An Informed Customer Is A Happy Customer

For the sake of full disclosure here, I’m going to admit that the first time I heard a similar phrase was when I was in the service and it had a “slightly” different twist to the terminology. However, the gist of the message is that if one “condition” is present or exists, then the other will surely follow. The word “happy” is common to all versions I have ever heard.

We are all faced with the challenge of keeping our customers happy so that they will think highly enough of us to continue to honor us with their business. No easy task. One of the ways to accomplish this is by keeping them informed every step of the way. Most of your customer experiences will flow smoothly and might be nothing more than dropping off their vehicle for an oil change or routine maintenance and driving away happily after the pick-up. As we all know, there are going to be times when you must deliver “bad” news to your customer. News that might put them in a position where they are going to have to spend money on repairs that were not expected and maybe not able to afford. Wouldn’t you both be better off if there were no surprises?

I know you can’t prevent people’s vehicles from wearing or breaking down. The inevitable is going to happen. What I’m saying is there are ways you can insulate the both of you from utter surprise. In our business, surprise is a condition to be avoided to the best of our ability. We have all heard the phrase “Information is power.”. You need find ways to transfer that “power” to your customer. When a vehicle rolls into your bay, there are certain things that, as a professional, you know. If they are a regular customer you probably have a history of the vehicle. You will get visual clues from the appearance or condition. If you have prior experience with a particular customer you may have formed conclusions as to their resistance or reluctance to have “extra” work done. The fact is, you know more than you may think you do about your customer, even if it is the first time you have seen them. …. Think about that.

Your task is to gather all that information in your mind when you address your customer as they walk into your shop. If they have called for an appointment, you have had a head start. If they are walking in with a “mystery” problem you need to gather your wits about you and prepare to think this through. Every problem has a path to its conclusion and you need to inform your customer of what your intended path is toward their solution. It’s kind of like “Mr. Smith, that sounds like it could be your (insert part here) is failing (or failed). Let me: look at it; bring it in the bay; run it around the block; put it on the lift; or attach (insert test equipment here) to see if we can’t get an accurate diagnosis.” “It’s going to be about 2 hours (or tomorrow) before I can get to it. I’ll call you as soon as I have an idea of what is causing this. Do you need a ride?”

The next part of the conversation is even more critical than the last. All you have told them so far is that something appears to be wrong and they are going to be without their vehicle for “X” hours or days. By the way, this conversation needs to take place whether they had dropped it off for an oil change and you’re calling them back, or it came in on the hook.

This is where you have the opportunity to explain how you’re going to get them back behind the wheel. I wouldn’t “tech-speak” them to death, but I would certainly explain the path, or paths, you are going to take to diagnose the problem and what the various conclusions might mean to them in terms of time and expense. It is an opportunity for frank discussion and available options. Now, you have an informed customer, and one who cannot be “surprised” by whatever the actual solution is that you wind up recommending. 

True, they may not be thrilled with the outcome but, at the same time, they may be relieved that their problem can be solved quickly and at a tolerable cost. Either way, you have done your customer a service, built their confidence in you and kept them informed. No one likes to be kept in the dark. Absolutely no one!  It is not a comfortable place to be. We can’t allow ourselves to become complacent in our jobs and attitudes. Every customer needs to feel as though they are special. That we are personally involved. We cannot allow them to be just the next job in the bay.

There’s another reason this is important for your business. That customer walked away satisfied, feeling you were “up front” with them all the way. That will become worth more to you than the profit from the individual transaction. It should be no secret to anyone that a “happy customer” will spread the word. They do not keep secrets.  People talk to each other. They ask each other questions about a variety of topics. They want a recommendation for a good insurance guy or maybe a good place to eat, or, maybe, just maybe, they ask someone if they know a good place to get their car repaired. The answer your “happy customer” will give is worth more than all the advertising you can do. (BTW. This is not a recommendation to stop advertising. You need to do that too.) Their recommendation is gold! And there might be more than one person listening. …. You know how neighbors are.

