(1 votes, average: 2 out of 5)
Loading ...Volkswagen will soon roll out a significantly broader product portfolio in a bid to strengthen its position in the UK new car market. But UK managing director Paul Willis is convinced that an all-out assault on customer satisfaction will play the leading role in steering the German group to 240,000 annual registrations over the next three years. “Our model introductions will win us incremental business, but keeping the customer happy is central to our plan for growth. We’ve come a long way in recent years and our 194,000 total units for this year will be a tremendous performance – yet we still have to do better,” says Willis. ‘Doing better’ is the driving force behind what Willis calls Customer First, a major initiative to improve VW’s current third ranking in the sales charts.
The major thrust of Customer First is due in January when the next version of the company website is launched, along with a fresh focus on driving down repeat repairs, revised point-of-sale material and a new margin structure with added emphasis on customer satisfaction. “We spent four months benchmarking every automotive site. We’ve taken the best features and put them together to create what I believe is the best site of its type. We’ve made it more engaging and more involved – and features like a spray can to colour the car you choose make it a lot more fun to use,” he says. The website also allows customers to rate dealers for performance. Willis accepts that this courts controversy. How did it come about? “I looked at the ebay website and found you could buy the same item in 15 different conditions and at 15 different prices from 15 different people who are graded based on what customers think,” he says. “As a result, we thought we would allow our customers to rate our dealers on the web. For the last 20 years, we have been trying to convince everyone about customer satisfaction, but telling retailers what to do leads to difficult discussions and I respect that – so now we have cut ourselves out of the way we measure it. “We’re asking people what they think and it will all happen without me seeing it, which I think is really important because the rating system is all about retailers wanting to be good and serving their customers. Those who do, have a higher loyalty rate, higher CS and higher profitability.” Buyers will be contacted by phone, letter or email and asked to grade their dealer from one to five. The results will be fed back to the dealer sites in less than 72 hours. Willis insists that clear measurement of loyalty and repeat business is the foundation of the world-class retail network he is seeking.