Generating Sales From Compliance

Tom Kline explores how dealerships can turn compliance standards into clear customer promises, and why the operations behind those promises matter as much as the marketing.

(How Transparency Can Become A Sales Strategy)

By Tom Kline, Better Vantage Point | Tuck The Octopussm | The 10 Minute Tuck

Customers don’t care if you’re compliant…until you’re not.

They don't know what the FTC requires. They don't know what GLBA stands for. And they've certainly never asked whether your dealership has a written information security program.

What they do care about is whether they can trust you.

So here's my question: What if the money you're already spending on compliance could actually generate sales?

So, how do you accomplish that?

First, let’s use our auto dealer compliance language and translate it into customer-friendly language. Consider this:

Compliance language: Clear and conspicuous advertising

Customer language: No Surprises.

Compliance language: Advertised price

Customer language: The Price You See Is the Price We Explain

Compliance language: Voluntary Protection Products

Customer language: Optional Means Optional.

Compliance language: GLBA/Safeguards Rule

Customer language: We Protect Your Personal Information.

Compliance language: Complaint Management

Customer language: If Something Isn't Right, We Want to Know.

3 Marketing Examples

1. How about this? You could create the “Customer Transparency Promise:”
   • Before you sign, you should understand:
     • What you’re buying
     • What you’re paying for
     • What is optional
   • We provide a clear way to raise a concern.
   • We train our employees to treat customers honestly and fairly.

These three bullets simultaneously act as marketing, leadership through training, and risk mitigation. That’s a three-fer.

2. What if you made more detailed information about employee training part of your advertising?
   • We train our employees to ensure you have “No Surprises”
   • Our employees are trained to protect our customers.
   • We invest in employee training to protect you.

3. Who wouldn’t love a “No Surprise Promise?”
   • No Surprise Pricing
   • No Surprise Products
   • No Surprise Fees
   • No Surprise Financing

Customers are scared about what will happen during the process. Doesn’t this take out that worry?

Here is the summary of what this entire process can look like at your store:

Compliance → Better Processes → Fewer Surprises → Better Customer Experience → Fewer Complaints → Better Reviews → Greater Trust → More Referrals → More Sales

Tell me why I’m wrong because…

Compliance Is Usually Invisible

Boom!

It’s true.

I haven’t heard of any dealership bragging about their compliance team…yet.

What if you advertised, “ We invited an independent dealership risk and compliance professional inside our operation to hold us accountable.”

How would that look or feel?

Dealers spend tens of thousands of dollars on items to protect the customer. The customer never knows about it because the dealership never tells them.

If two dealerships have the same vehicle at roughly the same price, why should the customer buy from your store?

Price? Inventory? Location? Reviews?

Those are all things competitors can replicate. (And do replicate.)

But imagine one dealership telling the customer: “Before you sign, we want you to understand exactly what you're buying, exactly what you're paying, and exactly what's optional.” That's a great differentiator.

How about this: “We don't just tell you we're transparent. We bring in an independent risk and compliance professional to review how we do business.”

This becomes another reason the customer should buy from your store.

That would be unusual, right?

Which statement is more believable?

1. “We’re an honest dealership,” or
2. “We bring in an independent professional to examine whether we’re living up to the standards we promise our customers.”

Prove It

Are you tired of hearing, “We treat you like family?” I travel a lot for work and I can’t tell you how many dealerships are still advertising this way.

Deep down, doesn’t the customer want you to prove it? Not just say it?

Trust is claimed. Transparency is demonstrated.

This is where the Transparency Promise delivers.

Marketing a standard will raise the standard.

The Hesitant Customer

Don’t customers wonder?

• How are they going to take advantage of me?
• Am I going to get jerked around?
• Is this going to take forever like last time?

What if your marketing team and compliance program answered those questions before the customer arrived at the store?

Marketing Holds Operations Accountable

This approach necessitates accountability. If marketing is going to “talk the talk,” then operations better be prepared to “walk the walk.”

Don't advertise a transparency promise that your dealership can't consistently deliver.

Now, go and pull your compliance policies. Read them with the Transparency Promise in mind. Which pieces or parts of those policies can you turn into a new bullet? Could that item (or those items) become a part of your brand? How can you explain the benefit to the customer without using compliance language?

Conclusion

Compliance doesn't have to be something buried in a binder that customers never see.

Compliance protects the dealership. Compliance protects the customer.

I know this is not how most dealers think about compliance. Maybe you should?

So, compliance can create revenue on the front end and protect revenue on the back end. That’s risk mitigation. And that’s just good business. Prove me wrong.