Making a Big Fuss: Lexus seeking new ways to delight owners, win over customers
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Making a Big Fuss: Lexus seeking new ways to delight owners, win over customers
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102545
Making a Big Fuss: Lexus seeking new ways to delight owners, win over customers
MARK RECHTIN | Automotive News
Posted Date: 6/9/05
LOS ANGELES -- Bob Carter realizes that free espresso ain't what it used to be.
The new Lexus Division general manager knows that his dealerships' once-special touches now have plenty of imitators. For Lexus to hang on to the customer-satisfaction crown, it must find new ways to surprise and delight its owners.
"A free espresso, an explanatory meeting in the service drive and a detailed car afterward was 'wow' back in 1994. But not today," Carter says.
This will be even harder as U.S. Lexus sales peak.
Lexus has sold the most vehicles of any luxury brand in the United States for five years running, reaching 287,927 unit sales last year. Lexus could sell 350,000 units annually by the end of the decade. As Lexus approaches 2.5 million vehicles in operation, and just 210 U.S. dealerships to handle them, it will be difficult to make the customer feel special, Carter admits.
"When you buy a car, it's not relevant to you whether we sold 300,000 others or 40,000 others," he says. "What is relevant is the one that you bought."
As a result, Carter, 45, is looking less at Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar for ideas and more toward Four Seasons Hotels, Tiffany & Co. and Nordstrom.
"When you purchase a Lexus, the ownership experience will be better than anywhere in luxury retail," predicts Carter, who took his post in April. "Not just automotive -- more like the Four Seasons."
This is Carter's fourth stint at Lexus in his 24-year Toyota Motor Corp. career. He was part of the launch team and worked in dealer development and Lexus' field offices. His most recent job was as vice president of sales for Toyota Division.
Near the top
Lexus has perennially been at or near the top of the J.D. Power and Associates' customer service and sales satisfaction surveys. But the brand wants to elevate its emphasis on what it calls "customer engagement."
The idea is not mere advocacy. The goal is to make the consumer feel he cannot live without his Lexus dealer.
To help dealerships meet the challenge, Lexus sponsored a series of three-day summits in April.
Dealers were given reams of data regarding luxury customers compiled by the Gallup Organization. They also were sent to the training center for Four Seasons Hotels employees to learn the expectations of luxury customers.
"This goes beyond a customer checking the survey box of whether their car was washed after an oil change," says Deborah Meyer, vice president of marketing at Lexus. "It's about the way the dealer treats you that makes you want to go back."
Lexus dealerships have to pass those lessons along to their employees, too. After all, a dealer principal may live in a Four Seasons world. But his porters, service techs and receptionists do not.
Putting on the Ritz
One unidentified dealer was shocked, Lexus says, when his employees told him that the pinnacle of customer service was the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant chain.
In response, the dealer is making every employee stay a weekend at the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel -- on the dealer's dime. After this pampering, the employee shares his or her impressions with the dealer.
Another dealer was impressed by the Genius Bar at the Apple Store chain, where employees answer Apple Computer-related questions.
Lexus is giving no additional financial incentive for dealerships that improve their customer service scores.
Says Meyer: "The reward is in the basis of the business model, when sales and profits go up."
Related Stories
Making a Big Fuss: Lexus seeking new ways to delight owners, win over customers
MARK RECHTIN | Automotive News
Posted Date: 6/9/05
LOS ANGELES -- Bob Carter realizes that free espresso ain't what it used to be.
The new Lexus Division general manager knows that his dealerships' once-special touches now have plenty of imitators. For Lexus to hang on to the customer-satisfaction crown, it must find new ways to surprise and delight its owners.
"A free espresso, an explanatory meeting in the service drive and a detailed car afterward was 'wow' back in 1994. But not today," Carter says.
This will be even harder as U.S. Lexus sales peak.
Lexus has sold the most vehicles of any luxury brand in the United States for five years running, reaching 287,927 unit sales last year. Lexus could sell 350,000 units annually by the end of the decade. As Lexus approaches 2.5 million vehicles in operation, and just 210 U.S. dealerships to handle them, it will be difficult to make the customer feel special, Carter admits.
