It’s Your Business
- Subject: Dealing with today’s DIY customer
- Essential Reading: Shop Owner, Center Manager
- Author: Terry Greenhut, Transmission Digest Business Editor
They may not be made in America but fortunately for us they break here and we get to fix them here. Would I be happier if all the American-nameplate cars were actually made in the good old U.S. of A.? Sure, I would, but at least there is some consolation in that several foreign nameplates are now produced here. Anyway, that’s the hand we’ve been dealt so all we can do on our side of the industry is the best job we can of diagnosing and fixing them at profitable prices; not always easy in the present business climate, but it just means paying more attention and working a little harder at our selling skills.
The face of our industry has changed so dramatically over the past several years, owing to the technology and the economy, that it’s hardly recognizable. Electrical and hydraulic systems continue to become more complex but customers can’t see it, nor do they care. All they want is what they’ve always wanted: someone to fix the problem. It doesn’t matter to them where the car was made or whether it’s an electrical or an internal transmission problem; they just want it fixed as inexpensively and as quickly as possible. Trying to explain in detail what it is and how you will fix it leaves them with that “deer in the headlights” look. You have to always be aware that this is your line of work, not theirs. They hopefully know theirs; they expect you to know yours so they don’t have to concern themselves with it.
Now for the fly in the ointment: Because customers with whom we have not yet had a chance to talk can go online and get prices for rebuilt transmissions and other car parts, they are starting to believe that’s the way to shop for auto repairs. Of course, even though in many instances they don’t know what they are buying or exactly why they are buying it, many will do it anyway in an effort to save money.
Just when we thought the era of “do-it-yourselfers” was over it has gained a new breath of life with all the car shows on cable and satellite TV. These shows make it look way too easy for the DIYers to try to handle even the most-complex repairs themselves. Often by the time they figure out they’ve made a huge mistake in trying to tackle the project themselves it has cost them significant time and more money than they would have spent allowing a good shop to perform the proper repair.
I get a big kick out of shows like “Texas Car Wars” in which four shops go to a junkyard auction and bid on wrecks to restore and sell. They tow the cars to their shops, tear them apart and then are shown making a list on the blackboard of what they will have to get to complete the build. They list only a couple of major items like an engine or a transmission. They never discuss the hundreds of other parts and pieces they have to find.
Shows such as that lead the average “Joe” to believe he can do it too, but he can’t. That’s why some of the cars they find in the junkyard auctions are ones others have bought, started restoring and have given up on after finding out what a huge project it really is. These are the same type of people who would rip out their kitchen or bathroom at home thinking it’s so easy to install a new one because they saw it on television, then have to call a contractor to finish the project.
As much as you might wonder, “Why is it my job to teach customers the right way to shop for transmission and auto repairs?” the answer is simple: “Because if you don’t, either the next person they call will educate them or the customer will close his eyes, push a couple of buttons and order a transmission off the Internet that he doesn’t have any idea whether he really needs.”
“Heck, it can’t be that hard to install, I saw a guy do it on television.”
We know the customer doesn’t realize that the over-the-counter transmission price he might find online doesn’t include shipping, diagnosis, fluid or installation and certainly doesn’t guarantee his problem being solved, but because he can see a price – even if he doesn’t want to do it himself – he thinks maybe he can use it against us to dictate what we should charge him. He says things like, “I saw that transmission on line for $1,300,” trying to plant the seed that we shouldn’t charge him more than that.
When they hit you with their Internet research or the bit of education they received from a half-hour TV show during an initial telephone conversation in which your goal is nothing more than to get them to the shop for diagnosis, you need to immediately turn the tables on them so you gain control of the selling process. A few simple questions can get you headed in the right direction:
“How do you know you need a transmission? Has anyone checked it for you?” If they say “no,” you can say: “Well, it sounds like you’re ready to buy one based on your asking for a price. Would you want to do that if it turned out you didn’t need one?”
They will have to say, “Of course not.” (Unless they recently fell down, bumped their head and are now delusional)
You would then say, “I don’t want to see you do that either, but I can check out your problem at no charge and let you know exactly what it will take to fix your car in the most-economical way possible. Is the car drivable?” If it is ask: “When would be a good time for you to bring it in? Is now good or is this afternoon better so I can check it for you?”
If it isn’t drivable offer a tow immediately without hesitation, even if it’s a free one. Remember, this process has to happen quickly for you to maintain control. You have only one chance to capture the car, and this is it.
Why do we offer to check out the problem free of charge? One reason is that on the Internet everything has a price. That makes sense, because companies are trying to get you to place an order now. We want to be the alternative, which means, “We don’t need any of your money until we are actually going to do something for you.”
This is the time when your sales skills have to be the best they can be or you will be giving your work away trying to match those erroneous Internet numbers. It’s not so much that the numbers are out of line as that they are incomplete and lead people to believe they are supposed to just order a rebuilt transmission no matter what is or is not wrong with theirs.
As always we have to use our words to convince them that they are going about it the wrong way without alienating them in the process. We never want to go on the attack or put down the customer or anyone who might be advising him or her. It’s actually better to go the opposite way and compliment the customer on all the research and thought he’s put into the process while at the same time offering alternatives that will lead him in the direction we want him to go:
“That’s great. I always start my search for everything on the Internet. If the item I want is one I can compare online, get a detailed description of or specifications for, and it all makes sense, I might buy it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work very well with a complicated automobile component like a transmission. First, the extent of the damage, if there actually is any, needs to be determined. Modern-day transmissions are controlled by the car’s computer, which takes readings from a vast array of sensors and then sends signals to solenoids in the transmission that activate different functions. If any of the sensors, solenoids or the computer itself is giving a bad reading, computer trouble codes will set. Someone needs to read and interpret those codes to find out whether it truly is a transmission problem, and only an expert can do it. Far too many transmissions have been ordered online only to be installed and demonstrate the same problem the car came in with. Why? Because the problem never was the transmission. It was something that caused the transmission to feel or act as if it had a problem.
“Now picture the customer who ordered a transmission that didn’t solve his problem. He can be out the cost of the transmission, the shipping, the installation, untold hours of aggravation, and he still has a car that now needs to be repaired properly. So assuming time and money are important to you, why don’t you let us check out your problem, free of charge, to find out what you really need and how quickly and economically we can get you back on the road?”
How do we get that point across to our customer nicely? By telling it as a story of how it happened to another customer who recently had you repair his car after going through all that grief. Logic will work with most previously uninformed customers. There will always be some who will have to do it the hard way. All we can do is try our best to lead them in the right direction.
Terry Greenhut, Transmission Digest Business Editor. Visit www.TerryGreenhut.com.
