The automotive industry is built on the relationship between customers and dealership staff. It doesn’t matter if your customers are working with you online, over the phone or in person, they want their time to be respected and they want to be treated well. Seeing how your team operates from a customers perspective is the best way to figure out what your strengths are and where you need to improve. The best way to do this is by mystery shopping your dealership. This will show you what it’s really like to do business with your dealership and identify the things you need to work on in order to maximize profits.
Of course, there are plenty of companies out there who you can pay thousands of dollars to mystery shop at your dealership, but we think you should save money by doing it yourself. Whether you use a friend, family member or someone on your upper management team, their insights will give you valuable information on what you need to be better at. In this article, we’re going to give you 4 different ways that you should mystery shop your dealership to ensure you’re not leaving any stone unturned.
Most shoppers today do their research online until they’ve narrowed their vehicle search down to 1-3 vehicles. Once they’ve narrowed down their search, around 60% of them call the dealership to get any further questions answered. Usually, these phones calls are the customers first person to person interaction with a team member from your dealership. So in order for you to discover how well prepared your sales department is, have someone mystery shop by calling sales and asking about a specific make and model. You should be hoping to hear the sales associate or BDC agent be able to explain the difference between trims levels, explain the inventory shortage and lead you in the right direction for your next steps.
Studies have shown that over 30% of inbound service calls go unanswered, are abandoned on hold or are misrouted. The first thing you need to determine with regards to your service department is what percentage of calls are actually answered. Once you’ve gotten the service advisor or BDC agent on the line, check to make sure they can answer basic questions about setting up an appointment.
If your dealership has a digital voice assistant answering phone calls, ensure that the voice is conversational and functional. It should be easy for your customers to setup appointments or cancel appointments using the digital voice assistant.
Take time to work your way through your dealerships website and test out any widgets or digital retailing tools. Not only should these be easy to find, but they should also be intuitive to use and work without slow loading times. Fill out a lead form and see how long it takes for you to be contacted. The autoresponders you have set up on your website should make it easy for you to turn a lead into a legitimate sales opportunity for your dealership.
The other thing to test on the website is how functional and helpful the AI powered chat bot works. Can it answer basic questions on pricing, inventory and new promotions? This process should be quick and easy for the customer to use and if the chat bot isn’t able to answer a question, ensure that it sets up a call with a team member and the customer to answer further questions.
The last thing you should do when doing a mystery shop audit is to actually have someone visit the showroom as a customer. How quickly does it take for someone to greet you and ask how they can help you? How enthusiastic does the team member seem about speaking with you? Take some time to go through the beginning stages of the process and take notes of the things that are important to you at your dealership.
Mystery shopping your own dealership gives you a real look at your customer experience without spending thousands of dollars on outside services. A friend, family member, or trusted manager can pose as a shopper, call your departments, test your tools, or visit the store. Their feedback shows where your team does well and where your process breaks, so you can fix issues that cost you customers and profit.
A good rhythm is every 6 months. That pace keeps the process light but steady, so you catch new issues before they grow into bigger customer service problems. It only takes a few minutes to place a call or submit a form, and each mystery shop run gives you fresh insight into how your staff and systems perform over time.
When mystery shopping the sales department, pay attention to how fast someone answers and how helpful they are. The sales or BDC agent should handle questions about a specific make and model, explain trim-level differences, talk through inventory shortages, and guide you to clear next steps. That first call often sets the tone for the whole customer relationship, so it should feel informed, respectful, and confident.
Start by checking what percentage of calls actually reach a person instead of going unanswered, sitting on hold, or getting misrouted. Once you reach a service advisor or BDC agent, see if they can quickly schedule, move, or cancel an appointment and answer basic service questions. If you use a digital voice assistant, test if it sounds natural, works well, and lets customers book or cancel without frustration.
Move through your website like a real shopper. Find and use any digital retailing tools, widgets, and lead forms to see how easy they are to spot and how fast they load. Submit a lead form and track how long it takes for someone to contact you and what the autoresponder says. Then test the AI chat bot. Check if it can answer simple questions about pricing, inventory, and promotions, and whether it connects you with a team member when it gets stuck.
You can’t fix a customer service problem if you don’t know what’s broken about your processes. Once you’ve done a mystery shop and found the gaps in your processes, it’s a good idea to mystery shop your dealership every 6 months or so. It only takes a few minutes to make a call to one of your departments and these calls can reveal a lot!
