Holden aims for customer leadership

A new 24-hour test drive program has launched a concerted campaign by Holden to usurp customer care kings Toyota and Mazda as well as slap down other challengers such as Ford.

The hook for Holden’s new Complete Care program that launches today (September 1), the ‘Take Your Time Test Drive’, is available for genuine customers and extends from the entry-level Spark to hi-po supercharged HSVs.

At its announcement last night in Melbourne, Holden’s executive director of customer experience Peter Jamieson was bullish about the impact Complete Care would have.

“We are putting customers at the centre of everything we do and that means changing the way we think about customers and customer experiences,” said Jamieson, who joined Holden five months ago after 15 years at Telstra.

“If we take the time to understand individual customers with their individual needs I personally believe we can earn customers for life and that’s a space that no-one else is occupying in this market.

“We believe we can change the game, redefine what it means to buy, own and use a vehicle. We plan to surprise customers. We are going to be market leading but we are going to be different.”

The 24-hour test drive is the first of these differences and Jamieson acknowledged there was the chance the scheme could backfire.

“People have said ‘why would you do that? Highly risky, customers could abuse it’. But I think we have to take some bold steps, stand behind the product we sell and do some different things.”

Jamieson’s presentation was part of a media business briefing that presented a blunt overview of the challenges Holden faces as it transitions out of manufacturing by the end of 2017 to becoming a full-line importer. Holden sales in 2016 are headed for a 23-year low.

A key ingredient in Holden’s future vision revealed last night is a vast improvement in customer service, which has also been a theme of Toyota and Ford, which are also soon shutting down their local manufacturing capacity.

Toyota has long been renowned for its customer service. It calls its customers guests and rolled out a program dubbed Toyota For Life in 2015.

Ford has recently introduced a series of initiatives to increase customer retention, including loan cars for service customers, free sat-nav upgrades and its Test Drive Challenge promoted by 'attack' advertising.

Mazda embraced customer service as a mantra back in the early 2000s and is a consistent leader among mainstream brands in this area. Subaru is also a highly rated practitioner.

But Jamieson insists Holden can best them all.

“I do think the company that does think differently about what customers want out of transport has an opportunity to differentiate themselves in this market.

“And that’s about understanding customers’ needs and responding to those needs as opposed to selling and servicing cars really well and looking after customers while you do that.

“And that may sound like semantics, but customers are going to want more than buy a car, use it and have it serviced. There are many places in the spectrum of how you use a vehicle that we could occupy and do really well if we chose to.”

As an example, Jamieson spoke of Holden dealerships as transport hubs where customers could go for more than sales and service.

“Maybe you want to experience the latest vehicles, take your time and have a test drive. Or maybe you just want to swap over your vehicle and use another vehicle. Or perhaps it’s about seeing that vehicle that is yet to arrive on our shores that is being built somewhere else in the world through virtually reality.

“That feels like a very different dealership of the future.”

The next initiative in Holden’s Complete Care program is expected to be revealed early in 2017.

There have been other recent Holden initiatives in customer service areas including lifetime capped-price service, the introduction of Holden Financial Services and Holden Rental Services, and the 2014 Holden Customer Council.