Managing the Installed Base

After living in Southern California nearly all of my life, I would like to share an interesting fact with you about the area. Did you know that five of the top ten Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the nation are located here? Why is this so?  Well, I think there are two major reasons.

   

First, cars are a very important status symbol in image conscious Southern California. After traveling all around the world, I I have yet to visit another place where people “are what they drive” like here. In this regard, driving a Mercedes puts you on the top of the pecking order when you sit in the inevitable bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic.

   

But I think the second reason is equally important. In the sales vernacular, they effectively manage their “installed base.” They value customer loyalty and take care of their existing customers better than any other car manufacturer. And, I’d like to share a personal story with you that has made me a Mercedes-Benz customer for life.

   

All Mercedes come with a four year, 50,000 mile warranty. If anything goes wrong with the car during that timeframe they’ll fix it for free. However, my car needed $1,900 of repairs at 55,000 miles when my it was out of warranty. Obviously, I wasn’t excited about this. After paying for the repairs I wrote a letter to the North American President of Mercedes-Benz. Within two weeks, I received a very gracious response and a refund check for the entire amount. “Simply amazing!” I thought to myself...

   

There’s a huge lesson here for salespeople who must manage install base sales of existing accounts. Ask yourself the following three questions:

 

Do you nickel and dime your installed base customers or promote win-win loyalty?

   

Do you visit them only when a contract needs to be renewed or pamper them continual attention?

    

Do you act solely in your self-interests or put the customer’s interests first and strive to do the right thing?

    

There’s a reason why over 75% of all new Mercedes are sold to repeat customers. Because customers remember how they are treated after the sale.

Comments

[Dick Hertz]

50,000 mile warranty ... that's what you signed on 2 not 55,000 ... Man up and return the check !!!!!

[Travis Eakes]

VERY good article. I had our Dir of OPs read it!