Everybody loves the convenience of buying something online, but there are just certain purchases that need to be made in person. This is especially true when buying a car.
“Don't get me wrong, I will buy anything online that I can,” said Kris King, Director of Digital Marketing at Toyota of Orlando. “But it's different with a car because it is such a big investment.”
Even if the purchase is going to ultimately end up taking place at the dealership, that doesn’t mean that most of the car-buying journey isn’t happening online. And that’s why Toyota of Orlando has placed such an emphasis on building up their online reputation.
The dealership recently collected its 10,000th review on Google and isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon.
“Having 10,000 reviews is a reflection on our dealership,” related King “When people make purchases, they want to know what type of experiences other customers have had, and reviews are a useful tool for that.”
Each one of those reviews is earned because the team is focused on delivering a top-notch car-buying experience, and they strive to make buying a car as painless as possible.
“We try to give each customer an efficient experience because a lot of times when people go to buy cars, it can be a long process,” said King. “We want it to be efficient, easy, and stress-free.”
Because of the experience customers receive at the dealership, they are more than willing to leave a review. And it doesn’t hurt that they make the process to leave a review so easy with Podium.
“We really like Podium because it makes it so easy and seamless for the customers to go online and share their experiences,” said King.
Aside from the sheer volume, another thing that is unique about the reviews at Toyota of Orlando is how many of them mention salespeople by name, which helps them build their personal brand and drive customers to seek them out directly.
“Getting good reviews and being named in them is good motivation for our salespeople,” related King.
At the end of the day, the team at Toyota of Orlando wants to create customers for life, and they’re doing exactly that by providing a seamless car-buying experience and encouraging happy customers to leave reviews—attracting new customers to the dealership. This creates a virtuous cycle that helps grow their business.
“We always say, ‘When you buy from us you become a part of the family,’” concluded King. “We want to be a one-stop-shop for our customers from purchasing, servicing, all the way until it’s time for them to buy a new car again.”
