Customer retention in today’s market environment may be the best way to insure cash flow and increase profitability while this market corrects itself.  This applies to dealers and vendors that service them.

With the recent announcement of the vendor ratings platform at DrivingSales I have seen the feedback from both dealers and vendors.  Dealers are looking at the ratings as a way to judge who and where they will spend their shrinking budgets, while vendors and trainers are somewhat leery of the prospect of having their customers openly rate their performance.

“Under Promising and Over Delivering” is at the core of any sales and marketing training that teaches people to build a business for long term success.  Plainly said as “don’t tell customers how good you are, show them”.  If the closing of the contract is the only success that you measure, it will affect your business.   If long term customer satisfaction and retention is the underlying principle that you are basing your success on then realizing the fruits of that labor will build a domino effect in new customer acquisition.

Dealer are measured continually by their customers in both CSI and in open discussions online and off, not a new phenomenon, and now are demanding the same type of yard stick to measure those that serve them.  No longer are they settling for calling a list of hand picked testimonials, when they have the ability to see what your customers are really saying about you.

Vendors and trainers if you are delivering on your promises to your clients then the vendor rating platform will be one of your best closing tools and assist in customer retention.  If you are not delivering it will show you a where you are lacking and give you a measurement on your performance and help decrease your customer churn.

Embrace it or detest it, your customers are talking about you.

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