Indulge me for a minute. I want you to think back to the last major purchase you made.

It could’ve been a car — for yourself or for a loved one. It could’ve been tuition. It could’ve been a house, or a house repair. Or a vehicle repair. Whatever it was, it comes to mind quickly because you haven’t forgotten it, have you? You haven’t forgotten something that took a lot of consideration, not to mention hard-earned dollars and straight-up guts, to make possible.

Now, while you’re thinking back, imagine walking back into that dealership (or realtor’s office, service lane, whatever it may be) and seeing the very person who asked you to write the check. They look you in the face and say, “Welcome back, John!”

But your name is Jeffrey.

Or, even worse, they say, “How’s the new transmission?” And you bought a new exhaust system.

How do you feel about this salesperson now? Feel like giving him more money? Feel like trusting his input? Feel like he cares the least bit about you, the purchase you made, the business you gave him? Does this feel like a good seller–buyer relationship? I’ll answer for you: No.

Look, I’m not the first to point out that this is the wrong way to do business. But I have to tell you, it still happens — all the time. Dealers have a lot of customers, with a lot of different needs, at very different stages in the buying cycle.

Today’s customers are armed with constantly changing technology, and they come at you from all sides when they’re ready to do business. If you don’t connect with them the right way, they’ll find someone who will — in the blink of an eye.

Last time we talked about how important it is to know your customer — the first pillar of my Catch and Keep customer strategy.

Know their similarities and differences … know what it takes to earn their repeat business … know all the personal details that make them feel understood. Today I want to build on that. I want to talk about effective communication with customers, something that requires getting three things right:

1) The message: the difference between a customer opening your email and closing the door on your relationship.

2)The timing, which is more important than ever today.

 3) The channel, because it’s critical that we allow the customers to use the ones they prefer, and today there are more channels to manage than ever.

Step 1: Be true to your target
If you read my Pillar 1 story, if you’ve heard my Catch and Keep strategy session, if you’ve ever had one conversation with me, you’ve probably heard the infamous story about my wife’s Christmas present fiasco. Long story short (no, really!), she fell in love with a car we saw a holiday commercial for, and I pulled strings to get it for her by Christmas Day. By the time the car needed routine maintenance, the dealership had forgotten that she was the owner — not me.

They’d forgotten that she had kids and needed a hand getting in and out of the service lane. They’d forgotten that she didn’t need to be their customer. So what happened? She forgot to keep doing business with them. That’s right, she ditched them. And she tells anyone who will listen.

This is a big mistake we call mistargeting — and it will put you out of business. Here’s how:

• 54 percent of your customers or prospects will unsubscribe from you if they’re mistargeted.
• 29 percent of mistargeted customers will be less likely to buy a product from you.

So how do you avoid mistargeting? Well, if Pillar 1 was all about using your CRM to know your customer, Pillar 2 is all about segmenting it. Segment customers into specific categories: Their age and gender, which tells you a lot about the most optimal times and channels for communication; their unique position in the buying cycle, which can require drastically different messaging; and other attributes like digital footprints and social clues, which help paint a picture of consumers’ needs and desires.

Be diligent about it; don’t send blanket messages to the whole database. Send the right messages to the right segments.

Targeting versus mistargeting isn’t a matter of magic or guessing. You have to capture real-time measurements and feedback on your messaging. One thing I recommend in particular is a post-mortem meeting on marketing gone wrong; it’s not fun to look your mistakes in the face, but I promise it’s better than losing more customers and wasting marketing dollars.

Step 2: Time it right
Knowing your customer means knowing where they are in the buying cycle, and when it makes sense to pitch them a new product or service specific to their needs. If you get it wrong, they’ll think you’re checked out, and they’ll check out, too. “How can I need new brakes? I just bought my car two days ago.” “No, I don’t want to trade in my old car — you just sold me a new car!”

Ready for some more stats? Here’s what bad timing can do for your dealership:

• 45 percent of customers who receive a poorly timed (i.e., meaningless) communication from you will mark you as spam.
• 54 percent will unsubscribe, and nothing’s more expensive than that.

And how do you avoid bad timing? You make it your business to know the customer lifecycle — by managing it properly in your CRM. You make sure your offers respect your customers’ time frames: Call them up and talk about getting them into snow tires before the first snowfall, and call them again when it’s time for a spring cleaning.

Just think, that could be two extra business interactions with one customer per year. Above all, make it your business to communicate to customers (one way or another) regularly, without letting enough time pass that the relationship weakens.

Step 3: Change the channel
If you know your customers, you should also know how they like to communicate — and how they don’t. If you call the texters and email the walk-ins, they won’t care what you have to say. They’ll just assume you care about your own preferences instead of theirs.

This is what happens to your dealership when you choose the wrong channel or don’t know your customer:

• 68 percent will automatically delete communications that come through the wrong channel.

Why? Because they no longer see value in them. They don’t want you in their camp, which means you have to start from scratch.

To avoid channel mishaps, you simply must define and constantly refine a strategy that acknowledges customer preferences and accounts for their differences.

What you get when you get it right

Add up all the possible missteps I’ve mentioned (and I’ve only mentioned a few) and you can see how dreadfully easy it is to mistarget your way out of market share … and out of future market share. You’ll lose the potential for long-term profitability.

But when you get it right … the right message, right time, right channel … you get stronger relationships — repeat business from your committed, raving fans. I don’t need to tell you what that means to the long-term health and success of your whole business.

That’s why I built my Catch and Keep strategy on the basics: Know your customer and own your message. Next time, I’ll talk more about how you can leverage a deep understanding of the lifecycle to catch and keep more profitable customers, so stay tuned.

Percentages mentioned above sourced from Janrain/Blue Research.

Sean Stapleton is VP of sales and marketing for VinSolutions.