Ask any dealership team whether they care about customers and the answer is almost always “oh yes, of course we do.”
But when you dig beneath the surface, when you walk the showroom floor, sit in reception, or listen to follow-up calls, the truth is often very different.
Look we know that some customers can be difficult, and they can cause dramas, but what is important is that most of them are good people who just want to be looked after (by you and your team if you are up for it!) and yet, we often treat the good ones, like we do the difficult ones, not so well.
We’ve walked into dealerships where the sales team is buzzing and professional, but the receptionist seems fed up.
Or where the service team is under the pump, phones ringing off the hook, and no one thinks to call a waiting customer with an update.
Here’s the hard truth: what you think your customer experience is and what it feels like can be worlds apart.
It’s not always a people problem. In many cases, it’s process and leadership:
No ownership of who’s following up
No standards for when calls get returned
No measurement of how customers feel, only whether they paid or not
When customer care fails, it rarely fails loudly.
It fades quietly.
The customer doesn’t complain.
They just don’t come back.
And the worst part?
You probably don’t know why.
One of the most damaging assumptions in our industry is the belief that customers are “loyal” just because they bought from us once.
Loyalty isn’t inherited.
It’s earned.
Every single time.
The best dealerships we work with don’t chase gimmicks — they chase consistency. They:
*Call customers before the customer calls them
*Follow up service issues quickly and personally
*Celebrate genuine team efforts to go the extra mile
*Address complaints without defensiveness and own the problem, even if they weren’t the cause
This isn’t about perfection, no one gets it right 100% of the time.
But when a customer knows you’re trying for them, they notice.
And they remember.
At Fusion, we often work with dealerships to map their actual customer journey, not just what’s written down, but what really happens. The insights can be uncomfortable… but they’re powerful.
And the shift from reactive to intentional care doesn’t require miracles. Just a willingness to listen and lead.
#WalkingInYourShoes
#CustomerCare #DealershipExperience #LoyaltyIsEarned
#FusionBusinessCollege #CXLeadership #AutoRetailAU #ConsistencyCounts
