Customers always have options when choosing where to do business. What makes them choose to stay with your dealership?
It does not matter whether the relationship is retail, wholesale or commercial. Customers expect compelling reasons to continue doing business with a specific vendor or supplier. If someone else can match their expectations more completely, you could lose their business.
When I taught this topic as a sales trainer, I used the example of two magnets and a 15 mm wrench hanging by a string. One magnet was larger than the other. The magnet that had the greatest attraction pulled the wrench.
Likewise, customers seek a type of magnetic pull when deciding with whom they choose to do business.
They search for reasons to stay. How do you become the biggest magnet?
Businesses that keep customers seem to do the same things well, regardless of the business segment.
Not all customer relationships are the same. We read and hear platitudes about “10 ways to keep customers,” as if all customers respond equally to the same approach. Experience shows such maxims are only partially accurate.
The rest of the story is matching customers’ expectations at the level of maturity of your relationship with them.
A new customer will view the relationship differently than a customer with whom you have built trust and respect.
You must meet them where they stand at the stage of relationship maturity to earn an opportunity to move that customer to the next level of long-term commitment.
This might sound vague, so let’s investigate the levels of relationship maturity and why customers continue doing business with specific partners — in other words, why they stay.
Level 1: When the relationship between dealer and customer is new.
You are presented a gift when a brand new customer conducts business with your dealership. Forces — including that magnetism we mentioned earlier — have brought the customer to your door. Often it means another dealership has breached the relationship bonds and they are searching for a replacement. ( This means the entire dealership team and that includes all customer touch points, not just sales.)
Level one customers are wary in this stage and are quid pro quo. (“I will do this if you do that.”)
These customers are trying you on for size. Your reputation for quality products and service — coupled with testimonials about how you’ve treated other customers — are often the attraction.
At this early stage of the relationship, level one customers are seeking a solution to a specific situation or problem. You have an opportunity to present your version of a solution after discovering what caused the need for a solution and why their previous dealership was unable to provide an acceptable answer.
This stage of the relationship is fragile and transactional, but you gain a chance to establish credibility and highlight your dealership’s qualifications and capabilities for providing solutions. What’s more, you can show care, empathy and understanding of the customer’s predicament.
This is the beginning of forming a personal bond, which is enriched further as the relationship matures.
The central, driving force at this stage showcases you as the solutions engineer. Caring for the level one customer at a personal level and effectively meeting their needs allows the relationship to evolve to the next level.
Level 2: When the relationship has matured to a favored vendor status.
Level two customers now see your dealership as capable of satisfying their needs and solving their problems at an acceptable level.
The customer has returned, which is a show of confidence. You now have an opportunity to strengthen the relationship further. In the level one phase, you provided the customer with a solution. In level two, you provide the customer with a range of options to match their needs.
The customer has a basic level of trust, so they will be more open to multiple solutions.
In the level one phase of the relationship, the customer seeks a single, transactional answer. Multiple options potentially confuse them or make them question the dealer’s motives. Without full trust, the dealer in this situation recommends a single, clear, logical solution. At level two, you attain favored vendor status and may now offer options to the customer. This makes you and the customer partners in the solution, giving the customer a genuine feeling of control or being part of the process.
A big part of offering options is two-way communication, with you putting a premium on listening. Ask the customer open-ended questions about what they want and need, then listen deeply to what they reveal. Listen carefully and then say, “Based on what you told me, here’s the options I think will work. Did I get this right?”
The communication is a dialogue and not a selling pitch, with the level two customer’s needs in the bullseye.
At this point, the relationship moves from transactional to beneficial. Hearing and understanding the customer’s expectations allows you to increase your efficiency and accuracy. It also allows you to implement a tailored solution, which is efficient and accurate at the level emphasized in the discovery of needs. Efficiency and accuracy require time and e ort, which equals money. Dial in both to the customer’s expectations.
The primary win in this stage of the relationship results in an engaged, satised customer. The second benefit occurs when the customer spreads the message, via word of mouth, about the quality of the interaction. Facilities, advertisements and store appearance build surface reputation, but word-of-mouth recommendations build deep, actual reputation.
Potential customers know quality when they see it and the reputation of your dealership attracts new clients like a magnet. Building reputation is not instant, but the effects for a business are lasting.
When you consistently deliver efficiency, accuracy, options and two-way communication for customers at the level two stage, your business’ reputation soars and you earn the right to move the customer to the next level.
Level 3: When the relationship is fully mature and you’re the only desired option.
Customers at this stage are as precious as gold. You are the only option they consider. This level three customer not only repeats purchases, but the relationship lasts for years or even generations. These are the bedrock customers who make up the foundation of a business. When building business plans, these level three customers are dependable for revenue. (Customers at previous levels of relationship development might not be 100% committed and still susceptible to the magnetism of your competitors.)
In a retail environment, this fully matured, level three customer is the one who throws you the car keys and tells you to put whatever tires you think best on their car. In a commercial or wholesale setting, the customer only seeks a solution from one dealer: you. Following our example of the magnets and wrench, at this stage of relationship, you are the only magnet.
What allows this relationship to blossom? “Trust” is the short answer. You have moved the customer through the preceding two levels of relationship development and over time, the customer comes to trust that your solutions will consistently meet their needs. e level three customer trusts that your suggestions and answers come from deep, mutual understanding and shared personal commitment.
Complete transparency at this level — sharing more information and insights than is necessary and more than what occurs at a less committed developmental stage — builds this trust. Both parties get an honest look behind the other’s curtain, gaining understanding and insights into each other’s realities. Neither dealer nor customer at level three feels vulnerable or worries that the other will betray the trust of greater transparency.
A breach of trust at high levels of transparency feels like a business divorce and moves the relationship back to one of the earlier relationship levels already discussed. Naturally, specific details cannot be discussed for legal or contractual reasons. But full transparency acknowledges what information is out of bounds and why. Honesty and transparency go hand-in-hand.
At level three, dealers and customers are partners, without joint ownership. Both maintain a personal stake and are interested that the other succeeds. Failures are mutually shared and actions to solve the situation jointly determined. Relationships at the fully mature level of development are resilient. The level three dealer owns the customer’s expectations. Even mistakes become an opportunity to prove commitment through positive reactions.
How do you reach this point? You achieve this fully matured relationship via successfully passing through the previous stages of development and then upping the ante with deep mutual trust and transparency.
Ideally, you develop a third of your accounts at each of these three levels at all times. However, there are many variables, making clear-cut buckets difficult.
Perhaps your business is relatively new and has not had time to build a sufficient amount of fully mature relationships? You will live in the first two levels for the time being. The reverse of this situation is an older, established dealer that possesses mostly level three accounts. This dealer is not attracting the lifeblood of business growth: new accounts.
Customers stay with you because you provide compelling reasons and solutions that match their level of relationship development — while sustaining mutual trust.
You provide a more powerful magnetism than the competition, increasing attraction as the relationship progresses.
