Improving and maintaining customer relations should be a top priority for any dealership. Customer acquisition and retention, therefore, is entirely dependent on those one-on-one experiences that shape a customer’s first and lasting impressions. As we head into a new year, what are some New Year’s goals that dealership managers and staff can make to make 2025 an outstanding year, building their brand and fostering positive customer relationships?
Here are just a few ideas for New Year’s goals dealership employees can make for a strong start to 2025.
Prioritize the Customer Experience
From first communication through the entire purchasing or maintenance process, prioritizing the customer experience should be paramount. Every customer has had the experience of poor communication with a company that resulted in their taking their business elsewhere. Prioritizing the customer experience means ensuring that, when they bring their needs to you, you exceed their expectations, offering incentives, providing top-notch service, and ensuring that solutions are made, and customers leave with a positive experience.
A few ways to meet and exceed customer needs:
- Personalized communications tailored to meet individual customers’ needs and preferences. This can be achieved by using customer data collected through relevant interactions and communication.
- Improve customer feedback loops through actively asking for customer feedback. Use the feedback you receive to identify and improve areas of concern and amplify those areas that customers show approval and positive feedback.
- Streamline productivity by eliminating unnecessary steps through the customer experience, making both the customer and sales or service technicians’ entire process more efficient.
- Regularly provide staff training so that new staff members on the team are given the same tools as existing staff will improve staff efficiency, thereby creating a better customer service experience. When employees have access to all of the tools they need to maintain customer satisfaction, solutions can be more easily met.
Optimize your Sales Strategy
With new sales tools being introduced to the market each year, making sure that you are on the forefront of developing sales strategies will improve overall dealership performance. Optimizing your CRM usage by tracking customer interactions, identifying new sales opportunities, and effectively following through and nurturing leads. Use what you gather from data collected to develop data-driven sales strategies analyzing customer behavior, identifying trends in the market, and using what you find to streamline your marketing efforts, accordingly.
A couple of ways to enhance sales strategy:
- Improve your customers’ online sales experience through enhancing your dealership website and making your online listings more easily accessible through updated SEO measures. Publish only high-quality content that is clear and concise with pricing and features clearly visible.
- Master digital selling skills by training staff in ways to utilize tools and platforms such as your dealerships existing social media and email marketing. This will create more organic customer engagement through social media networks and create another area of direct dealership-to-customer communication.
Make Employee Engagement a Priority
Creating an environment where managers and staff feel supported is essential to any business. Because a dealership has multiple departments and many moving parts, a cohesive relationship across all departments and throughout every position at the company will not only improve employee retention, but also create a better experience for customers. By continuing to develop ways to improve the employee experience and engage in staff-building, a dealership reaps the benefits.
A few ways to encourage employee engagement:
- Invest in employee development programs that provide staff with an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. This might include attending industry training seminars and offering employees incentives for career advancement. Implementing leadership and mentorship programs for those employees who want to grow with their company, and ensuring that they receive support in their goals, will not only create opportunities for growth with the company, but also foster confidence in employees.
- Make positive work culture a priority by promoting open communication, team collaboration, and programs that recognize employees for their hard work. Foster policies that create a safe and supportive environment for every dealership employee. Make work a place that your employees look forward to being. Good morale at a company creates an atmosphere where a business can flourish.
- Employee empowerment through allowing employees to take ownership of their work fosters confidence among staff. Delegating responsibilities and tasks that allow employees to make decisions rather than being micro-managed allow employees to feel like they are a valued part of the team rather than simply being a cog in the machine. Empowered employees who feel like their place at the dealership is valued will continue to do work that reflects their feeling of belonging.
The new year offers you an opportunity to make necessary improvements throughout your dealership’s entire structure so that the experience for customers and staff is not only positive but fosters more success and growth in the coming years.