"When you buy a car, it's not relevant to you whether we sold 300,000 others or 40,000 others," he says. "What is relevant is the one that you bought."
As a result, Carter, 45, is looking less at Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar for ideas and more toward Four Seasons Hotels, Tiffany & Co. and Nordstrom.
"When you purchase a Lexus, the ownership experience will be better than anywhere in luxury retail," predicts Carter, who took his post in April. "Not just automotive -- more like the Four Seasons."
This is Carter's fourth stint at Lexus in his 24-year Toyota Motor Corp. career. He was part of the launch team and worked in dealer development and Lexus' field offices. His most recent job was as vice president of sales for Toyota Division.
Near the top
Lexus has perennially been at or near the top of the J.D. Power and Associates' customer service and sales satisfaction surveys. But the brand wants to elevate its emphasis on what it calls "customer engagement."
The idea is not mere advocacy. The goal is to make the consumer feel he cannot live without his Lexus dealer.
To help dealerships meet the challenge, Lexus sponsored a series of three-day summits in April.
Dealers were given reams of data regarding luxury customers compiled by the Gallup Organization. They also were sent to the training center for Four Seasons Hotels employees to learn the expectations of luxury customers.
"This goes beyond a customer checking the survey box of whether their car was washed after an oil change," says Deborah Meyer, vice president of marketing at Lexus. "It's about the way the dealer treats you that makes you want to go back."
Lexus dealerships have to pass those lessons along to their employees, too. After all, a dealer principal may live in a Four Seasons world. But his porters, service techs and receptionists do not.
Putting on the Ritz
One unidentified dealer was shocked, Lexus says, when his employees told him that the pinnacle of customer service was the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant chain.
In response, the dealer is making every employee stay a weekend at the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel -- on the dealer's dime. After this pampering, the employee shares his or her impressions with the dealer.
Another dealer was impressed by the Genius Bar at the Apple Store chain, where employees answer Apple Computer-related questions.
Lexus is giving no additional financial incentive for dealerships that improve their customer service scores.
Says Meyer: "The reward is in the basis of the business model, when sales and profits go up."
Related Stories
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Lexus is smart as hell. You CANNOT rest on your butt and watch everyone start doing the same thing. Before Lexus, just about every dealership was like visiting a junk yard. Today, they keep improving, even non-luxury car makers. Luxury car makers now offer some of the same perks as Lexus.
Being a Nordstrom card holder,it BLOWs out services for cardholders compared to say Macy's, JC Penny etc. It does make me come back there to shop, you feel valued and you just get extra perks you cannot ignore.
So if Lexus follows some of their moves, watch out now!
Being a Nordstrom card holder,it BLOWs out services for cardholders compared to say Macy's, JC Penny etc. It does make me come back there to shop, you feel valued and you just get extra perks you cannot ignore.
So if Lexus follows some of their moves, watch out now!
Lexus Champion
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 8,695
Likes: 2
From: CA
I've never been to a Four Seasons, but I certainly know their reputation. Here's a related article I found the other day:
From: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005...1_236_4_05.txt
The Lexus Dealership Experience has been great for me and my family over the years, that said there is always room for improvement as others on this board will attest. I'm hopeful that Lexus' ongoing efforts in this regard will help customer relations.
Lexus turns to Four Seasons Aviara for lessons in customer service
By: BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer
CARLSBAD ---- When more than 200 Lexus dealership owners and managers converged upon the posh Four Seasons Resort Aviara, they weren't on just another sales incentives vacation. They were there to learn ---- even when enjoying the amenities of the five-star resort.
Lexus paid the dealers' way, flying them in from all around the United States in April to see and experience customer service at the very highest end. They attended seminars. They took behind-the-scenes tours to see how every employee, even those who rarely or never directly deal with guests, keeps the customers' needs in mind.
"They wanted to impress on the dealers this is the treatment that your Lexus customers are looking for," said Gene Manganiello, general manager for Lexus Carlsbad, who attended the training
Lexus and Four Seasons held a pilot program a year ago with three dealerships, Manganiello said, and decided it was worth expanding nationwide.
