Embodying Customer First: Peter Klementzos

The Embodying the Strategic Priorities series aims to highlight employees ingrained in the day-to-day work involved in the execution and advancement of the priorities. The employees profiled in this series are not strategic priority leads or champions.

Creativity plays a role in every facet of a business, even on a team rooted in turning data into tangible results. When Peter Klementzos, customer experience (CX) program manager, joined International more than three years ago, he came for the challenge of turning a blank canvas into a creative masterpiece.

Peter’s main focus is moderating the CX program used by dealers and assisting them in turning customer feedback into actionable key performance indicators (KPIs) they can use to improve their dealerships.

“The Customer First strategic priority is about letting the customer’s voice lead the way,” said Peter. “We put the needs of the customer first in everything we do. This means integrating their voice into product launches or new services we provide; every touchpoint a customer has with International should feel like we are answering their questions before they even need to ask them.”

The process of improving CX starts the moment a dealer creates an order in International 360. A notification is sent to our CX vendor, who then calls the customer with a 10-question survey.  Don’t worry, this is not like the follow-up surveys car salesmen bombard you about to raise their net promoter score (NPS).

NPS is derived from a customer survey based on the answers given. When you take a survey where you are asked to rank your experience on a scale of one through 10, your answers are fed to a formula and an NPS pops out. International’s CX survey is a bit more involved and provides much better data than just a number.

“This survey and the KPIs it measures were created to intentionally avoid what the auto industry does, which is chasing a top score rather than actually listening to what customers have to say,” emphasized Peter. “Dealers aren’t chasing a number. They have been coached by the International CX team to chase actionable feedback.”

During the survey, customers are asked questions such as, “what went well during your visit?” or “how was the overall communication the dealer provided during your interaction?” These calls are both transcribed and recorded—for good reason.

“Listening to how a customer says something rather than reading it on a transcript helps dealers understand their sentiment,” explained Peter. “Did their tone exude that they expected better because they think highly of this dealer, or was the feedback truly given in a negative manner?”

Based on the answers, the customer is given a score:

·       Scores of 0-6 are listed as detractors: Customers who did not like their visit and will not recommend International or the dealer.

·       Scores of 7 and 8 are considered passive: Customers who are satisfied.

·       Scores of 9 and 10 are our promoters: Customers who are fans, will return and will recommend International and our dealers to others.

For this survey to take off, Peter needed dealer buy-in. And that wasn’t hard to come by with a bit of legwork.

“To me, Customer First also means living by what we are asking our dealers to do,” said Peter. “Any time a dealer is confused or has questions, I reach out to set up a call and help. Their feedback is just as valuable to us as our customers’ feedback, because they are representing International on the front lines of our business.”

In the first three quarters of 2023, nine International dealers piloted this CX survey, giving the International CX team a chance to learn what worked and what needed to be changed to get better insights. In Q4 2023, it launched to the entire dealer network. Peter spent 2024 getting dealers comfortable with how the survey works, helping them analyze their CX feedback and turn it into real changes at their dealerships.

“We encouraged dealers to pay attention to the positive feedback just as much as the negative,” he said. “There is even a process in the backend that sends a message to a dealer personnel’s manager if their name is mentioned in conjunction with positive feedback.”

This year, Peter is busier than ever. On any given day, you can find him reviewing dealer data and KPIs, meeting with dealers about recent feedback and mentoring them on how to turn a low customer score into a positive change. Year to date, 3,600 surveys have been conducted, providing a goldmine of data to sift through. A monthly CX newsletter is in the works to highlight dealer’s CX wins and provide updates on what is coming next with CX. Peter is also working on continued CX training at the request of dealers.

“The advice I give to dealers is the same advice my team gave to me when I started at International: Don’t be afraid to fail,” Peter said. “As long as you are making positive moves, we will always help and support you to reach success.”

Clearly, Peter’s role has become anything but a blank canvas.