When we moved to Florida 10 years ago. I had no idea where to take my car for its first oil change in the new neighborhood. So, I asked some neighbors. (See the above paragraph!) They told me to go see Al at the service center a few blocks from where we live. Now, I didn’t just hear that from one person. I heard it from several people. I heard it from people who live a couple of miles away. I live in a pretty populated area. There are lots of places to get your car repaired in addition to every nameplate dealership you can think of. So, I went to see Al, and, I’ve been seeing him for 10 years. I can’t even remember how many people I have sent to him.  This is a message that has spread for at least a decade that I know of. I wonder who the first happy customer was? You’ll never know when and where it starts. You need to create happy customers every day, one customer at a time. There’s nobody reading this now that wouldn’t want that first happy customer for themselves. Here’s your clue for the day. An informed customer is a happy customer.

One day I’ll write you a blog just about Al.

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC

Return To EAST Training Homepage

The Devil Is In The Detail

The saying "the devil is in the detail" refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details, meaning that something might seem simple at a first look but will take more time and effort to complete than expected. (Wikipedia)

What makes your customers choose your shop to do business with? Do you have the best technicians? Are you in a convenient location for them? Are you the “brand” dealership? Are your prices the best in town? Are you just easy to deal with? All those questions, and as many more as you can think of; there’s not just one right answer and one answer is not necessarily better than the other.  The fact is, the answer really is buried in the details.

As we go about our lives of being “consumers”, we are subjected to hundreds of details every day that form and mold our buying habits. Was a particular employee in a business you visited really kind and patient with you? Were they friendly and courteous beyond your normal expectation? Was the business well stocked and had everything you needed. Did they tell you there was a sale on the item you brought to the register when you weren’t even aware it was on sale? Did they promise to be there at 9:00AM and actually were? Did they call you by name? Did they thank you for your business?

To complicate matters a little, what makes a customer happy one time may not seem to matter 3 months from now. You can’t always chalk it up to “they’re having a bad day”. I’m going to let you in on a really big secret. They’re human, just like you. Consider this. You have no idea what frame of mind they’re in when they walk into your shop. You don’t know if some wise guy just cut them off 2 blocks from your location or if they’re dealing with a health issue OR if they got up feeling great, stopped at their favorite coffee shop and are enjoying their perfect cup of morning coffee.

And they have no idea what you are dealing with either. Was an important part for a big job left off your morning delivery? Did the last customer give you grief and blame you for their radio not working when their car was in for struts? The point is, neither of you can ever know for 100% sure what’s going to be on the other side of “Good morning!”. The only way to approach that customer striding towards you is to clear your mind of what was on it 2 seconds ago and commit to doing everything you can to make that person’s encounter with you as pleasant and reassuring as you can.

Before you go off all sure, sure, easy to say, but not very practical or possible, let me remind you of the title of this blog. Go ahead. Check. ….. Correct! It’s in the details. Everything you say or do might be the turning point of each and every encounter. And that could be positive or negative. That’s why you have to be totally focused on the customer in front of you. Besides the verbal communication going on, what is their body language saying? Is there a smile on their face? Do they seem pre-occupied and in a rush? I know you thought you were a Technician or a Service Writer but I doubt anyone ever told you that there was a degree in psychology you all got somewhere along the way. (Congratulations!)

The best way I can explain this to you is to ask you to go back in your mind and think of a few of those instances when you yourself became a dedicated customer of “xyz” company or store. Somebody did something for you that clicked in your mind as having been above and beyond the call of duty and you instantly committed your loyalty. Although we have all had those moments it seems they are easy to forget as time passes and your loyalty slips into habit. I’m not saying that “habit” is a bad state. It works to the benefit of both the customer and the business. The customer is always expecting a good experience and the shop is honored with their business.

There is a slippery slope to this process and it is truly buried in the details. You and your customer can go along for years and everything seems to be going just fine. Then one day you detect a slight change in attitude from your longtime customer or maybe they miss a service appointment or maybe you just don’t see them again. Did they move or did they take their business elsewhere? You may never know. Part of the problem is there are generally only two ways a customer deals with a “perceived” slight, insult, shoddy job or service. They either tell you about it or they take their business elsewhere. Your longtime customer may say something to you the first time or maybe even twice. After that, it reverts back to the basic human instinct of “fight or flight”. If you serve me a bad meal, I’ll pay my bill, leave and never come back. If you serve my wife a bad meal, she will tell you about it instantly. You want my wife for a customer. At least she will give you a chance to correct the error. Not me. And the bad news for you is that there are more of “me” out there than her. Sorry.

