There are tens of thousands of dealerships in the United States, and probably a handful in your local city. How can you make your dealership stand out among the car dealership competition? By focusing on building customer relationships through positive experiences, you can ensure your dealership gains a competitive edge. Through personalization, reducing wait times, and clear communication, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. And the secret that ties it all together? Software systems that connect personalization, service scheduling, and communication can greatly help your service department get the win above the dealerships next door.
Personalized Service Solutions
Customers want to feel as though your dealership takes a personal interest in their desires and needs. This means developing service options that are customized to the individual’s needs, developing personal relationships, and having software that personalizes the customer experience at the dealership. For example, you may have a centralized scheduling software.
With a centralized scheduling system, you can offer customers the ability to make an appointment for their service. This ensures your service team is ready when the customer arrives with their vehicle. Then you can offer shuttle services, allowing the customer to leave and return when the vehicle is ready. With automated, customized text messages, you can personalize the messages your customers receive about their service and shuttle rides.
Reduced Time Spent at the Dealership
Customers report higher service center satisfaction and experience when they spend less time in the dealership’s waiting area. This translates to higher CSI scores for dealerships that provide alternative options to physically waiting at the dealership.
Customers are also more likely to agree to additional services when they aren’t actively waiting for the vehicle. These extra services are typically routine maintenance that vehicle owners feel they can skip because they are not a pressing need. By offering a shuttle service, customers are more likely to agree to these maintenance tasks. This improves the vehicle’s performance, reliability, and useful life. Throughout the course of the customer’s vehicle ownership, they may gain trust in your dealership because the vehicle is getting the maintenance needed to achieve peak performance.
Communication
A dealership’s customers want to experience a level of transparency that fosters trust and reliability. The more communication your team has, the more trust gets built, and the more confident the customer feels in the dealership’s ability to meet their needs. Some software systems can facilitate the increase in communication by providing reminders for routine service that you can communicate with the customer, a place for recording notes on the vehicle, messaging between the owner and the service team, and real-time updates on vehicle service or shuttle status.
Gain a Competitive Edge by Utilizing Dealership Software
Sometimes, customers can approach car dealerships with uncertainty. Your dealership can stand apart from the crowd by exceeding expectations in personalization, service times, and communication. Utilizing car dealership software makes it easier for your dealership to tie together and excel in these areas. By delivering a great experience from the moment customers walk in the door to when they leave with their vehicle, you set your dealership up to win against the competition.
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