Recently the lease on my wife’s car expired and it was time to get her a new one. While I have been eyeballing the Ford Edge as my next purchase, my wife had her eyes on a BMW. The challenge is the BMW dealer closest to us had salespeople with an “above everyone else” attitude and a service department that was charging way too much for declining service (remind me to tell you about the time they reversed the long and short wiper blades and they disintegrated the first time I went to use them).
So the buying of the car first became about selecting the dealer. After visiting 4 dealers over a 3 week period we chose one and had almost a great buying experience… Note to self… my wife – and I suspect most women are VERY picky about the relationships they chose to engage in.
There was however a caveat… and not a minor one.
Somewhere along the way the BMW dealership we bought the car from made a REALLY bad assumption. Just because I happen to sign the loan does not mean I am the buyer. This reality in most retail is important – whether its banking, food market, or car buying – women are making the majority of buying decisions.
My wife chose the BMW dealer (and deselected the nearby dealer that we had done business with before). She selected the car. She knew the target price and the car is hers. I may drive it twice a year… and yet…
- I am the one who got the thank you (not her)
- I am the one that got the “There’s nothing like owning a BMW”
- I am the one that keeps getting the emails welcoming me to BMW service, and
- The gift packet was all about the guy.
Here’s the point.
At the dealership I made it absolutely clear that I was not the car buyer and that my wife was making the buying decision. How easy would it be to have the sales agent enter in the customer experience program that she was the primary person to cater to for the repeat buy.
Instead by missing a simple “flag” or segmentation tier both BMW and the dealership erode their brand with each and every “Dear Rick” email that ignores her and her ownership of the vehicle.
Dear BMW – get up to date on the equality in marriage memo and start understanding who the buyer really is.
Good Luck!
Rick
CX Alchemist
{ 0 comments }