You never know what outside influence is working on your customer. Who did they become friendly with? What story of excellent service did they hear from a friend? Where did they stop out of necessity or convenience one day to have the same service you usually provide them and find these people, who didn’t even know them, did “X” that really impressed them? You have zero control over what happens outside the walls of your shop. None!

But the one thing you can absolutely control is what goes on in your shop. I don’t care if you are the technician, owner, manager or service writer. You all depend on each other to keep the customers happy. Their happiness keeps your paycheck coming. How you contribute to the effort depends on what your job is. You may never even speak to or see the customer. The customer may never be aware of what you personally did. They may never know that you made sure all the clamps were tightened or the excess dirt and grime were wiped away. All that matters is that your combined group effort made the customer happy and kept them coming back. You see, the devil IS in the detail!

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC

Return To EAST Training Homepage

Establishing Trust ?

It’s not a mistake. The question mark is there on purpose. You’re most likely a qualified technician and/or a skilled manager in the auto service industry. If not, you would be following a different career. Hopefully you’re on a path of constant learning in your chosen profession. It raises the bar higher for us all. It allows us to offer our customers ever increasing levels of professional service. The reason for the question mark is this. Do you really study and understand the challenge and opportunity of establishing trust and rapport with your customers?

My continuing reminder to us all is to approach these questions relating to customer service from a standpoint of our own experiences when we ourselves are the customer. There is no one better than yourself to provide you the honest answers. It becomes extremely personal when you are the sole judge and jury. You are the sum of what you have experienced. If you have made it past adolescence you have plenty to base your judgements on. Enough psycho-babble!!

So, how do we establish trust? Many of the places we choose to do business with can be attributed to convenience or, when it comes to a branded product, who’s got the lowest price. Here are a couple of examples. If you do most of your food shopping at a particular store, you are probably doing it because they are close to your home or they are located along the route you take on the way home from work. I’ll bet there are items that cost more than one of their competitors in your shopping basket, but, hey, you’re there and it’s convenient. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a new TV before the big game, you’ve probably checked out the price of Brand XYZ p/n 12345 and are headed to the store with the lowest price.

Within reason, I could make a case for you that says it is still possible to change that customer’s buying habits but we are not ready for that conversation yet. Instead, I want to keep our focus on the folks who come into your business every day. All things being equal, why do they come to you (for something other than an advertised special)? There are probably lots of places to get their vehicle serviced in your area.

Having spent most of my life in the automotive aftermarket (which is a considerable number of years), I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked; “Where is a good place to get my car repaired?” Sometimes I have heard that question from people who knew I was in the business and other times I was standing with a group of people at a party and overheard the discussion. Here’s how it usually went. “Hey. I’m looking for a good place to get my brakes checked. I think I need to have them looked at because I hear some squealing and I’m concerned. I’ve been going to Bill’s Friendly Auto Repair the last couple of times and I’m not sure they always have my best interest in mind.” Keep in mind this is just a rough example. Most of the times the conversation about their present repair shop isn’t so “gentle”.

So, now there’s 6 people standing around this circle and, let’s say it’s me that offers up an answer. Remember, only one guy was asking the question. Here I go with a glowing recommendation. I start with a story that lays out a scenario where Andy over at Andy’s Service Center “did right by me” when he told me that what I was told by another shop was going to be a major repair was only going to be an inexpensive fix. I added how nice the techs were and how professional looking the shop was and how accommodating they were. AND, that I’ve been going there for the last 5 years AND everyone I ever sent to Andy has been happy with his service. The guy who asked the question is now asking me to text his contact info to his phone. AND so are the other 4 people who were listening.

There are lots of lessons in this simple example. Getting a new customer into your place is an expensive and exhaustive proposition. Shops spend tons on advertising; newspapers, direct mail, radio or, where it is affordable, putting ads on TV. All this is good and worthwhile to do. You need to cast a broad net on the water. But, remember, the first time one of those customers comes into your shop TRUST has not yet been established.

