I don’t have the opportunity to write here often but thought I would write this down for your consideration……
Since the early days of the internet we learned that people who are not happy will write about their experience somewhere on the internet, whether that is on Facebook , Twitter, a blog or somewhere else. What we wish to accomplish is to have a neutral place whereby we can reach out to a customer who feels strongly that we failed to meet their needs while at our store and hopefully resolve the issue and recapture that person as a valued customer. The DealerRater platform and process provides this for both our store and our clients.
The DealerRater review process is one that has been well tested and well documented for several years. Our experience is that the customer who generally writes a negative review is simply wishing for someone to listen and finally resolve their concern. Having a 2 week grace period before the negative review goes live allows us to see if we can resolve the issue with the customer. Whether the client changes the review or leaves the review as written is solely up to that person, as it should be.
Here is the interesting point about the DealerRater program that is key to its success with many of the dealers that actively use DealerRater.
The bottom line: “does it improve customer service and the customer experience, and in turn sell more cars”? The answer is a resounding “YES”. The DealerRater review process simply makes us better at what we do as it has influenced and changed our culture at the employee level. How? Not long after we started working with DealerRater one of our service team members said in a meeting “We all try a little harder now to do everything we can to satisfy our customer as you never know when we may be reviewed”.
What has happened over time is that our staff has simply gotten better at customer service and the experience we provide our clients. High level customer service has become such an ingrained aspect that it is now simply part of the process and part of our culture. We are just performing at a higher level of customer satisfaction as a “habit” and it simply is the way we do business now. Truly, having DealerRater as part of our culture has dramatically improved our customer service level.
Has having DealerRater as part of our process (including the negative review process) benefited our store in sales? The answer is YES. Three years ago we processed about 850 repair orders a month, whereas recently we just passed 1400. Sales 3 years ago we averaged about 85 vehicle sales a month, recently we just passed 130 sold in a month.
We hear it all the time from many of our customers, that they are in the store because they read our reviews, including negative reviews. Recently a customer said to me “I read your 6 negative reviews and liked how you guys responded to each and tried to look after your customer” and it’s impressive that you have 390 positives. That particular client bought a vehicle that day.
The DealerRater negative review process is very fair to both the customer and to the Dealer as it provides a neutral platform for dialog and hopefully resolution. We as a dealership realize that the customer is in control and makes the choice if a negative review is left as originally written. However, we also know and have learned that a negative only remains a negative if you do not respond to the client that wrote it. People who are online reading DealerRater negative reviews are more interested in how you as a dealer responded to that negative and how you tried to resolve the issue, as they learn how your team will respond to them if they have a poor experience.
Sincerely, DealerRater is now considered one of our most valued and key business partners, one that makes us better at what we do, and as a result helps sell more vehicles.
Cheers
John O.
