[bumonbox]

It's in a video, but from autonews:
http://www.autonews.com/article/20130219/VIDEO/302199902/autonews-now-why-chryslers-dissatisfied&cciid=email-autonews-annow#axzz2LS2IP8ja

Referencing back to Sergio's comments from the beginning of last year following Chrysler's very poor results on customer satisfaction. So it seems Sergio's plan is to put dealers, particularly the worst performers (They said the worst 144 dealers get attention first) through a proverbial boot camp.

Given many experiences many of us have had here, this sounds like a terrific idea - but that is completely dependent on the nature of the training, and if there is a long term plan. We also know that there are decent dealers, so I will be curious to see how much this will apply to them. The hang up is, for those particularly poor performing dealers, there has to be a long term incentive to improve their customer service. I would naturally like to see a focus on that, followed by some means to educate salesman on product (who don't know). (Perhaps to followsuit with salesmen on this forum, other salespeople should be forced to read allpar :lol: ).. I would be curious to hear what our resident sales people have heard about this, and their thoughts.

 

[TrailDuster45]

Long term incentive? I got one for you..... Shape up or leave. I took one of my Dodge trucks I have been having an issue with to a very small dealer north of Columbus Ohio. They charged me 90 dollars to hook it to their machine and if their tech had taken the time to look at the diagnostics he would've been able to explain what was wrong with the truck. My GF bought a Commander at another larger dealer in NW central Ohio who used to do business about like the smaller one but now is much better to deal with. They bent over backwards selling a used vehicle to her. They should be proud of their staff. Chrysler dealers need to better themselves, not depend on the company to do it for them.

 

[Mike V.]

If only Chrysler could easily reprimand or remove poor scoring dealers in fair and judicious manner...

Franchise laws and the past (the good dealers screwed in the bankruptcy) pretty kill a lot of opportunity for Chrysler..

 

[jimboy]

Chrysler is late to the table on this one, they should have started on this when they shed the extra dealerships. It could have been a criteria for staying with the company(brand), instead they focused on sales instead of service, not understanding that SERVICE begets sales; not vice versa.

 

[Stratuscaster]

How silly to assume that your franchised dealers would already have a focus on customer service - they all could have been out of business at one point; I would think that perhaps all of them would have stepped up their game a bit after making the cut during bankruptcy.

 

[Mike V.]

How silly to assume that your franchised dealers would already have a focus on customer service - they all could have been out of business at one point; I would think that perhaps all of them would have stepped up their game a bit after making the cut during bankruptcy.

Sadly many apparently didn't... And some of the worst were not cut while some of the best were.

I have a prime example of that here locally. Still owes employees money even. Still in business, still the GM, new name.

Mike

 

[MoparDanno]

How silly to assume that your franchised dealers would already have a focus on customer service - they all could have been out of business at one point; I would think that perhaps all of them would have stepped up their game a bit after making the cut during bankruptcy.

The ones that made it through the bankruptcy all feel that they are untouchable now. That tends to bring out the worst in people.....

In my local area, there are 11 dealers in a 50 mile radius, and of those, MAYBE 3 are decent, the rest are garbage with horrid SSI and CSI scores... like in the 70's to low 80's.

Money seems to be the only incentive that Dealers understand or are willing to change for. They are too shortsighted to see the gains in improved customer relations.

Because of the aforementioned franchise laws, it is VERY difficult for Chrysler to be able to do anything other than limit allocation of vehicles or parts to the bad dealers.

Another thing I have noticed, is that dealers in large metro areas tend to get away with being "badder". The reason I have come up with for this behaviour, is that there is more of a transient population in larger metro areas, so the "bad" doen't have time to build up in the community enough to soak into all of the new comers to the area. I swear thats the only reason some of these dealers are still in buisness....

Ah, to be able to work where JR200X or CDJSalesman work. Those sound like good dealerships.

Danno

 

[Mike V.]

Great post Danno

 

[bumonbox]

The ones that made it through the bankruptcy all feel that they are untouchable now. That tends to bring out the worst in people.....

In my local area, there are 11 dealers in a 50 mile radius, and of those, MAYBE 3 are decent, the rest are garbage with horrid SSI and CSI scores... like in the 70's to low 80's.

Money seems to be the only incentive that Dealers understand or are willing to change for. They are too shortsighted to see the gains in improved customer relations.

Because of the aforementioned franchise laws, it is VERY difficult for Chrysler to be able to do anything other than limit allocation of vehicles or parts to the bad dealers.

Another thing I have noticed, is that dealers in large metro areas tend to get away with being "badder". The reason I have come up with for this behaviour, is that there is more of a transient population in larger metro areas, so the "bad" doen't have time to build up in the community enough to soak into all of the new comers to the area. I swear thats the only reason some of these dealers are still in buisness....

