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GM Authority

Reuss: Customer Retention Is “The Ultimate Measure” Of A Dealer

In a recent interview with Automotive News, President of GM North America Mark Reuss was asked whether GM has any plans to change the way in which it measures customer satisfaction at its dealerships. The question arose after some dealers expressed dissatisfaction with the existing CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) system, saying that it doesn’t accurately measure the way in which the customer actually feels.

Reuss’ reply made on thing clear: retention is king.

“We can get into a big long debate about CSI, but it is an industry standard, so we’re not unique in that”, said Reuss. “However, as most dealerships would know, inside of our dashboard that we look at each dealership is the real number, which is customer sales and service retention. If you’re doing everything right, we focus all of our metrics and performance including myself (my compensation), and every GM employee’s compensation in North America has a big element on retention, and so the retention on a sales and service basis is the ultimate reflection on whether you’re doing everything right.”

The GM Authority Take

It would seem that, like most commercial organizations, The General faces two general dilemmas:

  1. Grow sales
  2. Do so with high customer satisfaction

On the dealer side, the retention objectives seem to address GM’s desire to keep existing customers in the fold, while the automaker itself drives more customers to showrooms with new, exciting, and attractive products. Of course, all of this begins to get a little murky when hundreds of thousands of dollars for dealers and their employees are tied up in CSI results — so it’s not as simple as it may seem on the surface.

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Comments

  1. There are still a lot of bad GM dealerships. Here in the Northern California I have two that I will never go to again, and I make sure I let friend, family, and the world know about them. On the other hand, the Chevy dealership where I bought my Cruze represents everything that is right with GM. It’s almost like walking onto the set of the Under the Blue Arch commercials, just little more serious.lol Also, my local Cadillac dealership has done much to win my business in their service department. And they even communicated and thanked me personally for a positive yelp review. That’s showing the customer you care.

    As for those two bad GM dealerships, I was hoping that my bad Yelp reviews would have gotten some attention as I’ve had good experiences in the past with corporate actually reading yelp reviews and taking action at the store level. So far looks like GM doesn’t read Yelp reviews of its dealerships.

    Reply
    1. Care to share which dealerships you like? Reliable Cadillac’s service department (in Roseville, CA) is great. I’d highly recommend them.

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      1. My dealerships of choice are Chase Chevrolet of Stockton and Mataga Buick Cadillac & GMC of Stockton. I’d allow my car to be serviced by either dealership anyday and the sales team over at Chase is excellent. Both have even taken steps to retrofit their exteriors recently to match the new Chevrolet and Buick/Caddy/GMC corporate standards. Chase really sets the bar for sales, no pressure at all, they let me make all the decisions on my own time. Whenever I go to Mataga I typically have a nice quick chat with one of the dealership owners daughters, one of which is the general manager. It’s always a good time at Mataga, they aren’t the quickest when it comes to oil changes, and they aren’t the cheapest when it comes to service, but it’s that extra peace of mind and that solid relationship that makes me willing to pay a bit more to let them work on my cars.

        As for the ones I don’t like, that would be Maita Chevrolet, Kuni Chevrolet, and Sanborn Chevrolet. At Maita I got no help when I was shopping for a Cruze. I was there 15 minutes just hovering by the Cruzes and no one bothered to help me. So maybe I’m judging too quick, but that was a big turnoff, I never went back. At Kuni they were nice at first until we started to hammer out the details, then it’s like the whole place turned into a pressure cooker. They wouldn’t let me leave, and they had both my keys and my registration. Then of course when I say I want to talk it over with the family they try to call me out on that. The young sales guy even said “Well, your wife might appreciate you more if you make this decision on your own.” My response was, “Not married, not gonna work, I’m leaving.” Then when I get home I realized I left my proof of insurance at the dealership, I decided it’d be less stressful to just get a new copy from AAA than to walk back onto that lot.lol

        At Sanborn the pressure was pretty intense, thing is they wouldn’t even value my trade until I more or less committed to buy the car from them. We got stuck in a loop they said they couldn’t value my trade till I committed to buy from them, I said I couldn’t commit to buy from them unless I knew how much my trade was worth, etc. It’s funny because right before that he was giving my this whole speech about how desperate Sanborn Chevrolet was to sell a car because GM was still trying to shut them down. I can see why. Apparently, Sanborn got the notice during the 2009 bankruptcy that they’d no longer be a GM dealership, but some kind of legal loophole made it so they didn’t. Right now, Sanborn is probably the most backwards GM dealer. The exterior has not been updated to meet corporate standards. Each office is cramped and feels like it did in the 90s when we went there to look at a Suburban (which we did not buy from them back then either). And they have no computers, the sales offices have a calculator, and thats about it. At Kuni and Chase the sales guys had access to computer systems (most sales desks at Chase have a computer) and they can access national dealer inventories and all that stuff right from the computer. Not at Sanborn, everything is done the old fashioned way.