In the example where I made the recommendation, that person (or those people) will be hitting your place with a pre-conceived notion that there is trust to be found here. I can’t tell you how much that means. The fact is that when someone in the crowd asks for a recommendation, the person who answers has set themselves up as an authority on that subject. Everybody likes to be looked to as an authority. Think about it. “Hey, my insurance rates just went through the roof. Anybody got a good ‘guy’?” I’ll bet you’ve heard that one before. That’s how we make decisions. With a little help from our friends. That’s why you’ll drive a little out of your way on the way home. That’s why you might be willing to pay a little more. It’s not always the “Complete Brake Service” advertised at a set price. Your most meaningful customers value the TRUST in your service. They are the most likely to “sell” your shop and they’re going to do it when you’re not even there or trying. The reality is that you’ve obviously already established trust and rapport. You’ve done your job.

What can you do to earn that kind of trust from your customer to make them that passionate about your business. It’s simple. Everything you can possibly think of. Before you engage the customer, go to those “outside your business” experiences you’ve had and remember all the times when you were treated well enough to create a positive memory. It would serve you well to also remember when you were not treated so well and how that made you feel. Then, don’t take your customer there.

Trust doesn’t just happen. It is built over time. Even with a good recommendation from an existing customer, you’ve only gotten past the first step.  What are you waiting for? You’ve got trust to build!

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC

Return To EAST Training Homepage

If You See Something, Say Something

The world being what it is today, I’m sure we have all heard that before. It’s sound advice. In the context of what its original intent is, it is meant to protect life and limb. Nothing could be more important. So, now I’m going to ask you this question. What is it that prevents us from applying that thought process to our jobs? I’m not talking about “ratting out” Bill for taking an extra cigarette break or coming back 20 minutes late from lunch every day. Or maybe you know he’s really going fishing when he calls in sick. That’s an entirely different subject (which we will get to in a later blog) that addresses the relationship and respect we have for our associates and management people.

I’m referring to the hesitancy we have to recommend needed work that we come across that wasn’t on the original work order or related to the complaint the customer came in with. For the purpose of this discussion I’ll have to make a couple of exclusions. I’m going to leave out the “bad attitude” side of the equation. In most cases, those people shouldn’t be there in the first place. I’m also not going to address the possibility that you didn’t have the necessary training to recognize the potential problem when you saw it. There’s a solution for that and it’s called Training.

What I would like to talk about is the psychological tendency we have not to want to “impose” ourselves on others. Don’t believe me? Just follow along here. All of us, and I do mean all of us have, at one time or another been on the receiving end of a “high-pressure” sales pitch and we remember how it made us feel. Unfortunately, that feeling gets deeply imbedded in our minds, because we experience it all too often. As a matter of fact, unless you live in a total vacuum, it’s hard to avoid.

There are instances when the “imposition” is nothing more than a directive from corporate headquarters or the store management meant to up-sell or suggest a closely related item. “For another 25 cents you can get the 10 gallon size popcorn.” “Will there be any donuts with your coffee this morning?” “Those are 3 for a dollar this week.” Would you like to make a donation to XYZ charity today?” Most of the time these are innocent enough and could actually be beneficial to you or be something you would be happy to do.

The problem is, that as innocent as those examples are, they add to our collection of memories where we had that feeling of imposition. Without calling out or pointing a finger at any particular industries, generally speaking, the higher the ticket price of an item you are buying, the more likely you are going to run into the high-pressure or deceptive tactics. During those encounters, especially where you didn’t have the product or technical knowledge to weigh all the facts being thrown at you, you were at a disadvantage and forced to deal with a stressful situation. Folks, …. We remember stress! …. We remember the feeling and we think to ourselves that WE would never put any of our customers in that position. It’s just an uncomfortable place to be. That’s where your reluctance and hesitancy comes from. Believe me. It is not a bad thing to want to be a good person.

So now, how do we get by this? How do we get to “If you see something, say something”? The first step is to look at every vehicle that comes into your shop or on your lift as if it were the vehicle that was going to be driven out of there by the person you loved the most in this world. Really? …. Yes, really!!! I know you’re working and time is money and you’re already looking at three more vehicles than you can probably handle today and how would you possibly have the time to do all that? The reality is, it won’t take you a minutes’ worth of time to accomplish all this.