Manganiello said he was impressed to see people of great importance and wealth, such as an owner of a sports team, studiously taking notes.
The goal is to prevent complacency and reinvigorate Lexus dealerships with the company's goals, Manganiello said, because luxury car dealerships such as Lexus are really in the customer service business.
Dealers don't make the cars they sell, he said, and rivals such as BMW also offer quality cars. So service is where Lexus has the best chance of winning over customers. Lexus and Four Seasons are really in the same business and have much the same customer base, Manganiello said, although they don't compete with each other.
Lexus Carlsbad shows the Four Seasons influence in a palpable way: its plush customer lounge. Furnished like a living room in an affluent home, the lounge has a flat-screen television and snacks such as fruits and pastries. Two employees serve coffee prepared with a specialty brewing system.
The lounge's design and materials, such as $120,000 in cherrywood furnishings, were derived from observing amenities at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Manganiello said.
Making it tangible
Four Seasons is in the same position as Lexus is against its rivals. Both are luxury brands competing against other luxury brands. Both have to deal with some factors they can't alter: With Lexus, it's the car; with Four Seasons, it's the geographical location. The only factor totally under their control is how they deal with customers.
"How do you make it tangible? How do you touch it and feel it?" are the big questions, said Nance Trevithick, director of sales at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara.
Like Manganiello, Trevithick repeated the biggest question of all: "Why should people choose us over our competitors?"
Little gestures, "the small things you really can't put into a hotel brochure," are one key, Trevithick said. These can be anticipating what a customer is likely to ask for or quickly thinking to solve a problem ---- anything that makes a customer feel welcome, even if it's done so inconspicuously that the customer scarcely notices when it's done.
"Four Seasons University," a comprehensive training program for employees, is another one of the answers. Employees (and in this case, the Lexus dealers) are guided through the hotel's various departments, from offices to laundry and housekeeping.
Four Seasons University helps makes the drive for customer service tangible, she said, because employees see firsthand how their jobs affect other employees, and ultimately customer satisfaction.
"They're talking to the people who are actually doing the jobs," Trevithick said.
After the program, participants are debriefed, to explain and share what they have learned.
A passion to serve
Manganiello said he especially admires Four Season's "crunch teams," ad hoc working teams that employees form whenever there is some bottleneck in serving customers. Lexus Carlsbad has adopted the practice.
Everyone pitches in on a crunch team, Trevithick said, without regard for what their regular job is supposed to be. If there is a large influx of guests and rooms need to be cleaned, she said, "the general manager will be stripping beds alongside the housekeepers."
To get this kind of performance, Trevithick said Four Seasons screens applicants to see if they have a "passion for service."
Four Seasons examines new employee applicants first for attitude, and then for knowledge and the ability to learn. The screening is intense: Before hiring, every employee has an interview with the general manager, along with his or her other supervisors.
"We're not looking for the most qualified," Trevithick said. "We're looking for people with a passion to do the right thing."
Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.
By: BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer
CARLSBAD ---- When more than 200 Lexus dealership owners and managers converged upon the posh Four Seasons Resort Aviara, they weren't on just another sales incentives vacation. They were there to learn ---- even when enjoying the amenities of the five-star resort.
Lexus paid the dealers' way, flying them in from all around the United States in April to see and experience customer service at the very highest end. They attended seminars. They took behind-the-scenes tours to see how every employee, even those who rarely or never directly deal with guests, keeps the customers' needs in mind.
"They wanted to impress on the dealers this is the treatment that your Lexus customers are looking for," said Gene Manganiello, general manager for Lexus Carlsbad, who attended the training
Lexus and Four Seasons held a pilot program a year ago with three dealerships, Manganiello said, and decided it was worth expanding nationwide.
Manganiello said he was impressed to see people of great importance and wealth, such as an owner of a sports team, studiously taking notes.
The goal is to prevent complacency and reinvigorate Lexus dealerships with the company's goals, Manganiello said, because luxury car dealerships such as Lexus are really in the customer service business.
