THEY GOT SOME SATISFACTION CONSUMERS RATE SATURN TOPS IN POWERS SALES SURVEY.Byline: Pam Park Staff Writer AGOURA HILLS - Saturn has regained its top position on the latest J.D. Power and Associates customer sales satisfaction index, recovering from a slip to sixth place in 1999. Lexus and Cadillac tied for second place this year. The study showed Saturn was particularly strong in the purchase transaction area. Chris Denove, a partner at J.D. Power, said most buyers surveyed felt they were treated honestly and fairly. ``I think most people will be surprised to hear the great majority of buyers were satisfied with the process of buying a car,'' Denove said. When people felt they were treated unfairly, dealerships failing to live up to commitments made during the sales process A sales process is a systematic approach for performing product or service sales. The reasons for having a sales process include seller and buyer risk management, achieving standardized customer interaction in sales and scalable revenue generation. was the most serious complaint. An unhappy purchaser translates to loss of service business and loss of potential sales through recommendations to friends, Denove said. ``Dealers need to understand that they might be able to pressure the customer into spending a few extra dollars on a vehicle today, but they're probably going to be hurt in the long run because they'll lose business in the future,'' Denove said. It costs a small fortune in advertising to acquire new customers, so it's critical to keep customers coming back, he said. Fred Nitowski of Moorpark was at Saturn of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. on Thursday getting one of his family's two Saturns serviced. Nitowski said he bought one in 1995 and had no problems with it, so he got another one in 1998. The cars were for his college-age daughters. ``I don't want them stuck on the freeway,'' he said. Nitowski liked the no-haggling policy at Saturn. When he bought a previous car, he said he couldn't sleep that night for worrying that he had been cheated. Mitch The name Mitch can mean:
sales manager n → directeur commercial sales manager sale n → at Saturn of Thousand Oaks, said his dealership ``never, ever'' pressures a customer and makes sure any problems that arise are resolved to the customer's satisfaction as quickly as possible. ``We basically treat people the way they want to be treated,'' Bohn said. ``We respect their time, their budget and their decision.'' The J.D. Powers study showed auto companies raking raking of an elephant—see back raking. in the most sales had declines in customer satisfaction. Denove attributed that drop to delays in delivering cars to customers and a decrease in some dealers' willingness to negotiate when demand for their cars is strong. Customer satisfaction with the sales process also decreased when the time required to complete the sales transaction increased. Two-thirds of the respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. said knowing the dealer invoice price Invoice price The price that the buyer of a futures contract must pay the seller when a Treasury bond is delivered. was important. When they learned it from their dealer rather than through their own efforts, they were more likely to be satisfied with the sales process. Saturn led or tied for the sales satisfaction index from 1995 to 1998, then slipped to sixth place. This year, it edged out Cadillac and Lexus to regain the top spot. In 1999, Cadillac, Volvo and Jaguar were tied for the top spot. The remainder of the 23 nameplates that placed above the industry average in 2000, in order of ranking, were: Infiniti, Buick, Land Rover See LANRover. , Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Jaguar, Oldsmobile, BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. , Lincoln, Porsche, Saab, DaimlerChrysler, GMC GMC See: Guaranteed Mortgage Certificate , Mercury, Jeep, Pontiac, Audi, Chevrolet, Acura and Plymouth. J.D. Powers has produced the Sales Satisfaction Index for 13 years. This year's survey was a random sample of 41,358 respondents. Until 1996, the survey separated car and truck satisfaction and sometimes added other categories. In the early to mid-1990s, Lexus, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti showed up frequently in the new car sales satisfaction category. In the truck category, Pontiac, Ford, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Land Rover were winners. Powerful sales How auto brands ranked in J.D. Power and Associates' annual sales satisfaction survey, which measures how car and truck buyers rate the sales experience. Scores are out of a maximum of 182. Rank Car Line Score 1. Saturn 143 2. Cadillac 141 (tie) Lexus 141 4. Infiniti 139 5. Buick@ 138 (tie) Land Rover@ 138 (tie) Mercedes-Benz@ 138 (tie) Volvo 138 9. Jaguar 137 (tie) Oldsmobile 137 11. BMW 134 (tie) Lincoln 134 (tie) Porsche 134 (tie) Saab 134 15. Chrysler 133 16. GMC 131 17. Mercury 129 18. Jeep 128 19. Pontiac 127 20. Audi 126 (tie) Chevrolet 126 22. Acura 125 (tie) Plymouth 125 INDUSTRY AVG AVG Average AVG American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) AVG Antivirus Grisoft (software) AVG Arteriovenous Graft AVG Angestelltenversicherungsgesetz (German Insurance Law) . 124 Below average, in alphabetical order: Daewoo, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen. - SOURCE: J.D. Power and Associates CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Buyers who went to a dealer for a Saturn, like this SL2, expressed the highest rate of satisfaction with the sale. Cadillac, which makes the DeVille DTS (1) (Digital Theatre Sound) A digital audio encoding system used in movie and home theaters. Popularized by the movie Jurassic Park, the six-channel (5. among others, tied with Lexus for second place in customer sales satisfaction. (3 -- color) Shoppersfor a Lexus GS The Lexus GS is a series of mid-size luxury sports sedans / executive cars sold by Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. The first GS, based on the platform and running gear of the Toyota Crown, was introduced in 1991 in Japan and two years later in the United States, Europe and 300, or one of the automaker's other models, were generally pleased with the experience. Box: Powerful sales (see text) |
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