What Is a Customer Lifecycle Center?
The Customer Lifecycle Center (CLC) is a new way to handle the many needs of a dealership in the modern world. A few decades ago, phone calls and walk-ins were the two primary ways customers and dealerships interacted. Now, we live in the era of connectivity: Customers can message and call dealers on various platforms, and they expect a relatively prompt response. Failing to meet these expectations is a sure way to lose sales.
Most dealers understand this and have tried to adapt their business models to modern technology. The Business Development Center (BDC) grew out of these developments. The BDC is still new, however, and room for improvement exists. That is what our team here at Strolid has done – taken the BDC and brought it to new heights of utility in the form of the Customer Lifecycle Center.
The CLC: What the BDC Was Supposed to Be
Most BDCs are built around managing leads. This makes sense because the average dealer spends 15% of their gross profit on advertising with the aim of generating leads. Our company began as a leads-focused organization, for that matter. Over time, however, it became clear that leads are not the be-all and end-all of the automotive sales process. The customer lifecycle model incorporates more elements of the customer journey in order to retain their business and build loyalty – both key elements for long-term growth and success.
Our team will handle all your automotive BDC needs. We’ll collate your inbound sales leads and service traffic and perform outbound contacts with customers. The Strolid approach frees your team up to focus on sales and service.
The Elements of the CLC
Sales BDC
This is one key element of the CLC that most folks in the industry will be familiar with. Sales BDC is all about managing the incoming traffic that dealerships deal with in the modern age: phone calls, emails, messages on apps, texts, and more. When you work with us, we take care of this deluge for you and provide you with actionable leads.
Post Sales CSI
Our Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) is a tool that measures how satisfied customers are with their experience at your business. The team at Strolid manages this part of the CLC, so you don’t have to. We listen to and learn from your customers in order to provide you with steps you can take to improve your business based on genuine customer feedback.
Service BDC
The Strolid team will handle all your inbound service traffic in addition to your Sales BDC. We manage the appointment-making process to keep things flowing smoothly at your dealership. Instead of having a few folks managing the myriad ways in which customers reach out to you, our streamlined team will have all this information at their fingertips.
Post Service CSI
When a customer buys a vehicle from you, they will generally have interacted with your team just a couple of times. After this purchase, however, many drivers will be back several more times for service. We collect CSI data on their satisfaction with service appointments in order to help you improve your business. This way, we can tell you what is already going well.
Lost Customers and Recalls
When it seems that a customer has been lost, we will work hard to bring them back into the fold. Our team will reach out to these folks at regular intervals to attempt to bring them in for regular maintenance appointments. We also contact customers whose vehicles are under recall to try and get them in for a recall service session. Customer retention is key, and we work to improve it.
Service to Sales and Buy-Back Management
The Strolid team will monitor the status of your leased vehicles and reach out to customers as the end of their agreement approaches. This proactive move works to retain their business when it comes time for them to switch to a new vehicle – or buy their current one. We also help provide leads regarding trade-ins, which are the most cost-effective source of used vehicles for many dealers.
How We Differ From the Competition
We offer a fully integrated and efficient automotive BDC that works to capture business throughout the customer lifecycle. Where other BDC models focus on generating leads, our team sees this as just one aspect of a well-functioning BDC. By collecting CSI data, reaching out to lost customers, and proactively recommending appointment scheduling, we provide excellent value to our dealership partners.
If you are ready to learn more, provide your contact information and click that button below. We would be happy to answer your questions and even provide a complimentary review of your current processes.
FAQs
What is a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)?
Our Customer Satisfaction Index is a tool that is designed to reveal how a customer feels about their experiences at your dealership. Whether their feedback is positive or negative, collecting this data helps improve the overall business. We handle CSI collection for you, freeing you up to focus on selling your inventory. This is a key part of the effective CLC model.
What is a Customer Lifecycle Center (CLC)?
The CLC model is the BDC done right. Instead of focusing solely on lead generation and management, the CLC approach is designed to capture business at every stage of the customer lifecycle. By proactively contacting customers – including those considered lost – our team works to bring more folks to the dealership for you, so you can focus on sales and service.
What is Lease Retention?
When our team here at Strolid engages in lease retention, we get in touch with customers whose leases are close to ending. We work to bring them into the dealership to consider a new vehicle to lease – or an outright purchase. Other BDC models overlook this method of earning repeat business. Our proactive approach helps avoid the loss of customers.
Our services now include post sale activities like CSI calls and scheduling customers first service appointment. These are critical components to the customer lifecycle deliberately focused on customer retention and loyalty.
If you’re ready to learn more, fill out your contact information and click that button below. We would be happy to answer questions and even provide a complimentary review of your current processes.
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