Research 1 - customer satisfaction, sustainability and showrooms

BMW customer satisfaction, sustainability and showrooms

BMW currently has 59 showrooms in the Netherlands.

Customer satisfaction awards

BMW has the following things to say about customer satisfaction:

“We constantly explore by means of studies, customer interviews and analysis of customer feedback how our products and services are perceived and what customers think we could do even better. Our strategic goal is to be top in the relevant market segment in terms of customer satisfaction, based on our vehicle concepts and reliability as well as the sales and support experience we offer. We track our success in this area through benchmark studies.

Achieving a high degree of customer satisfaction is largely the responsibility of our international subsidiaries, together with decision-makers at corporate headquarters. Since 2010, the largest markets (such as the USA, China and Germany) have reported every six months to a specially assembled committee, including the involvement of the Board of Management, which deals exclusively with customer satisfaction. They report on factors such as the key indicators from our ongoing customer satisfaction surveys, as well as the progress of central projects to improve customer satisfaction.

After we launched the Group-wide initiative Customer First in 2011 in order to enhance our focus on the customer, since 2012 we have been concentrating on sustainable implementation and measures for monitoring success in four different areas: management and development, knowledge and customer contact, customer needs, and teams and processes. Our aim is to develop a customer-oriented culture in order to increase long-term customer satisfaction.

Although we have sold significantly more model variants and more vehicles overall in the past few years than we did previously, quality improvements have enabled us to maintain the number of recalls at a constant level. In 2012, the BMW Group took its usual voluntary prompt and consistent action in case of defects. Wherever it was required or useful to the customer, vehicles were recalled and defects eliminated well before any symptoms became obvious to their owners.

We already take into account the needs and desires of our customers in the development of our vehicles. One result of this effort is the BMW Concept Active Tourer, which we introduced in 2012. It is geared toward customers who value not only design and sportiness, but also functionality and variability.

In recent years, we have been recognised in multiple independent studies for our high level of customer satisfaction. At the same time, we strive through customer surveys and evalu­ations of customer feedback to achieve a deeper understanding of customer needs while contributing to their satisfaction through a series of measures such as retail sales training and driver training courses.”

“In the coming years, we want to further increase customer satisfaction and expand opportunities for direct contact with customers. To this end, we launched the Future Retail sales programme in 2012, which is to be extended in the future. In essence, this means that we will try even harder to see things from the customer's point of view and to increase points of contact with customers and potential customers.

This also includes expanding our test drive offerings and intensifying follow-up after delivery of a vehicle. To date, customer follow-up has extended up to seven days after delivery. Improvement measures that have already been initiated focus on lastingly measuring the impact of the purchase.

One action that has already been launched, and which we want to build on further in 2013, is Let's help. Our employees are often addressed by customers or prospects from their circle of acquaint­ances who want to offer suggestions or express their own wishes. The Let's help button on the intranet now enables employees to pass on these concerns quickly and easily to Customer Service.”

“Every year, we survey around 1.5 million customers in 75 markets to find out about their wishes and experiences. This feedback is then incorporated into the development and optimisation of our products and services. Feedback on the new BMW 1 Series, BMW 3 Series, BMW X1 and BMW 7 Series models was extremely positive and showed clearly that optimisations compared with previous models on the basis of customer surveys are successful.

Our customer surveys show that our customers' needs are very different from country to country, so we must take these national and cultural differences into account. We constantly survey our customers. In 2012, we implemented stricter stand­ardisation requirements for the customer satisfaction surveys carried out in our subsidiaries in order to ensure the completeness and comparability of the results. The results for each country are evaluated at country level every month so that we can rapidly identify trends and the subsidiaries and central specialist departments can derive any measures necessary. In parallel, the country-specific data is also evaluated in the subsidiaries to enable rapid reaction to any issues affecting customer satisfaction. Customers have the opportunity to directly submit comments or voice concerns during the survey. Our dealers therefore also use the system of continuous customer satisfaction surveys in their day-to-day operations to respond to these specific customer concerns. The surveys comply with local data protection legislation to guarantee the privacy of individual customers.

Since 2011, 53 dealers have been trained in applying the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). They reached a 1.6% higher CSI value than the comparison group. In 2012 and 2013, a total of 500 CSI dealer coaching sessions will be carried out or are in the planning phase.”

http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/verantwortung/svr_2012/produktverantwortung.html

Sustainability

http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/verantwortung/svr_2012/nachhaltiges_wirtschaften.html

The sustainability strategy passed in 2009 is derived directly from Strategy Number ONE and is applicable worldwide as the overarching strategy for all corporate divisions. The main aim is to establish sustainability along the entire value chain and in all basic processes – thus creating added value for the company, the environment and society. We derive specific requirements and targets for each individual division from the sustainability strategy, which allow us to systematically establish sustainability criteria in all areas of the company.

Our core principles form the foundation for consistently sustainable operations at the BMW Group. They stipulate that taking social responsibility is inextricably linked to the Group's perception of itself as a business enterprise. At the same time, sustainability is seen as making a positive contribution to the business success of the company 

Sustainability has also been established as a strategic corpor­ate objective in the BMW Group Balanced Scorecard since 2009. This means that every project must be measurable in terms of "Sustainability" as a corporate objective, ensuring that, in addition to economic factors, environmental and social aspects are also accounted for in the decision-making process – because we know that, today, the value of a company is not measured solely by direct financial indicators but also by so-called non-financial performance indicators. By setting the right course in the early stages of a project, the company saves resources and any necessary corrective measures down the line, which often entail much higher costs. In addition, sustainability as a corporate objective cascades down to personal target agreements for managers and is thus part of their performance-based remuneration. 

Conclusion:

BMW tries very hard to cooperate with their customers. By asking them what they think is good and what could be better, BMW continuously improves their services and products. BMW doesn’t take every customer and place them in a single group, but BMW looks at different needs in different countries.
Sustainability is the one of the core focus points of BMW. They invest a lot in sustainability for the future.