7 Steps to Improve Customer Satisfaction at Your Dealership

By Bill Springer, DriveSure

Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction at a dealership can be challenging. Today’s consumers have high expectations and demand a seamless and enjoyable experience when purchasing or servicing a vehicle. And unhappy customers are more likely to spread negative word-ofmouth, leading to a decrease in business and overall profitability.

Higher customer satisfaction helps boost retention, and boosting retention by only 5% can increase your profits by up to 95%.

So, how can you improve the customer satisfaction levels at your dealership?

1Introduce a hybrid sales + F&I staff model

A Hybrid Sales/F&I Staff Model involves training sales staff to handle both sales and finance and insurance (F&I) responsibilities.

This can help lift customer satisfaction by reducing the number of hand-offs and allowing customers to discuss F&I products at the beginning of the process, rather than being passed from person to person (which happens with the typical sales-to-F&I hand-off).

In fact, a Honda dealership in Anchorage found that implementing a hybrid role led to a 90 percent drop in chargebacks

(the money a dealership must repay when customers refinance loans or cancel F&I products).

2Adopt customer satisfaction roadmaps or checklists

One way to improve customer satisfaction is to create a customer experience roadmap that focuses on customer satisfaction and care, rather than just sales volume.

Salespeople can use a checklist to ensure a smooth delivery, with items like showing the customer all key tech features or ensuring the BEV or hybrid vehicles are charged when they leave the lot. These can be VIN-specific lists that change depending on the vehicle.

Have the customer sign off on the list to confirm everything has been covered. Some dealerships use tablets to make this whole process easier.

3Improve the waiting experience

Many dealerships have an uncomfortable waiting experience, whether it’s in the showroom or the service department. This can lead to agitated and unhappy customers, lowering their overall satisfaction with the dealership.

When customers are unhappy with their waiting experience, they may feel frustrated or even resentful towards the dealership, leading to negative word-of-mouth and a decrease in customer loyalty.

To improve customer satisfaction, dealerships can focus on three main areas:

• A more comfortable waiting experience

Find ways to make the waiting experience more comfortable, such as offering better entertainment, food and beverages, more comfortable chairs, or other amenities.

• Eliminating the wait

Another option is to eliminate waiting entirely by offering to pick up or drop off customers when they come in for service. Rideshare is becoming increasingly popular as a dealership amenity, as well.

• Better communication and managing expectations

You can also reduce some of their frustration by communicating expectations as early as possible in the process and being as accurate as possible when telling them how long they can expect to wait.

Great communication is about building relationships with your customers beyond the sales relationship. If something changes, explain why and let them know how it affects their wait time. You may need to take steps to right the situation if the wait time is getting unrealistic (such as with a discount).