        I wish I was a secret shopper for GM, I have my reports ready to go, just look at my Yelp reviews.lol

        Reply
  2. Noway , Costumer is King !
    GM (Chevrolet) fails at giving information about there cars some dealers don’t know even witch models the are selling and even the matching colors , don’t ask them how the navigation works because they don’t know and don’t go to them with a complaint because they try everything in the trick book for not repairing the complaint for free if it still under warranty . ECM software updates never heard about that …..DRL’s you mean headlights(with taillights ???) burning over day …….. I ordered a Velvet red Cruze and after a day it changed to a gray and it ended with a white one or I had to wait 6 months for my Cruze. And all they can do is speak about retention ….. poor poor poor …….

    Reply
    1. My favorite dealer is Lupient Chevrolet (Bloomington, MN) I went to go test drive a 2013 Malibu 1LTZ in Crystal Red Tintcoat with tan leather and every single option available except the 2.0L turbo but I don’t care. I ended up taking it for a test drive for about 5 minutes and then he showed me how Mylink works and how to control everything. He was very kind. We then got out of the car and went upstairs to his desk where he had pictures of his family, He was very funny and wasn’t pressuring at all! He told me that the Malibu I just test drove was listed for $30,565 and that He would sell it to me for $29,200. I took that deal and now have a Red 2013 Chevrolet Malibu 1LTZ to my collection of a Green 2000 Grand Prix GT sedan with tan leather, HUD, Sunroof, a White 2001 Grand Prix GTP Special Edition coupe with graphite leather, HUD, sunroof, a Blue 2004 Bonneville GXP with gray leather, HUD and my purple 2007 Grand Prix GT with black leather, HUD, sunroof. I have bought all of my cars brand new. I bought my 2000 Pontiac for 22,450, my 2001 Pontiac for 29,125, my 2004 Pontiac for 33,899, my 2007 Pontiac for $28,766, and my 2013 Chevrolet for $29,200. My 2000 Grand Prix has 55,000 miles on it, My 2001 Grand Prix has 19,000 Miles on it, My 2004 Bonneville has 26,000 miles on it, My 2007 Grand Prix has 34,000 miles on it, and My 2013 Malibu has only 7,000 miles on it.

      Reply
  3. The issue is people today are demanding and you really have to do things that generally are over the top to take care of the customer. If you do not someone else will. In the business world it is called the cost of doing business.

    This is really not as complex as some would like to make it. But it is something difficult to do.

    The keys are vehicle quality and to work to continue to force dealers to do a better job.

    Quality is the first line of defense. You keep the car from failing you keep the customer happy. First off he is happy because he has reliability and second you have reduced the contact possibility with a poor dealer.

    Second issue is to keep the pressure on the dealers anyway you can to deal with the customers issues fast and efficiently. If needed be more involved with the customer working with the dealer. GM could step up their customer service area to work for the customer with dealers not doing the job. They do this to a point but I would like to see it stepped up.

    Also GM will continue to send out surveys and get customer feedback. This is now used in rewarding dealers with discounts and car distributions of popular models. It is limited help but with the way the government protects dealers most automakers have one hand tied behind their backs.

    GM from the many things I see have been more proactive as ever but the poor dealers still challenge the customers and even GM. It is a shame GM can not pull poor dealers more easily. I would like to see them even send in secret shoppers to test dealers.

    I am lucky to have a very good Chevy dealer here but I have a Buick GMC that used to be good but I would not spend a dime there after the way they ripped off my dad. I found another GMC dealer that so far was great during the sale and the quality of my GMC has been such I have not even had to deal with their service.

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  4. If they could just shed the dishonest sales and bookkeeping people it would help immensely.

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  5. One of the problems is the Manufacture. They way they have cut the margin, cut prep time, cut back on warranty claim approvals(in other words screw the customer even if we designed it wrong), it is a wonder people even come to GM to purchase. Some of you should work at a dealership for a while and see the REAL GM. My take on GM after selling their products for 36 years is: they are out SCREW the dealer & the customer. Profit is the only thing that matters at GM.

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  6. I love when I hear people say the dealership needs to look like trump plaza, or has to have attractions in the waiting area to make people happy! What ever happen to dropping off your car and going home for a few hours then coming back! The place I go to will take you home and pick you up! So who cares what the place looks like or has in it?

    As for service this is normally pretty clear, if its under warranty its covered if not your paying! What is so hard to understand? I remember a guy in the line in front of me complaining about a leak he had on his GM car and the service rep said its out of warranty so its not covered! He said its a really bad design!

    The service man said is it or is it not under warranty?

    The fact of the matter is that people expect way to much of a dealership!

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    1. That is just it anymore the public expect a lot out of anything anymore. This is a service society anymore and people want thing not It is a true instant gratification way of thinking anymore.

      We used to have good shipping at work but that was not even good enough. Now we get things out in minutes and now we ship too fast for some.

      Most dealers of any moderate size will pick up and drop off anymore. But many people if they are not getting a loaner will stay a the dealer. So dealers compete for what they offer to give people a reason to choose them over another place. It is just another way dealers try to bring in more business.

      I agree it is like a circus some places but hey if it make them money more power to em. In the mean time I will just let them take me home.

      Reply
  7. The dealers just need to teach there salesmen and women to understand the cars being sold, and leave buyers alone while they are looking for a car they might like!

    Why do dealers have cars and trucks on the lot during business hours with the doors locked? How can you look at cars and trucks with them being locked?

    Reply
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    style is awesome, keep it up!

    Reply
  9. Reply

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