Sound decisions

WHY PLAYING APPROPRIATE MUSIC IN YOUR DEALERSHIP CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT IN ELEVATING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

During the course of the year, we visit hundreds of auto retail facilities and such excursions naturally mean a good deal of travel is usually involved. Sometimes it seems as though we visit as many hotels as we do dealerships.

There are countless things that hotels do right or wrong. Some are an absolute treat for the senses, while some are not. Our travel budgets usually keep us in the $120-$180 range, and I am amazed at the value that is possible even at the lower end of this price point. In Montreal, I stay at a boutique hotel for under $130 and from what I can tell, the place was inspired by the “Boutique Hotel” culture of the late-1990s/early-2000s.

The first thing I notice when I enter? The soundtrack. There is always good music playing in the lobby — it’s calming, welcoming, and always hip. It makes me feel like I have arrived, and sets the mood and expectation for a positive experience.

Why is music important? Well, by the mid-1990s the traditional hotel experience was redundant. That decade saw the introduction of the “Boutique Hotel” experience and it was mostly driven by sound. International Hotels such as Hotel Costes, Buddha Bar Hotel and The Delano inspired the jet set and business crowd to stay somewhere substantially different in style with relatively little difference in price.

Emphasizing “ambiance”
This customer experience was special enough to launch a whole genre of “hotel ambiance” music. It pushed the “Boutique Hotel” into the mainstream, causing chains to create their own “boutique” style brands such as the “W” hotel to compete. Now it’s commonplace to experience soundtracks curated by and for the specific hotel.

Why is this important? Music was the differentiator. In today’s world, a dealership has to be different to find and keep new customers and the best staff.

Does music make a difference in a dealership? We think so. Without giving away trade secrets, we recently learned of an automotive brand that did a music pilot study. They alternated between days with music and days without. On “music days,” they changed up the style of music, depending on the time of day, and made sure the same tracks did not play more than once. The results were quite clear. There was a measurable increase in customer inquiry rates on vehicles and overall engagement with the dealership team on days that music was played strategically. They also reported that the staff found the mixes and music to be very positive and contributed to the overall enjoyment of the working environment.

Aspects to consider
Now, integrating music into a dealership does pose challenges. First, there’s installing the “infrastructure.” Then, there’s finding the right content. Getting them both right is an elusive task. In fact, I could likely count on two hands the number of dealerships that have really gotten music “right.”

Often, there is a reluctance to invest in something you cannot see. Wiring an existing store can be very disruptive and expensive. Unless building a new facility, it can be a challenge to have different music and volumes in different areas. In an ideal world, the waiting area has one mood, the sales floor another, and maybe a feature car has directional speakers with engine notes.

However, the quality of wireless speaker systems through Bluetooth or AirPlay is making the idea of a proper sound system more viable.

Perhaps even more challenging to having the infrastructure is providing the content. Radio can be hit and miss, and even embarrassing if a competitor is featured on a commercial.

Satellite radio limits you to a single genre at a time, and many stations tend to play the same songs every day — enough to drive your salespeople crazy. The good news is that there are more and more services that offer dynamic and “curated” playlists to suit your business and your brand to encourage the atmosphere you want to see.

To name a few, there are Moodmixes and Couture Media, which provide content along with the licenses to play music for a monthly fee.

Music sets the tone and mood not only for your dealership but for your clients who come in. Get it right and it can really help elevate both mood and experience — think about what happens when you come home after a stressful day and you put on one of your favourite tunes. And ultimately as retailers, isn’t that really one of our prime objectives?