Ah, to be able to work where JR200X or CDJSalesman work. Those sound like good dealerships.

Danno

Perhaps the shame is that there are so few salesmen actively participating in this forum.


back to it though, that is going to be Sergio's big issue, glad to see them wanting to train them, but they need have a way to hold them accountable.

 

[Mike V.]

Perhaps the shame is that there are so few salesmen actively participating in this forum.

back to it though, that is going to be Sergio's big issue, glad to see them wanting to train them, but they need have a way to hold them accountable.

Exactly.

Mike

 

[BigDaddySRT]

One of the local Dodge Dealers shutdown during the bankruptcy is now a Used Car Lot.

5 months ago Chrysler bought the old Volvo Dealership right next door to it.... how's that for a pie in the face???

 

[IMPERIAL4EVER]

Had a horrendous experience on President's day in an attempt to move out of my 2010 Lexus IS and into a 2013 Chrysler 300C. My dealer, Tri-County Chrysler in Pottstown, Pa. was horrible. The salesman who greeted us (so to speak) was dressed just like the customers waiting to have their cars repaired. I could not tell them apart. He was wearing jeans, a dark shirt and a windbreaker with dark sneakers. He greeted me but failed to acknowledge my wife (bad move dude) before shuttling us into his office. Almost like she wasn't there. He had a horrendous cough and when we went to test drive a 300S (not the C I wanted) nor the car I was told over the phone was on the lot to drive, his breath was fowl like a smoker's. I knew more about this car then him. The 300 test drive was just as disappointing. Ended up not ordering a 300 because their trade in quote on my IS was too low. I mentioned to my wife how surprised I was at how well Chrysler is doing. This dealership is a joke. Never again.

 

[TrailDuster45]

I too, was shocked with how little participation there is on here by dealer personnel. Most that I have talked to have never even heard of Allpar and have no clue what it is. Salesman are really underinformed on products including packages, and powertrain etc. If you as a dealer want your people to understand all the different customers that Chrysler has this forum should be mandatory reading.

 

[MoparDanno]

Perhaps the shame is that there are so few salesmen actively participating in this forum.


back to it though, that is going to be Sergio's big issue, glad to see them wanting to train them, but they need have a way to hold them accountable.

Im just a parts guy But I have a passion for Chrysler, and I want to see ALL dealers and ALL of Chrysler do well.

I think that is why all of us are here... to try to find a way to make Chrysler better...

It is really a reflection of the lack of hiring processes IMO that leads to the apathy that is displayed by the absence of a decent volume of dealer presense on this forum. What are there, 10-15 of us tops? There are more retired Chrysler/Jeep engineers on here than that! hahaha.

 

[y2kyamr6]

I work for a dealer in TX and all I have seen was the article on autonews about the training. From what my dealer connect screen shows in the past 12 months 91% of our customers would reccomend us for sales. The hard part is getting the people with the good visits to reply to surveys or do online reviews. It always seems that its the ones that did have the bad experience complain. I think that price needs to stay out of customer satifaction either on the new one or the trade. Just because you cant come to agreement on those numbers does not mean it was a bad experience.

I agree that there needs to be more training on product on the dealer side. Chrysler can only do so much in class rooms. I have been with Chrysler for 7 years and myself and one other guy here are pretty much the go to ones when it comes to questions. I see so many that have no clue or even care about what they sell. It shows in the vloume of sales they have and its also frustrating for the customer. You have got to know where to find info if you dont know. Customers will respect you more for telling them you are not sure about a particluar question but will find out then telling them a lie only to find out that the car they thought they bought had NAV, bluetooth, etc and it does not. I learned alot when I started just by reading the window stickers on the cars with my customers. I learned about the car and also made sure it was the right one with the right options the customer wanted.

 

[edvan]

My experience in 40 years with Chrysler products is the sales people know very little about the vehicles they sell . Expecting them to know anything about items like uconnect is a laugh. I do not see how you are going to change that. So many seem to have that "who cares" attitude. Phone calls are routinely not returned. To the best of my memory, I have never had a salesperson call after a lease or sale to see how I am doing.

My wife has been leasing Subarus for years. Their sales people are much better, and corporate Subaru is excellent.

On the plus side, my dealings with many service departments has been mostly very good.

 

[y2kyamr6]

My experience in 40 years with Chrysler products is the sales people know very little about the vehicles they sell . Expecting them to know anything about items like uconnect is a laugh. I do not see how you are going to change that. So many seem to have that "who cares" attitude. Phone calls are routinely not returned. To the best of my memory, I have never had a salesperson call after a lease or sale to see how I am doing.

My wife has been leasing Subarus for years. Their sales people are much better, and corporate Subaru is excellent.

