Use Social Media to change customer perception 

In the good old days, folks bought cars and had them serviced from their friends at the dealership. Customer loyalty ruled. But competition, bottom lines, and poor customer service splintered the relationship, and essentially, customers "broke up" with the brands that were once near and dear.

Today, the challenge is great to restore confidence and trust in the average dealer. Social media offers a great opportunity for dealers to do this. Using the 3R's approach to customer service—Reasoning, Reaching, and Reacting, you can rebuild relationships with your customers and keep them coming back.

Reasoning

Years ago encyclopedia salesman went door to door, remember that? But sales success was challenging, since encyclopedias aren't the most interesting or accessible compilations of documents. To counter this, salesman marketed the social idea that reinforced the value of education—remember the 3 R’s “Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic?” The publishers pushed this social idea, knowing it would catch on, and it did. Encyclopedia sales increased.

Advice: Dealers, develop a social media strategy that values the journey rather than the destination. Reinforce your values and those of the community, beyond sales and specials. Push your brand, and give your fans a reason to check you out. Social media is not about selling cars, it's about being making the case that you deserve a customer's business.

Reaching

Remember  “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle?" Faced with rising costs, the waste disposal industry paired up with environmentalists to develop the Green Movement. This Movement succeeded on a neighbor to neighbor and community to community level. 

Advice: Live in your communities and reach out to your customers based on their interests, needs and common values. Strive to connect with folks in your community by using social media to engage your shared interests.

Reacting

Another movement is now being realized by the automotive industry that will greatly impact how you do business from now on. Would it surprise you that the 3 R’s are back? This time, use social media to “retain, refer, and recommend.”

Today, consumers have tremendous social power to affect change at your dealership, so social media monitoring and response is critical. Remember these rules:

• Accept your customers’ viewpoints and be prepared to respond in a positive manner in a timely fashion. 
• Seize every opportunity to turn something negative into a positive.
• Accentuate the positive. Pounce on favorable consumer experiences and share them across the social media landscape.

The leisurely approach to sales is dead. Society has moved on, and today's faster pace make the old approach impossible. Thank God for social media—a set of tools to help you be more engaged with your customers—to restore what has been lost. Immediate ROI is not as valuable as reasoning, reaching and reacting to what your customer's find important. Use social media and build your own Movement.