CRM at the Mechanic

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 17-May-2005 02:27 PM
A funny thing happened on the phone with my car dealership the other day. I got a call that parts on order for my car had come in. I called to make an appointment for the repair. After we'd set the date for a couple of weeks in the future (after a vacation) and I was about to hang up, the customer service rep stopped me. "Does the parts department know to hold onto the parts that long?" she asked.

Well, no, the department didn't. So she switched me to Parts, where I informed the man who answered that I'd just made an appointment for service.

Why did I have to talk to Parts? Wouldn't you think good customer service would demand that the customer service rep contact Parts for me?

Better yet, shouldn't that be automated? As soon as I made the service appointment, shouldn't the system have been flagged to keep the parts? Is this possible in a decent CRM system?

It just seems to me that the more I hear about the need for customer-centricity from gurus, the more I run into company-centric attitudes in my personal life.

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 18-May-2005 06:37 AM
Gwynne

But you probably didn't deal with a person using a CRM system when you spoke to your dealership, they almost certainly were using a Dealer Management System (DMS) instead.

The difference between the two systems is that whereas most CRM systems are customer process-oriented in how they organise workflow, most DMS' are still department or at best, departmental process oriented. Customer management as we know it doesn't enter into the picture in most DMS'.

Your phone call was from the parts department who had received the parts they had ordered for your car. You then rang to make the service appointment and spoke to the service department, who would almost certainly have recorded your visit along with the likely work required in a different part of the DMS, or in a different system entirely.

And you are right, it was pretty lazy for the service department not to get off their backsides and deal with the parts department themselves on your behalf.

Sounds like your dealership needs some lean process reengineering. (See the following Harvard Business Review article on Lean Consumption to see how Lean Thinking can transform dealership activities; available for free at http://custom.hbsp.com/b01/en/implicit/custom.jhtml?pr=LEANER0503C2005030461 )

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 18-May-2005 03:16 PM
So, Graham, do you think I should mail the article to my dealership? :-)

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 23-May-2005 02:39 AM
Gwynne

In the circumstances, it would probably be casting pearls before swine, as the old proverb says.

If the different departments at your dealership can't look after you by doing a simple thing like phoning each other on your behalf, then lean consumption is probably a bit beyond them.

Maybe you should send the Dealer Principal a copy of the book 'Simply Better' by Patrick Barwise. This deals with the foundation stuff of how to get the business basics right; things like providing basic customer service. Hmmmh.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant

Vishal Sarkar
Member Council
Member

Posted 23-May-2005 04:00 PM
Gwynne,

I recently had similar experience with a leading bank.

This involved passing my customer service call to various departments to check on a status of a transaction. Finally, after four transfers and 20 minutes of wait time, when I called for the manager and showed my inclination to close all relationships with the bank, was I heard and guided to the resolution.

We hear and experience these customer service horror stories every day in one form or the other. Even tech savvy and mature companies (like the one I was interacting with), that have invested a lot in customer service technology solutions, fail at the moment of truth.

Is this because they do not have the right technology solution to record data and transactions OR is this because of poor staff training?

In my case, I am pretty sure that the customer service agent had the information that she required to answer my query OR even if she may not have had the precise information, she certainly did have the means to make a call over to the next department and resolve the query for me, rather than having me repeat the whole story four times!

I think these issues are more to do with staff training and attitude rather than having a great CRM solution helping them out.

Most service centers today use a CRM solution in one form or the other and one can easily see that from the rehearsed scripts that the agents use. But the lack of customer empathy and willingness to help, leave a lot do desire in terms of great service.

Regards,

Vishal Sarkar

CRM Principal
Ascentium Corporation
www.ascentium.com

President
CRM Association of Northwest
www.crma-northwest.org

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 24-May-2005 10:11 AM
Vishal,

I agree with you. Regardless of how automated or technological a business is, the people on the front line can make or break you. The customer service people I often deal with are in such a hurry to get me off the phone, I know they're being rated on their call completion time, rather than how satisfied I, the customer, am going to be at the end.

Other times, I think it just boils down to mere laziness. It's easier for them to transfer me or give me yet another phone number to call than to just take care of the matter for me.

Gwynne

Joanna Dobaczewska
Member

Posted 02-Jun-2005 02:36 AM
What about calling back the client by the agent who doesn't have enough information to the client's guestions? Don't you think that is better idea (although cost the company much more).

regards

Joanna