Automotive Management Live: dealers should consider self-serve aftersales tools in focus on customer care

A customer centric approach needs to replace one that’s process driven including providing mobile self-serve tools if aftersales departments are to continue to thrive, delegates at Automotive Management Live’s one-day expo will be told.

Exploring how the customer experience will continue to determine success, an eDynamix masterclass will demonstrate how current process driven departments are failing to meet customer expectations at the event which takes place on November 9 at Birmingham NEC.

Leading the eDynamix seminar will be Nick Horton, managing director of Profit Box, the training partner for the company, who will explore how millennials are now calling the customer experience shots and are demanding more digital solutions.

Horton (pictured) said: “By benchmarking automotive against other industries, the technical deficiencies which exist in many aftersales systems are even more apparent which risks turning off techno-savvy customers, particularly those millennials who are now heading for their mid-30s and are likely to be making up a significant part of most dealers’ customer database.

“As we search for increased customer centricity, we also start to appreciate how the new GDPR regulation will affect all dealer / customer interaction and communication.

“Sophisticated technology, access to data and impending explicit control over the use of data is creating a much smarter consumer who wants to make decisions via digital tools and apps including choosing how to pay for goods. This has huge implications for the aftersales department which still takes payment over the counter with few offering an online payment facility.”

Such consumer behaviour was highlighted in a report last year from Salesforce Research, 'the State of the Connected Customer' (www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/10/state-of-connected-customer-2016.html ) which surveyed more than 7,000 consumers and business buyers.

With consumers practically permanently connected, they are able to take more control of their purchase journey with innovation considered to be ‘very important’ by 57% and half would change brands if a company fails to intelligently predict their needs.

Horton said: “This is just one example of findings which show how technology needs to be customer centric and not process driven. Customers will go elsewhere if dealers do not put systems in place which genuinely put their interests first.

“We are now living in a 24/7 world where digital has enabled 24-hour access to retail and services.

"Whilst consumers don’t expect dealers to answer their phones during what were traditional out-of-hours times, they do expect to be able to find the information they need, make online bookings and receive a response.

“Self-service is not a reduction in customer service but an enhancement with additional benefits such as reduced overheads, compliance with GDPR regulation and enabling resources to be diverted to increase efficiency in other areas of the business whilst creating an online customer portal would be a natural next step.”

Finally, eDynamix will close its session by sharing technical initiatives that the company claims will change the automotive retail landscape forever.

Automotive Management Live 2017

Automotive Management Live is a one-day event bringing a host of suppliers under one roof in one day as well as providing expert analysis on new data rules, used cars and F&I in its insight theatres. Automotive Management Live also includes masterclass sessions by the industry’s top suppliers who highlight issues and potential solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing the industry today.