How Dealers Can Better Understand Their Customers
How Dealers Can Better Understand Their Customers
Guest writer Debbie Frakes shares a blog this week to further highlight the importance of the customer satisfaction survey in, “How Dealers Can Better Understand Their Customers.”
One of the most powerful tools that equipment dealers have at their disposal is customer satisfaction surveys. They are the best method for understanding what you are currently doing very well and where you need to improve. These surveys provide insights into what your customers think about your products, services, and processes, and they will uncover any issues that need to be addressed.
How customer satisfaction surveys will benefit your business
- Increase customer retention by 30% – 40%.
- Identify problems quickly.
- Show your customers that you care, creating stronger relationships.
If you’re on the fence about conducting customer satisfaction phone surveys, consider the statistics. Dealerships that regularly survey their customers typically see a 30% to 40% increase in customer retention compared to those that don’t. The reason is that the dealers who conduct surveys can fine-tune every aspect of their business—whether it’s equipment service, sales, rentals, or parts—by quickly solving problems as they hear about them from their customers through surveys.
Phone surveys by an outside company help you pinpoint points of stress or difficulty before customers decide to take their business elsewhere. Often, customers with recurring issues won’t voice their concerns directly; they’ll just leave. However, when a third party contacts them by phone to ask about their experience, customers provide candid feedback.
Why conduct surveys over the phone?
Phone surveys are particularly effective for gathering customer feedback, because they generally yield better response rates than email surveys. Our partner Winsby, for example, reaches a customer on every third call, and 97% of those they reach agree to participate in the survey. That’s a far cry from email surveys, where a 2% response rate is considered good. Another advantage of phone surveys is their interactivity; customers can elaborate on their concerns, and the caller can ask follow up questions. With email surveys, it’s often unclear whether the recipients even read the questions!
It’s also a good idea to use an external party to conduct the surveys, rather than someone at your dealership. Customers are usually more forthcoming with an outsider, and they may feel more comfortable discussing issues with someone they haven’t worked with directly.
How customer satisfaction surveys work
Our partner, Winsby, conducts phone surveys for many different equipment dealers across the country. Their first step is to create a calling script tailored to the key areas that matter most to your customers. For equipment dealers, these areas often include things like service responsiveness, parts availability, rental equipment performance, and new machine delivery time.
Once your script is ready, a specific number of customers are surveyed each month. That number is typically 10% of the number of invoices for the month for individual customers. Their callers then record all responses and promptly follow up on any negative feedback. Finally, they will communicate any issues identified to the relevant departments at the dealership quickly, so they can make it right with the customer and correct the situation to avoid recurring problems.
Winsby’s customer satisfaction surveys will help you improve every area of your business, retain customers that you are at risk of losing, and build stronger relationships with the companies you work with. It’s all about discovering problems and fixing them before they escalate and turn into customers leaving and speaking negatively about your dealership.
Contact Winsby today to start conducting customer satisfaction surveys!
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