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| Motor Trend's Car of the Year Issue |
Things were looking up for Elon Musk's Tesla Motors after Motor Trend named it's Model S the car of the year.
The highly respected auto magazine's annual car of the year story -- featuring the all electric Model S -- made international headlines as newspapers, radio and television news outlets carried the story.
Suddenly, the world woke up to a whole new way to drive, as it was the first time a non-combustion gas-powered vehicle won the much coveted Car of the Year award.
Being a motorhead, I love cars. I watch numerous automotive podcasts and television shows, and I've been a fan of Tesla since they first came out with their sporty two-seat all electric Roadster model.
However, the cutting edge car company is an example of what happens when being hot can suddenly cool you off to the point of alienating your customers.
About a month ago, I went to a Tesla dealership in Toronto Canada. Unlike traditional car dealerships, Tesla's are located inside high-end shopping malls, so while you're picking out your next pair of blue jeans, you can pick up a brand new car.
Cool concept, to change the buying experience. Make it more of a retail customer-friendly store, than a cold, stale parking lot, filled with shiny cars and fast-talking sales people.
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| Tesla stores are like retail outlets in a mall. |
Though a lack of sales people was a big issue at Tesla's store. When I went into the luxuriously appointed Tesla store -- complete with massive touch-screen TVs allowing you to customize your car -- there were only two kids working the store.
One was closely watching the one and only car on display in the store, as parents let their screaming kids hop in and out of the car, while they texted on their mobile devices.
The other sales person had about 20 people swarmed around him all hollering questions at the poor kid, that looked overwhelmed, uncomfortable, and frustrated with his career choice.
I was patiently standing around, roaming the store, looking at all the cool swag -- they have Telsa-branded hats, shirts and other items on sale, so if you never get to talk to a sales person, at least you can pretend you did.
I waited about 25-minutes, while my girlfriend sat waiting for me on a bench outside the store doing her crosswords.
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Cool tech in the Tesla store allows you to
customize your car.
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Eventually, I did get to ask some questions about the car, and getting a test drive -- because who buys a car without first taking it out for a spin?
All the exasperated sales person said to all my questions, was to check out the website!
I waited for almost half-an-hour just to be told to go to the website.
Nice.
I'm thinking that if I were to buy one of these electric vehicles, what if something went wrong? Would I experience the same horrible customer experience?
I did go to the website the next day, found some information and signed up for a test drive.
It's been over a month, and I haven't even received an email thanking me for my interest!
NOT A SINGLE COMMUNICATION.
Anyone who's in business to stay in business can see right off the bat that's exceptionally piss poor performance.
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Tesla Swag -- buy a Tesla T-Shirt so even if you can't
get an answer about their cars, you can still promote their brand. |
You never ignore a potential customer -- because that potential customer will move on.
There is only one Tesla. But there are lots of other luxury cars that offer far better customer support -- which at their price point, is ultimately what their customer's expect.
A typical base-model Tesla Model S comes in over $80K.
We're talking high-end, high performance, and exceptional customer service from their competition at BMW, Mercedes, Cadillac, and Lexus, just to name a few.
Yes, Tesla is the car of the year, big whoop.
As a potential customer, I expect -- NO -- I demand the same if not better customer service as their competition, otherwise, I'm not buying their car.
Tesla is an example of what happens when your company goes viral, and everyone is coming to you.
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| Can you spot the salesperson at the Tesla Store? Neither could we. |
That's any company's dream.
How you deal with that, determines whether your company will continue it's momentum, or fizzle out due to letting it go to your head.
And that, unfortunately appears to be what happened with Tesla. After becoming the poster child for the Electric Vehicle (EV) market, they let all that wonderful press go to their head -- because their customer service is so bad, I wouldn't tell my worst enemies to go their.
So be like Tesla -- invent and create amazing products. But don't be like Tesla, and give up on your customers, before they become your customers.
In Copenhagen there's a Tesla shop right next to a Scientology outlet, and both looked similarly empty like above image. Occasionally you'd see a Tesla cabrio in the streets of Copenhagen, but can't say how many were owned and how many of those spottings were just a test ride from that shop...
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