Competing in the digital age can seem like an insurmountable challenge for car dealers without a solid plan to drive reviews.
The last thing a prospective car buyer wants to see is a Yelp, Google Maps, Facebook, or BBB page full of unresolved issues that fit car-buying stereotypes. Since most major metropolitan areas have multiple brand name car dealerships within a driveable radius, having poor car dealer reviews can cause potential buyers to skip your store and move to one where buyers sit. more comfortable before walking through the door.
Reading: How to have dealerships let you review their cars
boosting car dealer reviews is not an easy solution. requires diligence and effort from multiple team members and a carefully executed plan:
- offer world-class service
- ask for reviews when buyers are most likely to leave them
- create a process to quickly monitor and respond to reviews
- train staff on how to exceed expectations
offer a world-class service
The best way to avoid negative reviews is to ensure that each member of your team is properly trained and dedicated to providing the best possible service to each guest.
This service-first mentality begins before potential buyers even contact your store. Before the first touch, potential buyers will likely check your website for inventory or other information. is your website up to date? Are your photos sharp and abundant? Is your contact information up to date? is the bdc chat or text function working? Bottom line: Your website is your first impression of a service, so it needs to be great.
Once a potential buyer connects with your store, the clock starts ticking because chances are yours isn’t the only store they’re communicating with. Providing requested information quickly and accurately will ensure that you understand buyers’ limited attention spans. it will also help them by minimizing the hassle of dealing with multiple car dealerships.
once you close an appointment, it’s time to start really impressing buyers once they walk through the door. Everything from a cold drink to a snack to a comfortable chair while you wait can help a shopper feel special. If you know a buyer is coming, having the vehicle ready will make the buyer feel you value their time and expedite the buying process.
See also: How long do care.com reviews take to show up
Great service is all about setting expectations right, and empowering your team to actively listen will ensure that underpromising and overdelivering is the default way of doing business. Once you complete a test drive and attract a customer to close the deal, your customers will appreciate the attention paid to their needs. they will be much more likely to not only buy, but also leave a positive review.
after your customer leaves, the service cycle has only just begun. This is another opportunity to follow up and surprise customers who might not expect proper follow up after the sale is complete.
These aren’t the only tips, of course, so sit down with your team and discuss what service-related activities can have the lasting impact your store needs.
related: how to use loyalty programs effectively
ask for reviews when buyers are most likely to leave them
Buying a car is an exciting process for most people, and capturing a review at the height of a customer’s euphoria is a surefire way to improve car dealer reviews overall.
Moves the review away from the negative/complaining side of the brain and onto the positive and encouraging side where shoppers want to talk about their positive interaction with your store. To capture this energy, ask shoppers to leave reviews as soon as they leave your store, or if you’re really bold, ask shoppers to post a review while they’re waiting for financing, or while they’re waiting for their vehicle to be cleaned and gassed up. .
The longer a customer waits to post a review, the less “new and shiny” the whole experience will be, and the less likely a customer will post the review. Hit them when their happiness with their new vehicle is at its peak, and enjoy the positive reviews that result.
create a process to quickly monitor and respond to reviews
just like your store’s crm system, letting your reviews on popular platforms get out of hand is a sure recipe for disaster.
To adequately cover reviews, store leadership should assign service-oriented champions to regularly monitor all car dealership reviews and promptly handle any issues that arise from review audits. This means that you will not only need protocols to thank customers who leave positive feedback, but also create protocols and a chain of command to address any potential negative feedback.
See also: 15 best strategies to improve your customer service performance in 2022
If a customer raises concerns on a review platform, there is a good chance that the service process has had one or more failures. Sure, there are customers who are just plain curmudgeonly, relentless, and hard to deal with, but most customers are not impossible to please and ultimately just want to be heard and have their problems fixed right away. while not all situations can be handled cleanly, many can, and these poor service situations also allow dealer leadership to identify and appropriately react to any trends highlighted in negative reviews.
handling issues promptly will prevent the situation from escalating, and most people will amend or remove the negative review as a result of focused attention on their concerns.
train staff on how to exceed expectations
never assume that everyone on your team knows how to properly exceed expectations.
Creating a service culture is typically built from the ground up, and successful implementation of a service-focused culture comes from consistently training all your staff, as well as implementing effective custom assessments that address criticism negative. as learning points for success. Although staff may not agree with the negative reviews presented, these scenarios are effective training opportunities for everything from overcoming objections to practicing active listening.
developing these kinds of habits can bring more success not only to individual salespeople, but also to the car dealership as a whole.
service first, excuses later
Being accountable is key to building the kind of credibility and reputation that successful car dealerships need to compete in the digital world.
This “old school” mindset is effective when combined with the modern tools of doing business in the digital world, and will help your car dealership’s reputation thrive within your community. Increasing the number of reviews and average rating will also have a ripple effect on the rest of your dealership operations, from vehicle service to body shops (if equipped). Trained leaders will appreciate this valuable metric and the ability to use it as an opportunity for continuous improvement.
Simply put: It’s time to put service first and save the excuses for later.
See also: 10 Proven Ways to Improve Customer Experience – Qualtrics
