Does your people believe in your product?

[sallen1]

Here's a topic I'm wrestling with. The comparison would go something like this:

You (the customer) go to a restaurant for dinner. You get seated and look over the menu. The waiter brings you your drink order, tells you the daily specials, then asks what you'd like to have. Your first choice is a 'special' but the waiter suggest you try something else. You then pic another item and the waiter then tells you that one dish would be better than the rest. You feel appreciative that the waiter cared enough to direct you to something you'd probably enjoy, however, why did the waiter not encourage your previous selections, including the 'daily special'? Could there be something wrong with the food? Why would those selections be on the menu in the first place? This may never cross your mind and it probably doesn't happen much in the food industry, but I see it happening in ours.

Now your wondering, 'what's this doing in a service manager's forum?' Well, look at your product. Your dealership is responsible for selling and servicing vehicles manufactured by your franchise grantor. You and everyone that works for you know the limitations and possible problems with certain vehicles. Do you or your people discourage puchase concideration for some of the models you sell? If so, what should you/could you do about it? Like the story above, your 'waiters' (service people) maybe suggesting that customers not eat at your restaurant.

Product quality is something that we have very little control over: We only fix what someone else makes. But the danger in not being 'supportive' of your product line-up may lead to disaster. In our line-up we've had oil burners, un-fixable alignments, self-igniting generators, wind noise, 'check engine soon' lights, etc. We live with this because it's our business to take care of things 'after the sale', but we need to promote the sale in the first place. I have a feeling that if a customer asks about a certain model, some of my people suggest something different on the menu. This can be especially apparent with used cars, i.e. "oh, the 1997 model had lots of problems..." Where does this end?

Maybe I'm missing something (doesn't happen much...) but how do you or would you deal with this? We have the GM training and product information but sometimes that's alot of hype. Where the rubber meets the road (at the dealership) is what matters, and I'd hate to think that our sales have been negatively effected by the experience of the shop employees. Maybe that's why we call it the 'back shop' and keep it 'out of sight' of the sales prospects.

Keep this in mind: I'm not suggesting that we should ever 'cover up' or mislead people in getting a new car that may be problematic, but for the thousands of cars that are sold every month, we only see a very small fraction on the warranty lane. What seems to be a common problem to us only effects a small percentage of cars on the road. But when and if we stop selling new and used cars, we will see a slow and agonizing death on the service lane.

Comments please!

scott

[David Henson]

Scott, one of my friends told me when he took his first service director job (more than 20 years ago) the owner told him that no matter what his job title was, his job was to sell cars!

[slilly]

Scott,
I believe this is a good question that goes hand in hand with General Motors' and dealers' concern of the the "slipping market share".
I'm afraid that questioning the product isn't as much as questioning the producer. The food in the restaurant is only as good as the people that care about preparing and representing it, the same with any business.
The growing cynicism I see is that customers and employees of dealerships don't believe somebody is being "completely honest with them", especially when problems crop up and aren't quickly resolved.
Sam

[sallen1]

I hear you!

Maybe some of you were at the recent 'new car annoucement show' that GM held in Vegas. The speak of 'partnership', et. al. But I'll modify it by what a famous past president said: "Trust, but verify".

A suggested query: How do you create product loyalty or promote something where awareness does not currently exist or perhaps pas product quality was questionable? Not neccesarily a 'new product introduction' per-se, but how would you go about building product conscience, especially for products forgotten by the cook?

I'm thinking of sending every employee home with one of our new cars so they can experience them away from the shop. Good idea?

scott

[This message has been edited by sallen1 (edited 10-02-1999).]

[chris ambrico]

Scott,

Funny that you bring this up. This has been a source of frustration for me continually. I am in a metro market, most of my employees (techs) have zero brand loyalty. They are unhappy with the styling, pricing, and overall vehicle performance. They'd much rather drive a Maxima, Camry, or Honda. Instead of focusing on what new market manufacturers can appeal to next, maybe they should appeal to their own. You would definitely wonder why you saw the waiter eating in the restaurant next door!!