Automotive News - October 17, 2016 - Supplement - S19

OCTOBER 17, 2016 ❙ 19 T O Y O TA O F E L C A J O N , E L C A J O N , C A L I F. CALLING ON THE YELP DESK California Toyota store tackles review site comments one by one Printed in Automotive News March 21, 2016 David Undercoffler undercoffler@crain.com Y ou might think of Yelp as the place to check out reviews of that new Mexican joint in town, or to scope out a new tailor when your old one retires to Boca Raton. But the online review site also can help car dealerships polish their reputation - if they Ⅲ Individual responses to use it prudently. Yelp reviews While many industry insiders know dealer-specific review sites such as DealerRater, typical consumers are more likely to make a beeline for the Yelp smartphone app when they're researching dealerships for a purchase or service visit, or have an opinion to express about the one they just visited. In the fourth quarter of 2015, Yelp claimed a monthly average of 86 million unique visitors on mobile devices alone. That's why Toyota of El Cajon, northeast of San Diego, has zeroed in on Yelp as it works to connect with customers and manage its reputation. Over the past four years, the dealership has amassed nearly 600 customer reviews and an average 4.5-star rating out of five. The key, the dealership has found, is addressing both positive and negative reviews head-on, with a personal touch. "If you proactively approach the comment - good or bad - it's a good thing," Greg Kaminsky, co-owner of Toyota of El Cajon, told Automotive News. "I think a lot of stores are not responding to customers when they do place a negative review, but if they see that we're responding, they get the impression we're taking it seriously." The job of keeping up with reviews and responses falls to Laura Brewer, the dealership's guest relations manager. The store was using an outside vendor to manage its Yelp page when she joined in 2012, but it brought the effort in-house shortly thereafter. "It's not really brain surgery," Brewer said. Says Laura Brewer of Toyota of El Cajon: "It's just reaching out to people and letting them know we genuinely care." "It's just reaching out to people and letting them know we genuinely care, and then we do our own internal repairs." Direct apologies The reviews can be stinging: Amid the recent string of five-star ratings and plaudits for individual salespeople at the El Cajon store were a smattering of one- and two-star reviews with complaints such as, "This dealership has too many crooks" and "I dread coming here every time." Brewer's responses to the negative reviews typically offer explicit apologies, with pledges to improve, plus an invitation to call her directly to discuss the details. In one case, she implored a reviewer to call her back, saying the dealership had made numerous attempts to contact him. "Just give us a chance," she wrote. The individual responses send a reassuring message to the reviewers and to others checking out Toyota of El Cajon's Yelp page that the store takes customer complaints seriously. "People say, 'I didn't come to you because of how many stars you have. I came to you because of how you reply to your reviews,'" Brewer said. Think it through The dealership averages about seven reviews a week on Yelp but can get as many as 15, Brewer said. In the four years that she has been responding, she has picked up a few tips. First, be thoughtful in the response: Since you only get one chance to respond, take some time - a day or two - to think about the best way to address the comment. Loop in a service manager or sales manager to get their thoughts. Brewer and the staff also will try to reach out to the reviewer privately to address the issue. Also crucial: Avoid canned responses. "That is huge," Brewer said. "It definitely makes it seem like you're not even reading the complaint and listening to the customer when you're doing that." It's also important to use the response on Yelp to explain circumstances of the complaint that the customer may not have included, Brewer said. And once the complaint is resolved - and only then - check to see whether the customer would consider updating the review. While there may be a long lag between the initial complaint and the customer's followup, the goal is to get customers happy enough with the resolution that they're open to updating the review online. The open exchange and the transparency make Yelp a powerful tool, Brewer said. "People want 'real,'" she said, "and I think that's one of the reasons that this has done so well." c

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