Are your customer or employee engagement plans increasing loyalty or holding people hostage?
Great customers and quality employees are the lifeblood of an organization’s past, current, and future success. What you do to attract the best and then keep them pays huge dividends. The initial cost of acquiring customers and staff becomes insignificant if the organization’s way of conducting itself nurtures a relationship rather than a set of transactions.
To amplify this perspective, here is a story, names redacted to provide them with a chance to recover from their lack of nurturing and understanding the real cost of how they treat customers and employees.
Having recently acquired a new vehicle, there were a few things that needed some adjustment. The collection of items was diverse, so it would likely take a full day or two of service. This would mean a loaner vehicle would be needed during this warranty service. In Florida, the dealership offers various transportation options for its customers, regardless of whether the vehicle was acquired at the dealership. No cost transportation to their home, business, etc. They will also offer a loaner when the service takes longer than 6 hours and is scheduled in advance. Vehicles purchased in Michigan had been serviced by this dealership in Florida. This vehicle was purchased in Florida and is now in Michigan. (JKL Associates has offices in both locations) In reaching out to local car dealerships in Michigan for warranty service, it was interesting how these dealerships alienated the customers. It should be noted that the two dealerships approached for vehicle servicing were not unfamiliar with the owner. The owner has purchased at least 4 or 5 vehicles from each of the dealerships over the past several years.
Upon talking with the service departments, both were indicating multiple days of diagnosis and then repair. That seemed odd, but not knowing their backlog, it was potentially understandable. Upon the request for a loaner during the warranty repair, both indicated that, because the vehicle was not purchased at their location, no loaner would be made available. They both indicated that dealerships are independently owned and can offer or not offer programs as such. In prior years, both dealerships had loaner programs, and one still does, but only for vehicles purchased at that dealership. Even though the warranty service would be covered by the manufacturer, the loaner would not. To put it simply, the vehicle was scheduled at a different Michigan dealership for warranty service, which will include a loaner.
The outcome is that two dealerships had theoretical loyalty programs for returning buyers at their location, which alienated potential future customers from being welcomed to their business. The programs in place were to hold buyers hostage to their dealership rather than engage them for customer satisfaction. The other dealership gained a new customer who buys vehicles on a recurring basis, thus contributing to both new sales and service revenues.
This scenario can also be applied to the treatment and engagement of your staff. Are the team engagement programs in your business authentically designed to build brand loyalty, or do they put fences around people, holding them hostage to the business? Eventually, people will become so frustrated that they break down the fences and leave for greener pastures. The owner of the business then has to deal with more costly turnover.
This week, examine the programs, systems, policies, and procedures that have been put in place for the purpose of building loyalty. Are they doing what was intended, or are they indirectly pushing customers and staff away from the brand?
Dealing with brand loyalty issues? Contact JKL Associates and discuss with Promise Guide how we can help bring a new creative perspective to your challenge resolution. Call us in MI (313) 527-7945 or FL (407) 984-7246
Journey On!
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