Online reviews should be embraced by car retail businesses to “create a narrative of good customer service”, AM’s latest ‘General Managers Guide to…’ webinar heard.
An expert panel of car retailers joined Reputation’s automotive director – EMEA, Andy Wand, to share insight into how to build a strong reputation in automotive retail earlier this week.
Among the key takeaways was the assertion that both good and bad customer reviews should be encouraged in greater volumes to give the opportunity to deliver good customer outcomes more visibly.
“You can ask people to do a follow-up review and that almost negates the first review, and it shows people that you resolve issues,” said Wand, who suggested that reviews could be used to “create a narrative of good customer service”.
He said: “Things do go wrong, but if people see you are addressing those issues and reacting, that can push-up your online reputation.”
This week, Snows Motor Group emerged from Reputation’s 2021 Auto Report to secure top place in its rankings of UK car retailers by online reputation – with Hyundai the leading car manufacturer.
To read the full Reputation Auto Report, click here.
AM’s panel of car retailer experts was made up of: Waylands Automotive head of sales, Dominic Gouldsborough; Luscombe Motors managing director Robin Luscombe; Roadside Garages director David Boyd and IMDA founding member; Cheshire Cars owner David Bilsborough.
Luscombe delivered insight into his “hands-on” approach to establishing his car retail business’ reputation as part of his webinar insight.
He said that staff retention played a huge part in the sales department’s success, with customers keen to deal with a familiar face and on a human level after establishing a relationship with the business.
But he also said that low-pressure sales were also core to his good reputation with customers.
“The history of the sector is a long one of retailers trying to force customers into cars they down’t want and trying to oversell a car,” he said.
“We just went fully in with the idea that we wanted to give people an enjoyable experience when buying a car.
“It’s got to be a culture that goes through the business.”
Gouldsborough told AM that happy staff were at the heart of Waylands’ approach to ensure happy customers.
“If you have staff that are happy at work and enjoy doing their job then there’s a far better chance of that being passed on to your customers,” he said.
This week’s ‘General Managers Guide to Building Your Dealership’s Reputation' webinar was the latest in a series of AM webinars focussing on different areas of the car retail business.
The full series of webinars can be viewed via the AM website.
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