Help Me Understand
By Richard F. Libin, President, Automotive Profit Builders and author of just released book “Who Knew?” APB.cc, rlibin@apb.cc
I don’t understand.
Why does a business spend enormous sums of money to stay on the cutting edge of technology, marketing, and systems like CRMs etc., but then make it virtually impossible to do business with them?
There is a local car dealership that has a reputation for continuously spending money to keep their facilities updated with state-of-the-art equipment, from computers and software to the solar panels on the roof. Yet it is well known that it is very difficult buy anything from them. A friend of mine who was looking for a new truck told me that he was planning to buy to from this dealership. Knowing their reputation from others who tried to work with them and having had personal experience, I told my friend what he should expect.
My friend went anyway. He arrived, parked, looked at some of the trucks on the lot, and found one he wanted to look at, but no one was around to help him. While standing next to the truck, he used his cell phone to call the dealership. Before talking to anyone, a recording informed him that, “This call may be monitored for quality and training purposes.” When he reached the receptionist he asked her to send out a salesperson to help him. The receptionist told him, “We don’t do that here. You have to come into the showroom.” And then, she hung up. He called back and again asked the receptionist politely, to please send someone out so he didn’t have to walk all the way to the building and back. She hung up. He called back again, but this time, he told her what he thought about their service and the dealership, got in his truck and drove off to a different dealership where he bought a brand new truck.  Who stopped the sale? This dealership has excellent products, facilities, location, technology, and marketing. Yet it’s difficult to buy a vehicle from them even when you fully intend to. Are they training their people or putting money into technology?
I don’t understand. This business has the technology to monitor calls for training purposes but it doesn’t listen or correct the problems. They consistently mistreat customers. Why would any business employ someone as the customers’ first point of contact who won’t do their job and find someone to help the customer?
Why do businesses invest thousands of dollars to get ahead in every aspect of technology – their infrastructure and business systems, their websites, marketing CRM, email and social media – to drive business,  but fail to invest in educating their people on how to take care of customers? If a professional can’t provide the red carpet treatment what is the point of spending money on technology and marketing? Technology doesn’t sell cars; people do.
Part of the problem is that customer satisfaction is measured only on sales. Most businesses have no idea how many customers are actually lost and why. Too often it’s assumed that price was the issue, ye most customers are lost long before price is discussed. Without an accurate traffic count – a count of every lead or opportunity he business has – management will never know how many potential customers were lost because no one would help them.
Opportunities for sales present themselves every single day. Customers seek out businesses hoping to find expert guidance and help to first find the right product and second, to buy it at the right price. Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t care about the customer’s needs, wants, and desires in a product. Their approach communicates to customers that, “This is how we sell things. These are the items we want to push today. Do it our way or leave.” Salespeople – and management – need to adopt an attitude that tells customers “we do business your way.” No opportunity will ever come to fruition if a business doesn’t have people who are interested in and trained to work with and help customers buy cars.
Isn’t its time businesses start focusing on customers, first, and the bells and whistle second? After all, customers don’t just wander in randomly. They do their research and make a concerted effort to approach your business; they stand in front of a salesperson ready to buy.  While technology may help bring customers in, it’s the people that keep them, and turn them into customers.
Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “Everyone is a selling something.” His most recent book, Who Knew?, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com), is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 49 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.