The Road to ROI with F&I

Customer service plays a huge role in the success of any dealership; it's one of the top reasons why people go to dealerships and tell their friends and family members about their experiences there. Dealerships have realized that good customer service can make all the difference in increasing referrals, word-of-mouth promotion, and repeat business. However, most dealerships are still short on providing excellent customer service, which can be an easy fix with these three simple tips.

Customer service is an important but often overlooked aspect of running a successful dealership. Here are five ways to improve your dealership’s customer service.

Auto dealership owners need to focus on one key concern — providing excellent customer service that leads to retention. It is vital to do everything you can to transform first-time customers into lifelong clients.

Luckily, retaining a successful relationship with your current clients is easier and cheaper than obtaining new customers. Follow these top five strategies to improve your dealership's customer retention and boost sales.

For your dealership to be successful, you need to master the art of continuously attracting clients and ensuring customer loyalty. In fact, it is much easier to retain your customer base than to attract a new lot of clients. Additionally, various reports state that increasing your customer retention by 5% is likely to increase your profitability by 75%. This just further proves how vital customer retention is. So, how do you achieve this?

Management of customer retention rates is one of the key pillars of successful dealership. Great research from Harvard Business School details that a 5 % increase in customer retention rate significantly improves the business profit from 25% to 95%. Also, the fact that it is five times more difficult to acquire new customers extends the need to have customer retention strategies. Therefore, mastering the art of customer retention is an imperative undertaking in dealerships. How then can you do this?

Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one. However, in a world where customers are more informed, more demanding and savvier than ever, retaining existing customers can be challenging.    

If you want to meet your sales goals, you are going to need more customers. That may sound logical, but it's not necessarily the case. According to recent findings, the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%.

You see customers entering your dealership, and some buy cars while others don't. There are ways to get more customers in the door and improve your sell-through percentage. Your dealership has the vehicles people want in stock, but you are looking to increase your sales quota and grow your business. Improving your level of customer service and building long-term relationships can help. Here are a few ways to improve your dealership's customer service:

Going digital in auto dealerships has become more of a priority with COVID-19 wreaking havoc on customer’s willingness to venture to a dealership and/or allowing customers on-site. As a result, having to offer retailing through online means is becoming a new norm.

Repeat business is the proverbial 'bird-in-hand.' Your current customers are fertile ground for cross-selling. It's your golden opportunity to wow them beyond belief. Take the initiative, know your customers and understand their needs. Do this and your long-standing customers will remain loyal and your successes will continue to grow.