2013 Lincoln MKZ
Lincoln has enlisted the help of Les Clefs d’Or, the international association of hotel concierges, to restructure how it interacts with consumers. The organization will begin by advising Lincoln on curriculum for the new Lincoln Academy, which will train dealership sales and service personnel on the finer points of making customers happy.
The ultimate goal is for Lincoln to deliver world-class customer service, on par with what guests would receive at a top luxury hotel. On a broader scale, Lincoln hopes its Lincoln Academy will bring about a culture change in dealerships, so it will rely heavily on input from the hospitality industry to draft the training.
The automaker is also teeing up a program it calls the Lincoln 24/7 Online Concierge, an online service that can be accessed any hour of the day, on any day of the week. Promising to deliver a more personalized experience, the 24/7 program will pair customers with an online concierge via a video chat.
The program hopes to aid customers researching new luxury vehicles, and will provide a guided overview of all Lincoln vehicles, including competitive comparisons. Lincoln will record customer preferences in a personalized portfolio, which can be accessed via any mobile device and easily shared with the Lincoln dealer of choice.
Jim Farley, Lincoln’s group vice president for global marketing, sales and service, summed up the changes at Lincoln by saying, “We won’t stop exploring different ways to be more than just a purveyor of luxury motor cars. We are just as committed to making our customers be more efficient as we are to creating a stand-out Lincoln lineup of vehicles, both now and in the future.”
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