Let me oversimplify it. A customer comes in for an oil change. The car gets driven over the pit or onto the lift. While the car’s going into the air or you’re walking the length of the pit you surely see obvious problems without even thinking about it. Tires are unevenly worn or just plain bald. Oil dripping from the pan. Struts leaking, belts badly worn, boots torn, rot in the exhaust, …. Do I really have to go on? You’re seeing it anyway!!! There’s nothing that says the “extra” work has to be scheduled today unless there really is time or you’ve found a potentially life threatening problem in the brake system. I’m not telling you to put every car on the dyno or hook up a code reader. I’m just suggesting that in the time it takes to blink your eye you can spot a half dozen problems worth calling out, and, here comes the revelation, ….. SAY SOMETHING!

The unseen force that is at work here is one of trust. Remember, your customer, just like you has been subjected to the same “impositions” and pressure sales tactics by the very same people you have. They, like you, are going to be warry of anything that goes beyond the bounds of what they came into your shop for. Remember, they really didn’t want to be in your shop today in the first place (unless maybe it’s just for a routine oil change). The only thing that will make their acceptance of what you are suggesting is their level of trust in you and your shop. And the only way you’re going to gain that is by having an honest relationship with them.

Trust comes when you take the time to show them what you see as a problem and give your honest opinion as to how to correct it and how long they may have before they need to take action. When you say something like “Your tires are getting a little worn. You should be OK until your next oil change.”, your customer will become appreciative of your advice and thankful for your diligence. The fact is, that every time you offer your honest professional opinion about your customer’s car, you are building your relationship, trust and rapport.

The bottom line is you are really doing them a favor by calling their attention to a potential problem. At the very least you are making it easier for yourself and preparing them in advance for the “expected” repair on their next visit. You could even be saving their lives. If you lived across the country from that loved one we talked about earlier and they brought their car into a local shop for routine maintenance, I’ll bet you’d want that tech to alert them to a potential safety issue.   So, from now on, have a little faith and If You See Something, Say Something!

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC


Return To EAST Training Homepage

Pretend You’re Working For Tips

This being my article for the December blog, I thought I would try to tune into our “end of the year” thought process where we take time to reflect on what the past year has offered us as far as our jobs are concerned. You already know how you did financially. That’s a matter of record and it’s now history. Moving forward. The equally important question is, how well did you perform your job and, specifically, how well did you treat your customers? It’s easier to point to how many times you “beat the clock” or locked in on a diagnosis as soon as it hit the lift. That doesn’t give you the whole picture. Last month we spoke about accumulating those “Passing Grades”. If it’s not fresh in your mind, this is a good time for you to go back and review the article (Does Anything Ever Go Wrong?). It might help get you started in even more positive direction for 2017.

I know it’s hard to keep focused on delivering outstanding customer service. It challenges us the minute we walk in the door. You can call it what you like; busy schedule, technical challenges, poorly behaving associates or an upset customer. They are a part of our lives and we have to learn to block them out and put them in the back of our minds before we engage the next customer or bring the next vehicle into the bay. The work you are about to do or the customer you are about to speak to have no idea and should have no bearing on what your “personal” problems might be and it’s wrong for you to inject them into their world. Remember, they really didn’t want to be in your shop to begin with.

So, …. Let me try to offer another approach that might prove useful to you this coming year. I’m going to imagine that a good many of us may have worked at a job sometime in our lives where tips made up an important part of our pay. Even if you didn’t, you have surely been on the tipping end of the equation enough times that this thought process will be significant to you. I know there are people out there that consider tipping an imposition. Fortunately, I believe they are in the minority. Personally, I tend to be a generous tipper because, having worked for tips at an early age, I understand the value they represent to the person providing the service. I remember what my mindset was while I was working at those jobs. The people I was caddying for or waiting on their tables could make or break my day. (By the way, this is all about understanding that YOU have a very personal responsibility in the results of the job you do.) If I wanted a generous tip I had to offer outstanding service. In fact, I had to go above and beyond the accepted (and expected) level of service in order to get that person to think to themselves “Hey, this guy deserves an “extra generous” tip”.

I’m not trying to get you to feel bad for me and I’m not looking for praises. What I’m trying to get you to do is STOP and think for a moment about how folks who depend on tips for a good part of their living approach their day. I will surely not argue with you that there are exceptions to that rule. We have all had people “wait” on us, or try to, that gave us reason to question the necessity to leave a tip at all or even call their lack of service to the attention of their manager. And, that, my friends, is exactly the feeling I want you to remember! …. Gotcha!!! …. I want you to remember how you felt when you were the recipient of that poor service. I know you have many examples and I’m going to tell you that I have many more that I will be sharing with you from time to time as we go on a journey through these blogs.

