Consider the typical customer journey of say, a 19th-century trading post. The average consumer would travel to the trading post (on a horse, mind you), perhaps a considerable distance from their homestead, laden with items to trade for store goods. This consumer would typically spend a few minutes chatting with others within the store, exchanging news and remarking on the weather. After the store clerk assessed the goods to be traded and the two parties haggled over the price of flour, the consumer would pack up his new items and journey on home (again, on the back of a horse).
The modern consumer experience is slightly different.
An Amazon Prime member needs a new bookshelf. He or she goes online, picks out the bookshelf of their dreams, and purchases it with One-Click. 48 hours later, it arrives on their doorstep.
So, how does a modern retailer keep up with the demands of this new sales frontier?
Be transparent. Save time.
“People aren’t loyal to the brand—they’re loyal to the experience. How you drive that experience, how you enhance that for your customers, is really what drives the decisions they make.”
AutoPoint Senior Vice President and General Manager, Tim Hardin, is watching the evolving customer experience with a strategic eye. And what he sees is an opportunity for dealerships to evolve with consumers, to be transparent with pricing and to adopt time-saving technology that benefits everyone.
“So many of the customers in the marketplace today, they don’t want to wait…By giving up control and putting it into the hands of the consumer, we’re seeing [consumers] gravitate to those dealerships. Ultimately, you’ll drive more margin and more customers to your dealership because of transparency and because of time saved.”
Watch the full interview for more customer experience solutions, and comment below on what your dealership could do with all that time saved!