customer's interaction can prompt questions, and communication can give insight
that superficial engagement cannot.
Teach employees to listen to what
customers are saying and what they aren't
saying; it could very well be your business's
biggest competitive advantage.

Empower Dealership Teams to Help
The next step is to empower your employees to solve problems and address the needs
of your customers. It's almost impossible to
motivate people to help identify needs and
problems if you don't give them the ability
to carry out the solutions. That would be

Analysis of Buyer
Interactions
Before you optimize the customer
journey, you need to analyze the
current state of things. Look at your
most common buyer interactions.
How many steps does it take for

a customer to get from point A to
point B?

How many people need to be

involved to help the shopper?

Is the process consistent each

time the customer goes through
it?

Does each person in the process

interact with the customer with
the same intent regardless of the
point of contact?

like sending out a rescue mission with no
way to bring victims home. It's imperative
to the process of getting your team to listen
to your customers to also enable them to
satisfy the issues they uncover. Otherwise,
they are just stuck with a problem that they
cannot resolve.
Last but not least, make sure that everyone in the organization is involved. Even
those who do not directly interact with customers impact your customers. If you want
your brand to be known for the customer
experience, make it a mantra of your entire
business. By doing all of this thoughtfully,
it is possible to completely transform the
relationship your dealership has with its
customers to achieve greater results in
customers' satisfaction and sale.
To submit article feedback, questions or topic
suggestions, email magazine@digitaldealer.com

[ d i g i t a l d e a l e r. c o m ]

http://www.digitaldealer.com

Digital Dealer - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - February 2020