The Customer Satisfaction Index: CSI
The automobile manufacturers have a system in place to monitor the buying experience customers have when buying their car. This system is called the Customer Satisfaction Index or commonly referred to as CSI. It is a survey that is either mailed, or a phone call that is made to the customer after their purchase is registered with the manufacturer. The manufacturers ask Customer Satisfaction Index questions that are graded on a numeric scale of 1 to 5, 1 being poor and 5 being excellent. Other manufacturers ask questions without using numbers as reference but rather a description such as Poor, Fair, Acceptable, Good and Excellent. These Customer Satisfaction Index questions go from a handful of basic questions to a fairly long list of questions that cover every step of your visit to the car dealer. The questions will ask about your sales persons professionalism, variety of vehicle selection, knowledge of product by sales people, available parking at the dealership, cleanliness of facilities, were the people you worked with trustworthy, was your Finance Manager knowledgeable and trustworthy and many more questions in that realm. You can see from the Customer Satisfaction Index questions asked that the manufacturers are serious about wanting to know every aspect of your visit, impression and car buying experience. The answers to these questions are weighted in ways that are kept secret to the dealers. Then they are converted to a score that the dealer is allowed to see. When all of the surveys for a month of new car sales are totaled then a score is given to the dealer. These Customer Satisfaction Index scores are
important, very important to the good dealers. These scores are
quite strict in the way they are graded. With
many manufacturers a 90% score is failing. When a dealer
has a failing score for moths in a row they become
ineligible for awards and contests. The dealer will also
have an unfavorable standing with the manufacturer when it
comes to receiving desired inventory and favors. Joe Slick |
|