Digital Dealer
By John Holt
Handing over the keys to your customer's new vehicle is the satisfying end to a successful sale. And if you have the right tools, it can be the exciting new beginning of a long and loyal relationship with your customers. By taking full advantage of the opportunities available to you with the Internet and e-mail, you can take better care of your customers' needs and build an ongoing relationship that will last throughout the lifetime of their vehicle and into the next one.
One of the innovative ways you can establish this relationship is to give your customers their own personal automotive Web page. You'll be providing your customers with a complete, convenient source of information about their vehicle that will keep them in contact with your dealership and bring your dealership to mind when it's time to bring their vehicle in for maintenance, service or any other automotive need.
When you complete the sale of a vehicle, along with the keys to their vehicle, you'll give your customers their own Web address that they can access on their home or office computer. With a private password, they'll log on to their own Web page and instantly see the information that you've entered about the vehicles they own and their driving habits. You can even take a photo of the customer with their new vehicle and post it to the site to add a fun, personalized touch.
At any time, customers can access this page to see their vehicle's service history, its recommended maintenance schedule and your dealership's current service specials. When they see that their vehicle is due for service, links to e-mail forms make it easy to request a service appointment or order parts.
Based on the specific information they provide about their vehicle, you can have service reminders automatically posted to their site to let them know when it's time to bring their vehicle in. To maintain their service records, customers will have incentive to bring the vehicle to your dealership because only service performed there will be polled and automatically updated onto their personal page.
Another way to maintain an ongoing relationship with your customers is to send them e-mail messages to remind them when it's time to come in for oil changes, regular service appointments and recommended major maintenance.
Providing an e-mail link to your service department right in the message encourages customers to request an appointment to come back to your dealership for service.
Investing in a system that automatically sends the e-mail messages to customers at the appropriate times will give your dealership the benefits of ongoing customer contact without taking up valuable staff time. Dealerships that normally send service reminder post cards by mail can save an enormous amount of time and money by eliminating printing, postage and handling costs.
By using your Web site, personal Web pages and e-mail to communicate with your customers, you can keep them directly in contact with the profit centers of your dealership. You'll be helping your customers take better care of their vehicles and encourage a long-term relationship with your dealership that will extend far beyond that first vehicle sale.
John Holt is Co-CEO of The Cobalt Group, Inc. jholt@dealeronline.com
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