Here’s just one of those examples from my personal list. If you have ever been on vacation at a resort or on a ship you can guess where I’m going. I’m want to single out a cruise vacation because I know they are very popular right now as many of these huge companies vie for your dollars by building larger and larger ships and dropping fares to near bargain level. How they manage to get people off and on these 4,000 and 5,000 passenger ships along with all that luggage being exchanged and new food and supplies is nothing short of a logistical miracle. But that’s not what I want to talk about.

My purpose here is to address how they get the message across to every one of their international crew on what is expected of them as they interact with the paying passengers.  Probably half of the crew is “behind the scenes” while the other half is tasked with directly serving and interacting with the passengers. If you think this happens by accident, you really haven’t thought about. I’m not going to get into the details now. That will be a subject we’ll address in a future blog.

I have been fortunate to have been on several cruises and I have to tell you that, for the most part, all of them have put me face to face with hundreds (maybe thousands, considering the size of some of the crews) of employees that “had the message”. The wait staff, the cabin stewards and even the maintenance crews all had a smile or a greeting. Those who were in a position to be the recipient of “expected” tips seemed to be “over the top” accommodating. If you’ve been on a cruise you know the “end of cruise” routine where, even if the brochure said “tips included”, you were left printed envelopes on your bed on the last night that were specifically addressed to each of the positions that you were supposed to tip. This came along with the “tip vouchers” that you had to insert in each envelope and hand to the respective people.

Now for the moment of truth. You stand there with the envelopes and vouchers and you consciously insert each voucher in the appropriate envelope. Some go in without a thought and sealed. Others make you pause and think about how a couple of these people really went overboard (yeah, that was on purpose) and you slip some extra dollars into the envelope. Now, why did you do that?

The bottom line is that it takes a tremendous effort to have the vast majority of the paying passengers (translated to: customers in your shop) leave the ship with a positive attitude. You’ll never make everyone happy because someone is always going to find their steak served at the wrong temperature, their drink not strong enough or their cabin too small for their liking.

Some things are just going to be beyond your personal control. BUT …. It IS your job to try to do your best.

I don’t want you to finish reading this blog and feel all the responsibility rests entirely on your shoulders. It does not! To deliver that type of service, the direction needs to come from the very top and it means that everyone in the shop needs to be on board and committed to the same message.  That sounds easier than it really is and doesn’t happen by accident or without effort. We will definitely be talking more about that in later blogs.

I’m sure, some of you are in a position to be on the receiving end of a “gratuity or courtesy tip” in your shops. Most are not and never will be. All I am asking is that when you approach a customer walking into your shop or start on the next job ticket, pretend you are working for tips.

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC


Return To EAST Training Homepage

Does Anything Ever Go Wrong?

As much as we hone our technical skills, as much as we study and implement good customer service practices, sometimes things just don’t go as we planned. When you are faced with a situation that you couldn’t have possibly anticipated is when you are put to your most important customer relations test. I need to stress here that the importance of the score you receive on this test is unlike any you have ever taken in your life.  Forget about numerical scores. Forget about A, B, C, D or F. Forget about any bell curve you have ever been measured on. Your score for each and every one of these encounters, and there will be many, will be either PASS or FAIL. Period! There is no middle ground. There is never any middle ground.

Please understand that the success of you as a person or “you” as part of a business will depend on the accumulated scores you have received over an extended period of time. That’s why this is such an important concept for us to grasp. Think about it. Everything that you have done to enhance your career, every effort, every class, every obstacle you have overcome to get to where you are now has, in part, been the cumulative result of all those scores. …. I would ask that you indulge me for a moment and please read this paragraph again. I really want you to get the point.

Anytime you “touch” the customer, you are getting one of these scores. Even if you had no direct contact with them; even if you never saw them, you got a score. The “work” you did filters out to the customer. You may never know it. Your boss or manager may not even be aware of it at the time it happened. Somewhere that score was recorded and, slowly, over time, all those seemingly insignificant instances start to add up for you and/or your business.

Here’s what it looks like. Some “scores” just come up and smack you in the face. You receive an unsolicited compliment from your boss, the service writer, one of your peers or even directly from the customer. At least one of them has recognized your incredible skill-set, speed and accuracy of your work or even the ability to solve a problem that others couldn’t. As a reminder, I just want to point out that you have created an impression on both the “internal” as well as the “external” customer that we spoke about in the first article of this series. Score a PASS for you.

