Ford-australia-growing-its-customer-satisfaction-rating-faster-than-anywhere-else-in-the-world

[csv8]

"Ford Australia’s decision to style its franchise dealers after the likes of Apple and Disney has given it the biggest improvement in customer satisfaction of any Ford region globally.

The company’s Dealerships of the Future model, introduced in late 2014, has now been ported into 75 per cent of all Ford dealers, co-funded by the brand and its franchise dealers.

As a result, service retention rates are up 37 per cent since 2012, meaning people are taking their Fords back to the dealer for servicing — a lucrative revenue stream for the company’s network to complement its booming sales.

According to the company, inter-company customer satisfaction surveys show that Ford Australia has improved its customer satisfaction ratings (off a low base) more than any other global region. Other countries are now looking to Ford Australia for counsel.

The suite of programs under the Dealerships of the Future program include concierge greetings at the dealer, iPad-based shopping and service apps, and higher-tech test drives where potential car buyers can receive an explanation of the car features via the Sync voice control system.

New Ford owners can specify the radio station presets and even the climate-control temperature they want configured in their car before taking delivery.

Even little things such as Ford’s sales people delivering the car in a glitzy silk wrap are part of the program. The company admits this is cheesy, but apparently it works, “for even the most hardened tradie buying a Ranger”.

The aftersales side includes lifetime capped-price servicing, online service booking, free loan cars (Melbourne dealer Chadstone Ford has 25 loan cars available, for instance) a full vehicle ‘report card’ with easier to digest information, and free auto club membership.

Ford Australia president and CEO Graeme Whickman said that the program was instigated and part-funded by Ford — which invested in its own back-end heavily — and that its dealers had been set some new “non negotiables” in exchange for Ford regularly sending in coaches and advisors to train dealer staff.

These changes range across cultural, process and technological areas, and according to Whickman are about “moving with the times” and becoming like Apple, Sony, Disney or even flagship Telstra stores.

“This is an exciting time at Ford as we transform our dealerships while launching a record number of new vehicles – all to make our customers’ lives better and easier throughout their sales and ownership experience,” he said.

We are just getting started and we already have seen significant progress in sales and service satisfaction, which has helped us increase sales and improve service retention as this has become a differentiator for Ford.”

Do you own a Ford? How have you found the sales and service experience so far?"

Read more at http://www.caradvice.com.au/454168/f...owuFrfa2yaD.99

[Pedro]

Speaking from my experiences over the years it's not hard to achieve the fastest growing satisfaction when you're starting from Zero.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Pedro

Speaking from my experiences over the years it's not hard to achieve the fastest growing satisfaction when you're starting from Zero.

Touché.

[kazawaki]

Didn't notice have they stopped arguing over small cost items on prestige cars purchased from them , and making customers happy instead of ****ing them off ????.Lets check the warranty list. 2 items refused 1 fixed and another fixed finally after 3 attempts, well so far so good.Lets see to fix the other items would have cost them around $1,000 but no decided to **** of a loyal customer.Is that good business Mmmmmmm Nope ,am I going to continue supporting them MMmmmm nope unless by some miracle they rectify my problems.This will probably happen when Tony Abbott returns as prime minister.

[munners]

Originally Posted by kazawaki

Didn't notice have they stopped arguing over small cost items on prestige cars purchased from them , and making customers happy instead of ****ing them off ????.Lets check the warranty list. 2 items refused 1 fixed and another fixed finally after 3 attempts, well so far so good.Lets see to fix the other items would have cost them around $1,000 but no decided to **** of a loyal customer.Is that good business Mmmmmmm Nope ,am I going to continue supporting them MMmmmm nope unless by some miracle they rectify my problems.This will probably happen when Tony Abbott returns as prime minister.

In my experience they have improved. I just ordered a new Ranger this week on the strength of great service with existing cars (2012 Ranger and 2013 Kuga) plus a really good buying experience.
I'm happy to see them improving and hope they keep going!

Munners

[Ford17]

I have to say having a loan car always available for services is a great concept.

[Junkyard-Dog]

It's easier to keep a small group of people happy than it is to keep a large group happy.

If you know what I mean.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by csv8

"Ford Australia’s decision to style its franchise dealers after the likes of Apple and Disney has given it the biggest improvement in customer satisfaction of any Ford region globally.

The company’s Dealerships of the Future model, introduced in late 2014, has now been ported into 75 per cent of all Ford dealers,

So that would be the same program that has seen several small dealerships hand back their franchise?

Originally Posted by csv8

New Ford owners can specify the radio station presets and even the climate-control temperature they want configured in their car before taking delivery.

You've GOT to be kidding me?
PLEASE tell me this was an April's Fools' Joke?

Originally Posted by csv8

Even little things such as Ford’s sales people delivering the car in a glitzy silk wrap are part of the program. The company admits this is cheesy, but apparently it works, “for even the queerest cross-dressing tradie buying a Wainger”.

Fixed

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So that would be the same program that has seen several small dealerships hand back their franchise?



You've GOT to be kidding me?

PLEASE tell me this was an April's Fools' Joke?



Fixed

That's not true. The ford customer experience program isn't compulsory.
And not its not a joke. A lot of customers really like these touches.
When was the last time you bought a new Ford?

[castellan]

Originally Posted by kazawaki

Didn't notice have they stopped arguing over small cost items on prestige cars purchased from them , and making customers happy instead of ****ing them off ????.Lets check the warranty list. 2 items refused 1 fixed and another fixed finally after 3 attempts, well so far so good.Lets see to fix the other items would have cost them around $1,000 but no decided to **** of a loyal customer.Is that good business Mmmmmmm Nope ,am I going to continue supporting them MMmmmm nope unless by some miracle they rectify my problems.This will probably happen when Tony Abbott returns as prime minister.

