New AutoSurvey Floor Traffic Survey Answers Auto Dealer's Million Dollar Question: Why Do Customers Leave?

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, October 16, 2006- AutoSurvey, an email and call center survey system that provides immediate, relevant and actionable customer feedback in real time, today announced the launch of a new Floor Traffic Survey. The new survey allows auto dealers to survey unsold prospects, find out why they didn't buy and get them back into the show room. The survey system instantly captures customer feedback and provides dealers with information as to why the customer did not purchase; enabling a strong second chance to close the prospect. Dealers using the system are seeing response rates as high as 46%.

According to a J D Power study, 91% of sales prospects that leave a dealership never receive follow-up. It is therefore not surprising that the national closing ratio is less than 15% for walk in traffic and about 12% for all prospects (Internet leads, phone calls, etc.). The new Floor Traffic Survey enables follow up of the 85% who leave without making a purchase. With survey response rates as high as 46%, the new survey represents a tremendous opportunity for dealers to recapture this lost business.

"The Floor Traffic survey allows the dealer principal, GM and Sales Manager to see what is transpiring in the sales process that is causing customer defection. Most dealers do not know why they are loosing the customer; did they take too long to greet, was the sales person rude, demo vehicle dirty? Etc. The Traffic survey provides all the information on this lost opportunity to senior management so that they can reengage the customer and get them back in," commented Jason Tryfon, AutoSurvey President.

According to Tryfon, the information that comes back from the surveys can be quite surprising.

In one case a customer had booked an appointment with a sales person at a BMW dealership and the sales rep neglected to show up. The customer was upset and left the store. A store greeter captured the customer information before they left; including the sales person they were there to see. Within 24 hours a survey was sent out to the customer who immediately responded that he had purchased an Acura TL that very same day. The dealership had lost an easy sale to a competitor. However, with the AutoSurvey System the dealer management now had the information to handle the sales person and correct any operational procedures.

AutoSurvey trains the dealership in using the web-based system and the implementation of some simple procedures to ensure its success. A person is assigned as a greeter to manage the ups. This person welcomes the customer and is provided with a script designed to get all needed information, email address, which sales person the customer is vistiting, etc. If the customer leaves without buying, an email survey is sent out within 24 hours specifically branded for that customer. For instance, if the customer was looking at a BMW 7 series, it would be branded for that specific make and model. If the customer has no email address, the survey is routed to the call center and done over the phone.

The ability to follow-up and resolve customer concerns is what makes AutoSurvey a complete customer loyalty tool. With AutoSurvey, dealers can manage customer issues immediately; email or call the customer back to let them know their feedback has been received, assign the issue to staff within the dealership, track staff and customer comments and measure the resolution cost when issues are closed.

Vince Palladino, of Palladino Honda, an early adopter of AutoSurvey, has driven Palladino Honda to the top one percent of CSI in the nation. He gets an average 46% response rate to surveys and cautions that dealers better be ready to face some startling truths; "This system is so powerful at eliciting customer response and gets information in front of you that you may not want to see! A dealer should only use this system if truly committed to CSI because it will make staff accountable and greatly improve customer interaction."