Dealer Spotlight: Gene Reed Toyota
1/28/2009 9:05:21 PM
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In 2006, Time Magazine’s person of the year was “You”. They were calling it a revolution – the dawn of the new web, Web 2.0 – “the tool for bringing together the contributions of millions of people and making them matter.”
1 No doubt as we humbly enter 2009, this is true more than ever. Social media is pervasive, connecting individuals all over the world and facilitating the sharing of opinions, beliefs and ideas. As an automotive dealership, embracing the voice of the consumer was only a matter of time.
Dealer Spotlight: Gene Reed Toyota
At Gene Reed Toyota, we knew our customers were increasingly utilizing the internet to learn about our dealership and share their experiences with others. We exhausted ourselves monitoring the numerous sites permitting dealer reviews, finding only the time to watch and listen, but never really interact with what was being said. That all changed when we stumbled upon DealerRater. Here we found a level playing field that empowers our customers to review our dealership and share their story, while allowing us the opportunity to open a dialogue and actively engage reviewers. What we didn’t expect was that somewhere in the process, our dealership would change as a result.
DealerRater is the spark that ignited a radical transformation in how we do business at Gene Reed Toyota. I first noticed this when responding to several reviews on our dealer page. Customer service no longer was a mere idea, but an activity to be experienced in the act of communicating with our customers. The personal investment in each response I write is truly a powerful force that speaks loudly to the care and concern our dealership carries for all our customers. That same care and concern soon spread to our entire staff and grows with each review. Every time we are notified of a new review you can find several employees huddled around one computer screen reading what our customers have to say.
Perhaps more importantly is DealerRater’s influence in compelling our dealership to action. We no longer sit idly as observers. We absorb all feedback, positive and negative alike, and act to improve our business. As the Toyota Promise states, “there is no best, only better.” DealerRater is truly a blessing that helps keep this motto salient and motivates each of us to embrace positive change.
1 Grossman, Lev. Time’s Person of the Year: You. Time Magazine. December 13, 2006.
Ryan Bolz is the Manager of Internet Business Development for
Gene Reed Toyota of North Charleston, South Carolina. Ryan may be contacted at 843.818.6312