Auto Dealers System for Surveying Customer Satisfaction (CSI) is flawed and needs to be fixed according to a speech given by Alan C. Starling, chairman of National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) delivered on 10/6/04 to the Detroit Automotive Press Association.*
NADA Chairman Calls on Automakers to Work with Dealers to Improve CSI Systems
Excerpts and my very condensed summary of the online article follows:
NADA hosted a dealer forum this summer to discuss CSI and about 20 dealers representing various sizes and all franchises and every region of the country reached 3 conclusions:
- CSI systems don't work as intended;
- CSI systems have lost credibility with dealers
- CSI systems now undermine dealership operations
Some Flaws in CSI systems, according to the article, include:
- Surveys are too long
- People are "survey fatigued"
- The least satisfied are most motivated to fill out surveys
- People don't consider each question thoughtfully
- Many surveys are unreturned
- Telemarketing calls interrupt dinner
For these reasons alone the results of CSI aren't a very good reflection of dealer performance.
More shortcomings sited include:
- Surveys are poorly worded and not specific and targeted enough
- Primary reason for ineffectiveness: Manufacturers "farm them out."
The shortcomings of CSI "can be fixed," added Starling, and he urged listeners to "take a fresh look at the entire CSI process with an eye toward making changes that reflect the current marketplace." NADA has opened a dialogue with manufacturers in that effort.
What can we learn from these comments? Customer satisfaction is too important to outsource, but insight is needed to develop effective systems to assess it.
*Source: NADA, http://www.nada.org/
My interest is to work with owners and executives to measurably improve sales, marketing and management performance. Please call me to discuss your interest. ©2004. Paul Esch. All Rights Reserved.