Dealers don't make the cars they sell, he said, and rivals such as BMW also offer quality cars. So service is where Lexus has the best chance of winning over customers. Lexus and Four Seasons are really in the same business and have much the same customer base, Manganiello said, although they don't compete with each other.
Lexus Carlsbad shows the Four Seasons influence in a palpable way: its plush customer lounge. Furnished like a living room in an affluent home, the lounge has a flat-screen television and snacks such as fruits and pastries. Two employees serve coffee prepared with a specialty brewing system.
The lounge's design and materials, such as $120,000 in cherrywood furnishings, were derived from observing amenities at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Manganiello said.
Making it tangible
Four Seasons is in the same position as Lexus is against its rivals. Both are luxury brands competing against other luxury brands. Both have to deal with some factors they can't alter: With Lexus, it's the car; with Four Seasons, it's the geographical location. The only factor totally under their control is how they deal with customers.
"How do you make it tangible? How do you touch it and feel it?" are the big questions, said Nance Trevithick, director of sales at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara.
Like Manganiello, Trevithick repeated the biggest question of all: "Why should people choose us over our competitors?"
Little gestures, "the small things you really can't put into a hotel brochure," are one key, Trevithick said. These can be anticipating what a customer is likely to ask for or quickly thinking to solve a problem ---- anything that makes a customer feel welcome, even if it's done so inconspicuously that the customer scarcely notices when it's done.
"Four Seasons University," a comprehensive training program for employees, is another one of the answers. Employees (and in this case, the Lexus dealers) are guided through the hotel's various departments, from offices to laundry and housekeeping.
Four Seasons University helps makes the drive for customer service tangible, she said, because employees see firsthand how their jobs affect other employees, and ultimately customer satisfaction.
"They're talking to the people who are actually doing the jobs," Trevithick said.
After the program, participants are debriefed, to explain and share what they have learned.
A passion to serve
Manganiello said he especially admires Four Season's "crunch teams," ad hoc working teams that employees form whenever there is some bottleneck in serving customers. Lexus Carlsbad has adopted the practice.
Everyone pitches in on a crunch team, Trevithick said, without regard for what their regular job is supposed to be. If there is a large influx of guests and rooms need to be cleaned, she said, "the general manager will be stripping beds alongside the housekeepers."
To get this kind of performance, Trevithick said Four Seasons screens applicants to see if they have a "passion for service."
Four Seasons examines new employee applicants first for attitude, and then for knowledge and the ability to learn. The screening is intense: Before hiring, every employee has an interview with the general manager, along with his or her other supervisors.
"We're not looking for the most qualified," Trevithick said. "We're looking for people with a passion to do the right thing."
Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.
The Lexus Dealership Experience has been great for me and my family over the years, that said there is always room for improvement as others on this board will attest. I'm hopeful that Lexus' ongoing efforts in this regard will help customer relations.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 5,813
Likes: 1
From: The Bay Area, CA, USA
Originally Posted by 1SICKLEX
The goal is to make the consumer feel he cannot live without his Lexus dealer.
The message is clear though. Lexus is all about the total luxury ownership experience. That includes respectful, courteous greetings and all those little details that make the customers feel warm and fuzzy. Having their employees trained at the Four Seasons hotels is a brilliant idea! Kudos to Lexus for continuing to set the standard by which the customer satisfaction of other carmakers' dealerships is measured.
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,085
Likes: 0
From: California
Wow Lexus ain't playin. Thats what I'm talking about, I'll tell ya their customer service is one of the main reasons I'm a repeat buyer. And to be honest if they're successful with their four seasons goal I just may not be able to live without my Lexus dealer. 
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 795
Likes: 1
From: North Carolina
It's nice to see that Lexus doesn't get complacent and constantly trys to improve its customer service. Hopefully this will make a difference at some of the Lexus dealers that treat their customers not so satisfactorily. I personally think the weakest link in the total Lexus experience has to do with the salesstaff. I have encountered plenty of low-life salesmen at Lexus dealers. Although I am very happy with the service department. It's nice to see Lexus is trying to raise the bar again.
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Registered User
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,085
Likes: 0
From: California
Originally Posted by iatacs19
Well I better get that kind of service when I paying $80 for a simple oil change. 
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