We would need Cory Bernardi for a revolution like that to work the way it truly should, it's all about conservative values and without such values, everything just becomes a destructive degenerate progressive force that's in motion, much like a train crash.

[Adamz Ghia]

Bloody hell a positive news story on Ford, there's been more in the last 6 months than the last 10 years and almost all comments are negative.

Unbelievable.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

That's not true. The ford customer experience program isn't compulsory.

What's not true?

Dealers were told to spend money to upgrade their showrooms to the new standard, for some small dealerships it was not a viable proposition and they instead chose to hand back their Ford franchise. Fact.

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

And not its not a joke. A lot of customers really like these touches.

Pigs ****. If you need the dealer to set your aircon for you, you really should just stick to buying handbags.

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

When was the last time you bought a new Ford?

When was the last time you ate a dog ****?
Last time I bought a new Ford was 2008, and before that 2007.
Since then we have bought two new cars, and a Territory. I would have loved a new TTG, but Ford stopped making them. I would have settled for an I6 AWD, but Ford stopped making them. We bought a Mazda instead of its Ford cousin, because Mazda didn't fit power-shaft transmissions.
Just now, we (my daughter) bought a new Mitsubishi, because Ford want $6,000 more for their Thai built Focus.
And guess what, we had two Mitsubishi Sales Managers fighting hard for our business, and neither offered to preset the aircon or wrap the car in silk

[Adamz Ghia]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

What's not true?

Dealers were told to spend money to upgrade their showrooms to the new standard, for some small dealerships it was not a viable proposition and they instead chose to hand back their Ford franchise. Fact.

Pigs ****. If you need the dealer to set your aircon for you, you really should just stick to buying handbags.
When was the last time you ate a dog ****?
Last time I bought a new Ford was 2008, and before that 2007.
Since then we have bought two new cars, and a Territory. I would have loved a new TTG, but Ford stopped making them. I would have settled for an I6 AWD, but Ford stopped making them. We bought a Mazda instead of its Ford cousin, because Mazda didn't fit power-shaft transmissions.
Just now, we (my daughter) bought a new Mitsubishi, because Ford want $6,000 more for their Thai built Focus.
And guess what, we had two Mitsubishi Sales Managers fighting hard for our business, and neither offered to preset the aircon or wrap the car in silk

Hope your daughter enjoys her 10 year old Lancer. What does it matter where the Focus is built, the quality is there, drives 10 times better and looks (subjective I know) like a million bucks compared to the 5 time face lifted Lancer.

We took our grandmother to buy a new Fiesta and they wrapped it in a bow for her. It absolutely made her day and she still hasn't shut up about it. And they pre set everything for her and again she loved it.

Basically, you can carry on all you like, the upward sales figures are speaking for themselves.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

And not its not a joke. A lot of customers really like these touches.

Yep. When I took delivery of the Mondeo, they had set the clock to 24 hour time, and set the language to UK English, ambient lighting to blue and climate control to 20C - just the way I like it.

[Ben73]

I bought my Ranger from a Sydney dealership that were great to deal with.
I have taken it to the local ford dealer for a couple of services and have nothing but good things to say.
Well there auto car wash scratched my car, but they were very professional and sorted it out no questions asked. Even gave me a new Kuga to drive while mine was fixed.

[Interceptor]

I did consider quoting several parts of the original post with replies, but honestly, it wouldve been a waste of my time.

Enough said that when I was contacted by Ford in the US regarding an enquiry I had lodged online, I was told by a representative "We've done our research on customer needs, and this is what we're offering".

I replied that they were missing an opportunity, that I was a potential customer, but Ford werent able to offer what I wanted, despite what I required being as easy as a retune in the ECU and a different vehicle specification sticker.

As for the Australian market, Ford now have absolutely zero chance of me ever becoming a new car buyer, regardless of the extra crap they dump on the buyers, they have canned the only vehicle I was ever interested in buying, and are trying to tell me that the ranger is a much better alternative.

If I wanted a mid sized, overhyped, overcomplicated, horrendously overpriced underperforming vehicle, I'd ask Ford to build me a ranger for the price of a great wall.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Adamz Ghia

Bloody hell a positive news story on Ford, there's been more in the last 6 months than the last 10 years and almost all comments are negative.

Unbelievable.

Adam, the theme of the thread is about customer satisfaction and it's good to see Ford OZ is (finally) doing something to improve this. But the reason for so many negative comments is caused by owners past experiences. The "what problems have you had with your FG" thread has over 7000 posts and earlier models have higher numbers of posts. I thought my BF and FG F6's were great cars to drive but the experience was let down by what can only be described as abominable service.

[Hemihunter]

Maybe the Pending class action on the Focus has made them aware of the customer again.

[Adamz Ghia]

Originally Posted by Pedro

Adam, the theme of the thread is about customer satisfaction and it's good to see Ford OZ is (finally) doing something to improve this. But the reason for so many negative comments is caused by owners past experiences. The "what problems have you had with your FG" thread has over 7000 posts and earlier models have higher numbers of posts. I thought my BF and FG F6's were great cars to drive but the experience was let down by what can only be described as abominable service.

The theme of the thread is how customer satisfaction is growing faster than anywhere else. FG was released 8 years ago, earlier models over 10. Hardly relevant and if you still hold a grudge against a dealer after that long then you're very lucky there aren't more important things in your life to worry about.

[Adamz Ghia]

Originally Posted by Hemihunter

Maybe the Pending class action on the Focus has made them aware of the customer again.

That class action is going to sink lower than the Titanic.