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Being a customer is tough
- By john.quinn
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 6 Replies
Sounds like a squirrel to me... 
Being a customer is tough
- By Alex Snyder
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 6 Replies
I was born into a dealer group. I never knew what it was like to be a real dealership customer. That all changed when I moved from Virginia to Vermont. I've been paying retail for service, tried to make a deal with a local dealership, and actually listed a car on Autotrader.com all as a consumer. It has been eye-opening! And I now fully appreciate why consumers perceive us to be monsters.
I write this article solely to educate and hope my experiences will at least inspire you to remove your dealer glasses and put on your customer glasses to look at your own operation.
Servicing my cars has been fairly standard, but one of the stores I go to has a luxury brand and a volume brand operating together. The luxury customers have the red carpet rolled out while the volume customers are obviously (and loudly) treated quite poorly. It actually hurts the experience for both customers.
One store's sales department is a very typical sales department. It has a sales tower and the men in that tower make it very obvious they've risen to the rank of manager so they no longer have a need to communicate with customers. The sales agents have been brainwashed into thinking this is acceptable behavior, and are quick to tell you the manager can't talk to you even though he's sitting 5 feet away. Does that sound familiar?
In the interest of time, I went through the Internet department to see if they'd buy one of my cars "off the street." They were excited to get this car because they're tough to come by at the auctions right now. The Internet manager was also excited to have a sure appointment - I assume he is paid on them. I was completely upfront about who I was, my experience in the industry, and that I was completely willing to work around their schedules; preferring to come in at their least busiest time of the day. I even left the car with them for 3 days because they wanted to do their research. Once the research was done they made me an offer and we swiftly came to a price agreement. I then gave them my account information so they could pay my car off directly, and I received an email a few hours later saying they needed to readjust their offer because they missed something in their research. They offered me $200 over my payoff. We were thousands higher originally. I didn't say anything; just grabbed my car and moved on.
Now I'm subscribed to every single email and mail blast this dealer group does for every single brand they sell. I literally receive at least 1 email a day with offers for sales, service, and asking me to be a part of their charities. These emails come from their service CRM, sales CRM, and another well known email-specific platform. I wonder how many times I will have to unsubscribe in order to get off of all their different lists. Crazy!
And then we come to Autotrader.com. I figured I don't want to get too involved with other dealers now, so I'm doing things myself. Listing a car on Autotrader is not the easiest thing to do. I'm not going to dive in will my usability insight, but all I can say is the process is not consumer-friendly. And I'm someone who has added and edited more cars in more inventory management systems than I can count. On top of that, I'm slammed with all sorts of BS offers to help sell my car which are now putting all Autotrader emails into my junk box. I am getting a lot of offers, but I'm missing a few of them because they're going into my junk box too.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant a little bit. It is tough being a consumer and the whole thing adds up to a sour taste in my consumer mouth.
P.S. No, I'm not your typical consumer. No, I didn't meet a salesman. Yes, the coin-operated machine is getting in the way.
I write this article solely to educate and hope my experiences will at least inspire you to remove your dealer glasses and put on your customer glasses to look at your own operation.
Servicing my cars has been fairly standard, but one of the stores I go to has a luxury brand and a volume brand operating together. The luxury customers have the red carpet rolled out while the volume customers are obviously (and loudly) treated quite poorly. It actually hurts the experience for both customers.
One store's sales department is a very typical sales department. It has a sales tower and the men in that tower make it very obvious they've risen to the rank of manager so they no longer have a need to communicate with customers. The sales agents have been brainwashed into thinking this is acceptable behavior, and are quick to tell you the manager can't talk to you even though he's sitting 5 feet away. Does that sound familiar?
In the interest of time, I went through the Internet department to see if they'd buy one of my cars "off the street." They were excited to get this car because they're tough to come by at the auctions right now. The Internet manager was also excited to have a sure appointment - I assume he is paid on them. I was completely upfront about who I was, my experience in the industry, and that I was completely willing to work around their schedules; preferring to come in at their least busiest time of the day. I even left the car with them for 3 days because they wanted to do their research. Once the research was done they made me an offer and we swiftly came to a price agreement. I then gave them my account information so they could pay my car off directly, and I received an email a few hours later saying they needed to readjust their offer because they missed something in their research. They offered me $200 over my payoff. We were thousands higher originally. I didn't say anything; just grabbed my car and moved on.
Now I'm subscribed to every single email and mail blast this dealer group does for every single brand they sell. I literally receive at least 1 email a day with offers for sales, service, and asking me to be a part of their charities. These emails come from their service CRM, sales CRM, and another well known email-specific platform. I wonder how many times I will have to unsubscribe in order to get off of all their different lists. Crazy!
And then we come to Autotrader.com. I figured I don't want to get too involved with other dealers now, so I'm doing things myself. Listing a car on Autotrader is not the easiest thing to do. I'm not going to dive in will my usability insight, but all I can say is the process is not consumer-friendly. And I'm someone who has added and edited more cars in more inventory management systems than I can count. On top of that, I'm slammed with all sorts of BS offers to help sell my car which are now putting all Autotrader emails into my junk box. I am getting a lot of offers, but I'm missing a few of them because they're going into my junk box too.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant a little bit. It is tough being a consumer and the whole thing adds up to a sour taste in my consumer mouth.
P.S. No, I'm not your typical consumer. No, I didn't meet a salesman. Yes, the coin-operated machine is getting in the way.
Cars.com Is Launching New-Car Features and Enhancements
- By NickHummer
To Kyle's point though, I will add that we're aware there are some steps we can take to make the process easier (for both dealers and reviewers) and we're always keen to talk through new ideas. This is especially true now - we believe very strongly that online reputation is a great way for any store to differentiate themselves in the new car space.
Jeff - thanks for the hospitality. I've got a good chunk of that next article in the can already, but I expect we'll make some additional improvements in the next month.
Jeff - thanks for the hospitality. I've got a good chunk of that next article in the can already, but I expect we'll make some additional improvements in the next month.