Over the past three years, I have spent a lot of time going back and forth to the service department at my local dealership, trying to get various problems fixed with my car.
Today, we finally purchased a new vehicle and here are 5 reasons why I was ready to sell my car:
- I became the Mayor of the service department via FourSquare.
- I am the only person to "like" my service department on Facebook.
- I know all the service managers by first name.
- The service department replaced Starbuck's as my first place to stop for a cup of coffee in the morning.
- The Service Managers now call me to trouble-shoot vehicles coming in.
Hopefully, with this new vehicle, someone else will become Mayor and others will like them on Facebook. However, I did learn some valuable lessons from the Service Department for my public relations firm:
- Service still matters and for some agencies, it helps them stand out from the competition.
- Communications is important. You want to know what's is gong with your car as clients want to know what is going on with their file - so make sure you touch-base with them on a regular basis.
- Follow up is vital. Just because your car made it out of the service department does end the relationship. It is important to follow through to see how the car is doing or how the project is moving along.
Just a few lessons on agency-client relations from the service department at the car dealership.