Volkswagen is the market leader in the commercial vehicle market. The Crafter, Transporter, Caddy and Amarok are all known as their premium products. However, competition is getting closer: “bad vans are no longer made.” To define and expand the position of a market leader, a superior product must be accompanied by premium service.
Our approach
In-depth customer research as a starting point
We have conducted extensive customer research in order to gain deep insight into what commercial vehicle customers find relevant and important. A focus group discussion and 25 in-depth interviews provided answers to questions such as:
What do customers understand by premium service? What do customers expect from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles if it unexpectedly happens that the premium service could not be deliverd? Which guarantees or compensation should be offered otherwise?
Drafting concept promises with importer and dealers
Writing down promises is easy. Realizing them is a bigger challenge because they have extensive implications for the retail organization. For that reason, the entire process was carried out in close cooperation between the importer and the dealership. For each customer service promise, we looked at the relevance for customers and the internal implications. An impact analysis answered questions such as:
Can we live up to this? What do we need to arrange and to be able to deliver on our promises? What does this require from our processes? How much do these promises cost?
Testing in practice
In order to ensure that the promises were successful, they were tested in a pilot at four commercial dealerships. Based on this pilot, formulation, corresponding evidence and guarantees have been adjusted.
Result
8 promises you can keep us to
The result is a set of 8 customer service promises. Very relevant to customers. Distinctive. And credible through strong evidence and guarantees. Every promise has been worked out in detail so that customers know exactly what to expect.
Distinctive services
The customer service promises have led Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to great success.
Most important result: an even higher service level that can be communicated in a distinctive way. The customer service promise campaign is among the most effective in the past decade. As a result of the campaign, 44% acknowledge that their image about the service of Volkswagen has changed positively and 20% acknowledge they are looking for more information about the repair and maintenance service of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
The customer service promises ensure that (potential) customers know exactly what to expect. It confirms existing customers in their choice of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and helps potential customers to choose for the Volkswagen dealer. For the intern organization, the promises contribute to entrepreneurship: sales and after-sales are converging, customer service is increasingly discussed when selling a commercial vehicle and technicians understand better that good service ultimately leads to sales. The promises help employees to answer the question ‘what do we stand for?’
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