Technology. It can be a very good thing for a variety of reasons but when it comes to delivering the customer their brand new car it can be a bit of a pain in the you know where.
Let’s be honest. A car dealership is not the place most people want to spend their day. When you come in to pick it up from the showroom, you really just want to pay, leave and start enjoying your new vehicle. After all, you have a life to live!
For Salespeople though, we want to make sure that when you leave the dealership you understand how the car functions these days. That includes to know where everything is under the hood, proper break in periods, complete warranty information, radio station settings, the proper fuel and service intervals. Even things we see as the basics of adjusting seatbelts, head restraints, driving position and knowing the owners manual.
Enter TECHNOLOGY. New vehicles, Ford especially, are packed with technology. Sync, My Ford Touch, My Key, Voice Activated Navigation, Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rain Sensing Wipers, Auto High Beam. These are all technologies that need to be explained and we can spend an hour alone showing customers all the ins and outs of My Ford Touch alone. It can be a daunting task both for the customer and the Salesperson.
Ford to the rescue with VIDEO SNACKS! Thank you Detriot News.
Ford to email customers ‘video snacks’ on new car features
- By Karl Henkel
- The Detroit News
As automakers park more technology inside vehicles, the list of features a customer must learn continues to get longer.
And instead of spending hours at the dealership toying with new items inside the car, Ford Motor Co. this week is launching a video vehicle manual of sorts to cut down on time spent at the dealership and better connect consumers to their cars.
“The truth is, many savvy consumers know more about the cars they are shopping for then the sales people,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence at auto pricing and information website TrueCar.com, who formerly managed dealerships. “It’s just more practical to watch a video for most complicated functions in today’s vehicles then to try end interpret a complicated diagram on a page.”
Dubbed “video snacks,” Ford will try to explain to customers certain features like remote start, MyKey and blind spot mirrors through short videos that will be emailed to customers before they pick up their new vehicles.
Customers will choose which videos they would like to receive and watch, and their salesperson will know which videos have not been selected. When the customer goes to pick up their vehicle, the salesperson will know precisely which features the customer has already learned.
It is part of an effort to cut down on the increasing amount of time customers spend at dealerships learning about new vehicles and their advanced technologies.
Mark Smith, president of Dick Smith Ford in Raytown, Mo., said the video strategy should save time for both dealer salespeople and customers and said he does not see the videos as a potential threat to dealership experience.
“If there’s more features, then it takes more time,” Smith said in a telephone interview.
Ford said it reviewed customer research conducted from up to three months after a purchase to find out which technologies new buyers found most interesting.
One example is Ford MyKey system, which allows parents to create a customizable key with specific driving settings, including speed limit control, for greater safety for teen drivers.
But MyKey is still a relatively new piece of technology and may not be simple to operate for all drivers.
“Our goal is to simplify and enhance the sales experience by providing customers with the resources they need when they need them so that they can fully enjoy all the benefits their vehicle has to offer them,” said Andrew Ashman, Ford and Lincoln consumer experience manager.