On the plus side, my dealings with many service departments has been mostly very good.

Thats part of the problem, they dont care and have no pride in what they are selling. Just looking for that paycheck.

 

[dana44]

Agree this hasn't been a recent problem but a long term problem. DBAG didn't worry about it, and those with franchises should also realize that it is just that, the company has a responsibility to ensure their product is being sold properly. Colonel Sanders, for example, was known to go from KFC to KFC and personally inspect the chicken being sold at his stores, personally taking steps personally bull his way into a kitchen and literally teach the owners of the store how to cook the chicken the way he meant it to be done. Same thing applies here, teach the dealerships to handle customers and product the way it is meant to be shown and improve everything at the same time. Start with the 144 first, increase to the others, so I couldn't agree more that it is Chrysler's responsibity to ensure the managers/owners of the dealerships are held accountable for their own dealership's performance, a true top down responsibility. Don't meet or improve standards and lose the franchise, plenty of others willing to purchase them.

 

[bumonbox]

Thats part of the problem, they dont care and have no pride in what they are selling. Just looking for that paycheck.

Glad you said it.. I work carefully not to generalize to much about dealers / salesmen, as I know there are good ones out there. They are just very hard to come by. I respect the heck out of the salespeople / dealers on this forum for being as engaged and enthusiastic as they are. I'd be curious to know the correlation between strong salesmen for Chrysler and also own Chrysler products. I recall being horribly unimpressed with a salesmen in central Ohio (Bob Caldwell), then he topped it all off by informing us the great financing he got on the used Scion from the dealership. He was selling new Chrysler's though, naturally I understand if financial constraints necessitate a used car, but him not even owning from the brand he was selling just left a bad impression. All that said, I will counter by saying I have met 1 good salesman there. He listened well enough to realize I was informed so he didn't spout garbage at me like the others do (I don't know how well educated he was about the product as a result, but he didn't seem clueless). If you read your customers well enough, and give them the right amount of space (I know you have to push a little), you can keep from stepping on your wang.

But back to it, putting aside the fact that the customer is NOT always right. The management must lead, they have to be civil with the butt wipes, but obviously can't afford to take too much of their garbage - then they need to know when a customer has a legit concern and not take it lightly. If Sergio finds the magic key to reform those dealers from top to bottom it help them greatly. Basically, one good salesman can make some customers happy, but good management needs to be there to have consistency across the board - it makes a good salesman more able to do his job, and either removes the less savory, or keeps them motivated to meet some basic reasonable metrics.

 

[y2kyamr6]

Glad you said it.. I work carefully not to generalize to much about dealers / salesmen, as I know there are good ones out there. They are just very hard to come by. I respect the heck out of the salespeople / dealers on this forum for being as engaged and enthusiastic as they are. I'd be curious to know the correlation between strong salesmen for Chrysler and also own Chrysler products. I recall being horribly unimpressed with a salesmen in central Ohio (Bob Caldwell), then he topped it all off by informing us the great financing he got on the used Scion from the dealership. He was selling new Chrysler's though, naturally I understand if financial constraints necessitate a used car, but him not even owning from the brand he was selling just left a bad impression. All that said, I will counter by saying I have met 1 good salesman there. He listened well enough to realize I was informed so he didn't spout garbage at me like the others do (I don't know how well educated he was about the product as a result, but he didn't seem clueless). If you read your customers well enough, and give them the right amount of space (I know you have to push a little), you can keep from stepping on your wang.

But back to it, putting aside the fact that the customer is NOT always right. The management must lead, they have to be civil with the butt wipes, but obviously can't afford to take too much of their garbage - then they need to know when a customer has a legit concern and not take it lightly. If Sergio finds the magic key to reform those dealers from top to bottom it help them greatly. Basically, one good salesman can make some customers happy, but good management needs to be there to have consistency across the board - it makes a good salesman more able to do his job, and either removes the less savory, or keeps them motivated to meet some basic reasonable metrics.

Its the truth, I own a 2005 Grand Cherokee and had a 2011 200 that I traded for a 2012 300C last year. I have pride in what I sell and when my customers know that I drive what I sell it helps to build trust in the product.
Yes, maybe some guys cant do the payments and they need to buy other stuff. I get that, but it still comes to having pride in what you sell.
It starts with management and ownership, sometimes the bad salesguys do get hired but they dont last very long once they see their BS in not tolerated. If you have good management usually the good salesguys will stick around and not go from dealer to dealer.
I know that when we get a new product off the truck I am one of the first ones to drive it and see what it is all about. I was one of the first ones that drove a V6 8 speed in the trucks and was very impressed. Cant wait for the 8 speed Hemi and diesel Grand Cherokee to get here.