Customer Experience – Treat Me Like Your Mother-in-Law

by Peter Sorgenfrei

The car buying experience has always been on the top ten list of the things people fear the most.  Consumers fear walking onto a dealer lot, being attacked by the first salesman to spot them, and then coerced into considering a vehicle in a different color, with a different trim level and at a different price (higher) than what they set out to buy.

Then comes the whole song and dance with the F&I manager and the dealership principal to ‘approve’ the terms offered after the consumer has been sitting in the chair for hours, hungry, tired on on the verge of leaving.  Far from a pleasurable experience.

Brands like Saturn and Scion entered the scene with no haggle pricing and the purchase experience got a little better for buyers of those brands but the one-price philosophy did not bleed over to other stores.  For the majority of the buying public, the dealer experience ranks right below getting a root canal.  At least there is anesthesia at the dentist!

The car buying experience should be one of the things in the auto industry that is the simplest to fix. It does not involve complex engineering, logistical challenges, supplier failure, etc. It is about human interaction and treating people they way we want to be treated.

Recently I told a sales team that they should imagine they were selling vehicles to their mother-in-law.

My basis for that analogy was that we treat our mother-in-law with more respect than our own mother (we get away with more with her), we do not completely dumb it down, cause we want her to like us, and we certainly do not pressure her to do anything she is does not want, of fear of retribution and wrath. (Just kidding Fran!)

But seriously, if car salesmen (and women) treated all their customers like their mother-in-law, I believe more and better relationships would be formed and more repeat (and less expensive) business would occur.

Next time you are shopping for a car, if the salesman is pressuring you, ask him to imagine you are the mother-in-law, after he stops looking dumbfounded, tell him about this theory and I bet your experience will be better.

Filed under: Automotive, Customer Service , Automotive, Cars, Consumers, Customer Service, ideas, Psychology, Retail

Enhancing customer’s experience in their own words

Customer experience can be a cornerstone when differentiating a business. As companies around the globe witness the continuous integration of markets across countries and continents, enterprises generate value by creating customer service experiences that are both multilingual and multicultural. As Anand Subramaniam, VP of Worldwide Marketing at eGains Communications Corporation puts its, multilingual, multicultural customer experiences (MMCE) are “delivered in the business and regulatory context of local markets and tailored to the language and culture of the customer”.

Anand gives a step-by-step approach as to how companies can determine their needs for MMCE and ideas to implement it in a customer contact center environment.

Full article

Filed under: Market Research, Marketing , Customer Experience, Customer Service, Differentiation, Marketing, MMCE

Recession Special: Yahoo! now offers coupons

With the goal of becoming “the center of people’s online lives”, Yahoo launched its Yahoo Deals website, in partnership with Coupons.com, giving visitors the ability to print coupons right from their homes. Yahoo says that searches for the term “printable coupons” have risen by 50 percent this year compared to the same season last year.

The site features a Daily Deals section where it showcases the current deal of the day, along with a clock showing when the deal will end. It also has a zip code function allowing users to find the cheapest gas in their neighborhood.

As “frugality is the new cool” according to Yahoo Shopping Head Greg Hintz, the online giant hopes to quickly find its way into the life of the cost-saving web user.

Full article

Filed under: Marketing , Customer Service, Marketing

Corporate motivation for correcting mistakes

Companies make mistakes: They launch offensive ads (Motrin anyone?), they omit declarations on packaging, they might even sell a faulty product. Like humans (well not quite) they are not perfect. An interesting post today from Jason Bear about a customer service experience with Nissan.

In short Jason buys car, car does not have roll over sensor as advertised, Nissan sends Jason letter offering $2,000 or to buy the car back, Jason blogs about Nissan’s motivation for the “bribe” or if it might be a social media experiment (we are talking about it aren’t we?) Peter commented on Jason’s blog and we are posting the comment below (for the record – we are not currently employed by Nissan):

Jason,

Having had some experience working inside and consulting to several of the Japanese OEMs I think what you saw was a sincere effort. Yes – we live in a litigious society and so companies want to protect themselves. But, the key here is they got to you first.

Let’s say you had an accident and a roll over sensor might have avoided injury to you or your vehicle. What are the chances that you would think of that, find out about it online, sue, etc. They are present, but in reality not something firms take a proactive stance on.

Nissan happens (like some other firms) to keep good tabs on who buys what and so are able to send you offers to buy more later. Nissan and a few others we know of are more focused on giving you a great customer experience so you come back voluntarily (which ends up being less expensive for them as well in the long run).

Most people do not blog about good experiences with companies and brands – so I commend you for doing so – and your points are relevant – what was their motivation? I honestly think they wanted to do right by their customer first and safeguard second.

Filed under: Automotive, Information, Legal, Marketing , Customer Service, Nissan, Social Media