Automotive News - September 23, 2019 - Best Practices Supplement - A11

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 | 11
D AV I D S O N A U T O G R O U P, N E W YO R K

Want to hear a secret? N.Y. group does
Mystery shoppers keep
dealerships focused on
customer experience
Published in Automotive News Jan. 7, 2019

Ken Wysocky

autonews@crain.com

s it worth $200 a month to glean behindthe-scenes insights into how a dealership's sales and service employees interact with customers?
At two Davidson Auto Group stores in upstate New York, the answer is yes, based on the
benefits reaped from a long-standing secret-shopper program.
"Secret shoppers give us customer insights
on an entirely different level," said Jerry Heath,
general manager of Davidson Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac-GMC and Davidson Nissan, both of Watertown, N.Y. "We all think we
know what customers want, but that's not always the case."
There are times when store personnel think
they handled a customer situation correctly,
Heath said, until feedback from the secret-shopper program shows the customer
had a very different view of the scenario. The
group's Watertown General Motors store, as
well as Davidson Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac-GMC of Rome, N.Y., have used secret
shoppers since before Heath joined the company 12 years ago. GM used to require dealership participation as part of its reputation-management efforts, Heath said, but
participation is now voluntary.
The two Davidson stores, which each sell an
average of 75 new and 60 used vehicles per
month, stuck with the program. Store managers found it boosted profitability by helping
create a better customer experience, which
after all is "what drives [consumers] to the
dealership," Heath said. He didn't share numbers on how much the program helps the bottom line, calling it difficult to quantify.
But if the stores aren't properly taking care
of customers, "we're not going to see them
again," Heath said.
"They can find the same product at other
stores and get similar pricing ... and loyalty to
dealerships is at an all-time low," he said. "So
the only way to drive loyalty and repeat business is to take care of that customer and make
sure their experience is above what they've
experienced in the past at other dealerships."

Jerry Heath, general
manager of two
Davidson stores, says
catching employees
doing things correctly
helps minimize turnover.

Davidson Auto Group in upstate New
York uses secret shoppers to keep
sales and fixed ops employees
focused on delivering a customer
experience that builds loyalty.

BestMark Inc. administers the program, sending some of its more than 500,000 trained secret
shoppers (all independent contractors) to clients' stores to test customer service.
For dealerships, BestMark suggests four
sales and four service visits a month, given the
high turnover in the industry. The results help
dealership managers understand the best
practices that drive customer retention and
aid in planning, employee training and increasing operational efficiency, said Dana
Stetzer, director of operations at BestMark.
BestMark also recommends secret-shopping phone and Internet salespeople. "It's important to touch people at dealerships in all
the different ways a customer typically would
interact with them," Stetzer said.
To keep secret shoppers from being recognized as "plants," they're not allowed to go
back to the same client for at least three
months. Some dealerships - especially those
in remote areas with smaller customer bases
- prefer a six-month wait. Dealerships sometimes ask BestMark to secret-shop competitors, Stetzer said.
Shoppers are instructed beforehand what to

look for, based on input from the client about
possible customer service deficiencies. At a
dealership sales department, for example,
they might be instructed to watch for how long
it takes before they're greeted and whether
salespeople are upselling properly. Shoppers
compile a report that is edited by BestMark experts and submitted to the client, Stetzer says.
For Davidson, the program is aimed at ferreting out customer-service deficiencies.
Those provide teachable moments where
managers can coach employees and remind
them of basic protocols and processes, Heath
said. It's not about finding "gotcha" moments
- the dealership shares the positives, too.
Heath said the program's emphasis on
catching employees doing things correctly, as
well as spotting deficiencies, helps minimize
turnover. Among the 25 salespeople at the two
GM dealerships, turnover is minimal, with an
average tenure of about 10 years.
Davidson pays BestMark $2,367 per dealership per year to have the two GM stores secret-shopped. That covers 54 secret-shopper
visits per year per dealership - 27 for sales
and 27 for service. The contacts are divided
equally among in-store, Internet and phone
touch points. The investment has been worthwhile, Heath said.
"It's not terribly expensive," he said. "Some
dealers may not do it because they look at it as
yet another expense, but that's shortsighted.
I'll gladly pay a couple hundred dollars a
month for such valuable feedback." a

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