I’m going to bet that all of you are familiar with what a FAIL looks like. These are the scores that most of us have been on the receiving end of because it is just human nature to let someone know when you are unhappy with something or someone. People “expect” good service or a quality product. Frankly, they have every right to. They are less likely to “call out” or call attention to something they already think they are deserving of. It is expected. ….  I can’t change that but I hope I can help you understand that it is just part of being who we are. Here’s a way to get your head around it.

Most of us work very hard for our money. We don’t want to waste it or spend it foolishly. I said this in an earlier article, but when it comes to auto repair, your customer really does not want to, and did not plan to spend their money at your shop today. They surely would have rather used it towards paying the rent, buying groceries or maybe going to the movies. If you can understand that, then you are beginning to understand why delivering nothing less than your best effort and best attempt at outstanding customer service is so important. You are sort of starting out in a valley and need to finish up on top of the mountain in order to turn that customer’s reluctance to being in your shop into satisfaction that, as long as they had to spend their money, they are happy they came to you.

For the purpose of this discussion, my background in sales in the automotive industry came as an outside salesperson for a warehouse distributor who sold to auto parts stores who in turn sold to repair shops. While I was in “outside” sales, you are in “inside” sales where you are dealing directly with the consumer who has called or come into your shop. The basis of either side of the sales line has always been delivering goods or services to the “customer” in a timely and honest manner. Obviously pricing is in the equation as well but many times you will not be able to have a direct influence on that. Let’s deal with what you can affect.

I want to leave you this month with a way to start thinking about all those “touches” you will have with customers and the “grades” you will receive. Here is an admission. No matter what anyone ever tells you or whatever book you have read or seminar you have attended, it is absolutely impossible to achieve a PASS 100% of the time. People are simply people, and you will never be able to please everyone. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be trying. I’m simply saying that sometimes, in spite of your best effort, it’s just not going to happen.

So, let’s look at some numbers.  This thought process came from running sales territories for many years. Whenever I would hit a “dry” spell (several FAILs in a row) it would get me feeling disappointed with my efforts and I couldn’t project that disappointment to my other customers.  I had to figure out a logical approach and here’s what it was (transferring it into “repair “terms).

 You go to work every day and, assuming there is a steady flow of work through the shop, you are going to do “X” number of jobs or have  “X” number of customer contacts for the day. I’m going to pick a round number in order to make this illustration easier (particularly for me). Let’s say that number is 10. Some of you are going to do way more and some way less. That’s why I’m picking the number.

OK. 10 jobs a day. If you work 5 days a week (Calm down. Some of you work more or less. Just go with me.) 10 jobs times 5 days gives you 50 jobs per week. Times 50 weeks a year (Be happy. I just gave you 2 weeks off.) equals 2500 jobs a year. Of those 2500 jobs or “contacts”, so many of them are going to earn you a PASS and so many of them are going to result in a FAIL. I’m going to pick another number. Let’s say that 80% of them are going to be PASS and 20% FAIL. That means that you’ll get 2000 PASSes! Good for you! However 500 of them are going to deliver a FAIL.  Another fact. They are not going to be evenly divided. It’s not going to be 5 PASS and 1 FAIL. You could get 5 FAILs in a row.

Before you let the quality of your next service be negatively affected by your recent string of FAILs think about the numbers. If you were able to string several years of numbers together on a spreadsheet (I did. Guilty.), you will find those numbers are probably about the same each year. So, here’s the way I began to think about it. If I found myself halfway through the year and all of a sudden I was in a FAIL slump, here’s what I said to myself. “Got that one out of the way. 257 down and only 243 more to go!” See, you have to approach each job (touch) with a clear mind and not let “other” events ruin your “new” customer’s experience with you. 

They deserve the best and you deserve a positive outlook.

Here’s to many more PASSing grades.

