I wrote a while back about how, even with an entry level, seven-year old BMW 320d, I have always received stellar service at the BMW branches I have visited, whether to pick up a small plastic part, book a service or gorge myself on the free Illy premium roast coffee – worth owning the brand for alone. However, Synovate wouldn’t take just my word for it and launched a yearlong, 33 000-interview campaign using their 6 000-strong staff to find out who indeed provides the best overall sales and service experience in the South African Passenger Car (PC) and Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) markets.
The overall aim of the awards survey was to look at everything involved in the car owner’s life – both the sales and service processes, quality of the product (not subjective at all, that one) and the overall brand opinion. Various focus groups were called upon to analyse and churn the results into true reflections and statistics representative of the status quo amongst the competitors. A key outcome was to justifiably establish the pecking order and status of competition and satisfaction in the South African market, in order to stimulate competitive practices and improve these levels across all manufacturers and dealers.
“The awards this year demonstrate how manufacturers have committed themselves to distinguishing themselves and breaking away from the frontrunners,” states Richard Rice, Sales and Marketing Director at Synovate South Africa. “Our previous Quality Awards for Sales and Service yielded a higher number of gold awards but the scores across the categories have improved, indicating a higher level of satisfaction with the sales and service experience than previously. Simply put, the standard of quality has improved and the competition has steepened.”
Good news for us then, it seems. With the market still on the upswing from the 2006 to 2009 slump (especially the used car segment), it makes sense that attentive dealers will wipe the proverbial from their eyes and concentrate on improving the overall sales proposition rather than just “moving metal”. 2010 was the first year that saw an increase in car sales since 2006, and with a four year hiatus afforded to buyers to reconsider their options, needs and budgets, viable competitors had better come out swinging.
Those participating in the 2010/2011 survey included (deep breath) Audi, VW, Fiat, Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Opel, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Isuzu, Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Nissan, Volvo and CJD (Chrysler Jeep Dodge). Quite surprising that BMW (and a few other notable brands) did not take part; one could justify many reasons for this, but Synovate maintains that participation is optional and involves a fair amount of time and effort on the participant’s behalf to be considered. Arrogance or ignorance; you decide.
But moving on to those who did take part: with 95%, Audi took the PC Purchasing Experience Gold award (another brand I’ve actually owned a few times before and glad to hear the excellent service I received hasn’t wavered), but only landed a Bronze when it comes to the servicing experience. “Although Audi has won Gold Awards for this category before, this year it has pulled away from other leaders in this category to establish itself as the frontrunner,” states Rice. “This move is really a beneficial one to the automotive consumer because it sets a higher standard for customer experience”.
Volkswagen, Chevrolet and Toyota came in second place, which I’m sure VW is more than happy with considering it’s Venus/Serena understanding with first-place Audi; Chev surely considers it fantastic considering their (improving, but along with everyone else) product positioning and Toyota is probably just glad people with no taste, personality or opinions are still buying their cars (oops…). Opel, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Ford, Mazda and Peugeot settled for Bronze and therefore promised to stop ringing a bell and giving new owners a 150ml bottle of JC Le Roux when they drove off the showroom floor in lieu of proper gifts and a decent car.
Mitsubishi, Lexus and Chev landed Gold in the Servicing Experience awards – an unlikely mix if ever there was one, but good to see that it seems that those who make the effort are being duly recognized and hopefully rewarded. Reminiscent of similar Japanese/American relations and results circa 1944, the Germans het mit bomben und granaten durchfallen into Silver, represented by VW and Mercedes-Benz, with Audi, Toyota, Mazda and Opel landing Bronze. However, at 87% for the top spot (up from the last winner’s 85%) and a 78% average, there is still room for improvement when it comes to the service experience.
On to the LCV’s, and the Purchasing Experience Oscars go to… Isuzu (tough as nails!), Toyota (a million Hili’ can’t be wrong?) and Chevrolet (errrr…). I guess it pays to remember we’re not talking about whatever cars were sold here, we’re talking about how they were sold. Anyway, Isuzu scored 93% but Toyota and Chev were just a single digit behind. Once again, Chev must have been much impressed with this result and perhaps a Westerly wind is starting to blow through South African mindsets…
So what to do when your bakkie breaks? Well first, check to make sure it doesn’t have a Fiat badge, because they came last (Bronze) in the survey for their LCV Service Experience levels. You’d be better off with a Ford or Mazda taking Silver, but chances are you’ve been smart and own a Mitsubishi, Toyota, Chevrolet, Isuzu or Nissan, all scoring between 84% and 86% and taking home the Gold award (or at least a fifth of it each).
Besides scores and statistics, the survey confirmed the perception that the vehicle purchasing experience is a very emotional and personal experience to most buyers, who seemingly forget about their actual needs when they stack them against wants – rational questions posed to buyers during the Synovate survey often received emotionally-platformed responses. Buyers don’t see their purchase as a process, but more of a relationship, which as a major investment is completely understandable, unless you’re buying an Avensis, in which case it was obviously mandated in your company car allowance as a middle management insurance salesman.
Synovate reckons that it is when one can combine good satisfaction at all levels while appealing to the emotional aspects of these experiences (creating a relationship and a proud, ambassador customer) that one creates brand loyalty – a combination of rational motivation and emotional satisfaction. I found it interesting that many of the top influencing factors had nothing at all to do with the car itself – Being contacted after delivery, explanation of the maintenance and features and staff attention were the top three rational and emotional motivators – a salesman who understands and then delivers a suitable, correctly specced car barely lands in the top ten. Rolling this all into a marketing strategy, Synovate proposed a mathematical methodology to drive increased sales figures by improving customer satisfaction at all emotional and rational levels.
Other interesting statistics were age vs. satisfaction levels. The numbers steadily increase from the lowest point at 87% for 18-24 year old buyers, up to 90% for those over 50. Considering how much gramps moans about the weather and the dog barking next door, a surprising result, but then one has to consider the type of cars bought by these different groups – I’m sure Granddad’s RX350 is a bit more pleasant to live with than Johnny-boy’s Spark. The same trend applies to the purchasing and serving experiences – surely due to the same reasons given above. In a blatant show of sexism, women reported higher levels of purchasing and servicing satisfaction than us men-folk. Ah well.
Overall, the results were interesting, but in my opinion far from conclusive or useful to anyone except the participants themselves. Why? Well, as they agree, buying is an immensely emotional experience and cannot be heavily swayed by statistics. People look at pictures and drive by showrooms before gathering any data on those that have even made it onto their emotional shortlist. Then take a look at the brands that didn’t take part: MINI, Alfa-Romeo, Jaguar, Hummer, Land Rover and Range Rover are some of the most emotionally-driven purchases and would have injected (maybe too much?) right-brain thinking into the mix. The absence of BMW begs questions and the exclusion of the massively influential Eastern wave of Hyundai, Kia, Daihatsu and Tata also makes for a shaky benchmark, along with budget brands such as Proton, Mahindra and SsangYong, which could have produced interesting results. High quality brands with fanatical followers like Suzuki, Subaru and Honda are also missing…
Not that these efforts should go quietly – I reckon the most important outcome of the survey is simply looking at those who did take part. By agreeing to take on the effort and risk of being judged and scored, the 18 participants have at least established credibility by being at the start line when the gun went off. But I still maintain that car dealers, manufacturers and salespeople themselves don’t need statistics, numbers and awards to win and keep customers; all they have to know is that the competition is always stiff so they’d better make good cars, employ good people and never, ever let the customer regret their spend decision based on rational thinking. The moment that happens, they’ll never come back.
- Kevin Willemse
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