Please help us write our next book! As we explained in a previous blog post, Martha and I are working on our next book, EXTREME TRUST. We will argue that in a more socially connected, transparent future, companies will be held accountable by customers for proactively protecting their interests, rather than simply passively refraining from cheating them or deceiving them. We're using the word "trustability" to stand for proactive trustworthiness. When i-Tunes reminds you that you already own a tune you're trying to purchase, or when Amazon warns you that a you've already bought a book you're trying to order - these are examples of trustable behavior.
One of our tasks is to define how genuinely trustable companies would operate in a variety of different categories, and two weeks ago the category we asked about was telecom. (Thanks everyone for all your suggestions so far. The "comment window" is still open if anyone has any further ideas in that category!)
This time around, we're interested in any ideas people might have about how a trustable car company might operate. A few obvious ideas:
- A trustable car manufacturer or dealer would email you or phone you 30 days before your warranty expires, just to remind you that you still have a month to bring the vehicle in for any repairs.
- A trustable car brand would probably maintain a much closer relationship between the dealer and the manufacturer. When a brand-name dealer's service doesn't live up to the car brand's advertised standard, it's a recipe for customer disappointment.
- A trustable dealership would figure out how to compensate sales people not just based on how much sheet metal moves off the lot, but how much customer satisfaction is actually generated. One idea might be to pay a "lifetime commission" on new car sales. Whenever a salesperson sells a car to a customer who is new to the dealership, the dealer tags that customer with the salesperson's name, and every time that customer spends anything with the dealer any time in the future - for service, for buying another car (new or used, even if bought from a different salesperson) - then the original salesperson would get some kind of commission. This would give the salesperson a vested interest in the continued satisfaction and loyalty of the customer, and it would also help ensure that a dealer's most productive and valuable salespeople remain loyal themselves.
- Manufacturers and dealers might also consider helping customers make direct comparisons with competitive vehicles, either through comparative test drives right at the dealership (imagine a BMW dealer allowing a customer to test drive an Infiniti, as well), or perhaps through hosting objective online reviews by authenticated owners and drivers of multiple brands.