Social media proved to be a new platform in which many companies embark on to reach out to their customers, to give them a slice of information and to continuously keep them up to date and with new technologies such as this, it also made it easier for their customers to reach back.
Some see if as a good point whilst others may have taken a wrong path, somewhat of a tangent if you might say especially when it comes to responding to customers demand. Now as a customer, I tend to be not too vocal mainly because of my own timid nature and I tend to look up to others who are vocal and are not shy about it.
It made all the difference when I started being on the business side of things and when I see customer complaints, I realise that not all customers are right.
Anyway, I digress. Back to social media. In the automotive world, or Malaysia’s own little coconut shell, one of the big hits in social media was focused on Volkswagen in particular. As Volkswagen owners out there would know, lots of stuff have been happening and it seems that they are getting their answers back.
In order to address these issues faced by the customers, Volkswagen Group Malaysia has been on a campaign, reaching out to their customers in forms of face to face meetings, technical sessions and in this particular case, dinner with the local Volkswagen Owners Club Malaysia.
Several representatives from Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM) organised an informal dinner session with the club members to sit down and listen to them. As it was an informal session, it gave the members opportunity to voice out their concerns about they issues they faced with their cars as well as with the service centers and also provided their opinions on what VGM can do to instil confidence with their customers.
The event was held at One City at Subang/Puchong and about 30 people braved the heavy Friday evening traffic in the rain to make it there in order to voice their concerns. Club President, Kevin Lau, said that he thought that the session was good, the turnout was good and everyone managed to speak their minds to the kind folks from VGM.
As the members from VGM mingled with the members from table to table, the few key feedback was centred around warranty, service quality, brand image, car’s resale value, dealer pricing strategy and community events. I even noticed some members having a formal letter of what they would hope can be implemented to even some giving a full presentation with presentation materials.
As I mingled around as well as shared my own experiences as a former Volkswagen owner, I felt that the session was a good stepping stone in trying to build better relations. After interviewing a few of the club members there, everyone gave positive reviews and feedback, and that their only wish is for VGM to implement what they have planned and to continue to build stronger relationships with their customer base and the community.
