I came across an article a couple of days ago. The article discussed the results of the JD Power 2008 Escaped Shopper Study, which discovered that 80% of new car buyers don’t buy the top car on their list because of a negative dealership experience. I wrote numerous blogs and had numerous debates about this very subject. The dealership is the first impression of the manufacturer’s brand. However, if you listen to the auto industry insiders they will say the vehicle and price is what sells the consumer. I say this is the old way of thinking. This is the very reason why the old lead system is suffering.
The article uses an example concerning Sony. Sony would be concerned if consumers desired to buy a Sony product, but chose to purchase another brand due the bad experience with a retailer. So why hasn’t the auto industry showed an aggressive concern regarding consumer experience? Now to be fair their are some auto industry people who recognize this and have expressed a desire to resolve this issue. However, we need the whole industry to start buying into this reality. Click on the article link above and read the consumer comments at the bottom of the article. These comments are extremely powerful.
