If you happen to be at work, I want you to stop reading for a moment. I want you to take a look around you. Go find a location where customers interact with your team.
Stand there for five minutes and watch. Don’t short change the five minutes. It will take you that long to really see what customers are seeing. Now, are you happy with what you see? Is it clean and orderly? Are your employees smiling? Are your customers who are waiting occupied?
Tomorrow, move back to a different area and repeat the five minute pause. Take note as you drive into your parking lot. Is it easy for customers to know where to park? How about where they enter the building?
Businesses spend a lot of money marketing to consumers regarding the experience they will receive doing business with them, yet spend little time actually reviewing the customer experience right under their nose. These little things can potentially distract customers and leave them unsatisfied.
I notice quite a few things when traveling to dealerships that can help improve a customer’s visit, including (but not limited to) signage being unclear, magazines being piled in a disorganized manner in the waiting area, worn out carpets, and bathrooms in a dilapidated condition.
The thing I want to stress is that these are successful dealerships selling plenty of vehicles and servicing a lot of clients. Sometimes we get so busy working IN the business, we don’t take a moment to stop so we can work ON the business.
One thing you may notice is employees walking right past some of these things and doing nothing about it. I have seen employees walk past things on the floor but they were in such a rush to get to where they were going that they either missed it or simply didn’t care. Everyone needs to participate in the five minute pause so we re-learn how to see things right in front of us.
The next time you are out at a new business, be aware of what you notice. What do you spend time looking at and how does it affect your impression of the location? Take some of that same focus and awareness back to your dealership.
I will be sharing how these small tweaks are very necessary as you develop a process for Digital Retailing at my workshop in Napa this May at the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference. I will also be hosting a panel of dealers who have gone through the DR process titled “What I Wish I Knew Before Installing Digital Retailing Tools.”
I suggest you send your project leaders out to DMSC. The full agenda and registration details can be found here: http://digitalmarketingstrategies.org/
You can also download a full-color brochure and agenda here to share with your co-workers and dealership managers: http://bit.ly/DMSC2019
I look forward to seeing you there or if I can be of service, please reach out.