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC

Return To EAST Training Homepage

Your Customers’ Needs

Our business is a highly technical industry and it is getting more so every day. I come from an era when the introduction of the PCV valve (circa 1961 in California – of course; 1964 for the rest of the country) was met with great skepticism by most working technicians because they felt the valves were somehow limiting performance and no good would come of this “new” idea that was complicating their job. “Hot-rodders” were figuring out ways to bypass them and many rank and file technicians were doing the same. Now look where we are and how far we have come. The necessity for today’s technicians to be highly trained and constantly updating their education cannot be understated. The good news is that many of today’s automotive business have figured out that a trained tech is a valuable tech. You are reading this so you are part of one of those companies. Congratulations!

From here we‘re going to address an often overlooked area of knowledge you need to possess; the customer service area. In my previous “Understanding Customer Service” article I pointed out the need for understanding that you had two types of customers to concern yourself with; the internal and the external. Today I want to address that external customer and what their needs are. You may be surprised to learn that it goes beyond just getting whatever they brought their car in for successfully and timely repaired.

We already know that customer did not want to be in your place today. In fact, there might be an argument that they view being in your shop the same way they would think about going to their dentist’s office. You think that’s too far? Well, outside of a routine oil change, both places are going to cost money the customer was probably not counting on spending today. For the customer, there’s pain involved with both. The one advantage you have over the dentist is that you’re not going to inflict the physical pain.

Now the big question comes. What do I mean when I said that their needs go beyond the actual repair they came in for? Obviously they need to be treated courteously and with the respect due them seeing as how they are really the ones allowing your company to pay your salary. We need to go beyond the obvious. Let’s begin.

Once the customer is in your shop or their car is on the hook, you have a limited range of possibilities to ease their “pain”. What’s broke is broke. What’s worn is worn. What’s dangerous is dangerous. You’re the “doctor” and you can only prescribe the treatment. (We’ll address specific sales techniques in later Customer Service Corner articles.)

I’m going where many of us are out of our comfort zone and it’s going to take a little explanation. First, let me ask you this question. How many of you have had a project to do at home and went off to the hardware store, came home, started the job and were able to complete it without having to go back to the store (or go borrow something from your neighbor)? …. That’s what I thought. Next question. How many of you, after discovering you were missing something, didn’t immediately think some choice words about the person that helped you? Or maybe swore at yourself for not thinking the project through and making a list. Either way, the result is the same.  Your project required extra steps, time, aggravation and probably money. NOW, let’s keep that thought in your mind and get you back on the job.

If you are a Service Writer or the person responsible for the intake of vehicles into your shop, one of your responsibilities is to collect all the information the customer gives you about the reason they are there and communicate them in some manner, hopefully written and detailed, to the techs that will be charged with the repair. If you are the tech receiving the vehicle and work order, you look at it and say “OK, water pump; source the part, “X” hours of bay time, get my tools ready.” You get the job done, sign off on the ticket and hand it back over to the Service Writer. OK. Next job please. We’re busy.

Yes, you’re keeping the work flow going OK, but you’re really not taking care of the customer the way you would have wanted it to be if the shoe were on the other foot. Remember your “home” project? In that case the missing item might have been a paint brush or a plumbing fitting. That situation is fixable with a quick run back to the store (or your neighbor).  In this case there is greater consequence.

Most people drive their cars to and from work, school, pick up the kids or go on vacation. They have placed their very important means of transportation in your hands for a certain amount of time. You have an obligation to take the few moments necessary to take a look around the vehicle on the lift in front of you and see if there are any signs of impending “trouble” that your customer might need to know about. Anything that concerns your well trained eye needs to be reported up the line or directly to the customer if that is your area of responsibility. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the work has to get done today. If you have discovered something that looks like it could pose a serious problem for the customer, when do you think they would want to know about it? Now, or three weeks from now, when they’re halfway home on a one hour commute in bumper to bumper traffic?

I’m going to hope that most shops today have some sort of preventative maintenance program in place. If you’re one of them; Great! The area where I find the process breaks down is the reluctance for the tech to put themselves in a position where they feel they are “selling” something to the customer. We have all had the bad taste of “pushy” salespeople annoying us when we are out shopping and we automatically resist having to be the cause of someone else feeling that way. You need to put that feeling out of your mind. What your training has done is given you the opportunity to alert your customer to something that may cause them some serious inconvenience or injury somewhere in the not too distant future. You are doing them a BIG favor by alerting them to the issue. Wouldn’t you want someone to do that for you?

© Bill Rosenberg

BillR Services, LLC

Return To EAST Training Homepage