The customer is always right - a statement for those who work in customer facing positions will have an opinion on. What’s bigger than this statement is the relationship and interaction a customer has with your business. This is ultimately the difference in them making referrals to those in their social (offline and online) networks. In automotive, the customer service desk is the place of happy customers, surprised customers and irate customers and if we look at the way people interact with each other we begin to understand why this occurs. We learn that with the evolution of technology, the customer demands of communication have also changed.

According to a Deloitte study on the population of Australia and how we interact with our mobile phones, the average mobile owner checks their phone 30 times a day. Based on this, as users of mobile phones, we expect faster communication and will commonly reach for online social media channels for news updates and trends.

What can those people in sales and service departments do in order to meet these demands? The strategy is actually quite simple, as the channels for distribution and search have already been created it’s just a matter of using these channels to advantage. Take YouTube for example, through comedy, talent or magic, videos will have 500,000 views in a matter of 48 hours purely through engaging content with the intended audience.

Be Proud and Go Large

Take your business online and introduce your team to the world. There are many video editing applications available to turn any video into a piece of art. Once setup with the right equipment, and we should point out that it doesn’t need to be fancy, the creativity is up to you.

For a new vehicle showroom, send a personalised video of a car the prospect was interested in, mentioning the features, benefits and consider including a price-based incentive, produced by the sales team member who liaised with the prospect of course. This video conversation could be the difference between making and not making a sale. Even consider taking the video onto another model which has just arrived in a different colour or fitted with different options, we will leave the creativity to you.

You’re not alone!

Ask a service customer what they fear when dropping their car off and the answer for most will be ‘a large invoice’ or ‘major problem’. Have a look at the Audi Cam video for inspiration, they’ve revolutionised the service experience for their customer base through the use of leveraging the previously mentioned digital platforms.

For those businesses who specialise in more unique products the more powerful any digital content you produce will be. Customers like to see things with their own eyes before they commit, provide them with a tour of your facility and introduce them to the staff who they’ll interact with. Put a face to the names behind email addresses, show them the part they’re interested in from all angles to let them make the assessment as to whether it will fit or not or if it’s right for their application. Look at any successful online business and notice their portfolio of image and video content around one product is extensive. An online tour is just as powerful as a real-life tour.

Whatever the situation, the means to distribute a message has been created for you. Your next sale could be one 20 second video away…