It’s Your Business
- Subject: Maintaining the appearance of success
- Essential Reading: Shop Owner, Center Manager
- Author: Terry Greenhut, Transmission Digest Business Editor
Good customers and employees are not usually lured to do business with or work for a company on the basis of its deeply hidden qualities or virtues. They come because of the perception of these attributes. It’s what people see on the outside that makes them decide whether they want to learn more about a company they will eventually choose to buy from, sell to or work for.
In strange and strained economic times like these it is more important than ever that we maintain the appearance of success whether it is truly in our grasp at this moment or we just want it to be. People want to buy from and employees want to work for companies they believe they can trust to be there after the shake-out. Yours needs to look as if it will. After all, if it looks and acts like a success, customers and employees tend to treat it as such. As the old saying goes, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” Maintaining an air of success is contagious and will help the company to prosper. It’s a way of dealing from strength, not weakness, as we all know we have to do to win in any form of negotiation.
Nobody wants to buy anything from you when your chin is dragging on the ground or when you’re so hard up for a sale that you’re willing to almost give your work away just to make one. It’s a matter of attitude. I don’t care if you have to lie to yourself. Before anyone else can believe you’re doing well, you have to.
If you use my old favorite phrase when people ask you, “How’s business?” and you answer, “It’s unbelievable,” there are two ways that can be interpreted, depending upon your delivery. If you say it with your head down in kind of a whisper, it will be taken to mean it’s unbelievably bad. If you do it in a loud, blustery, enthusiastic and excited voice, pausing for a split second between the “un” and the “believable,” it’s like “Wow, everything here must be great. This shop must be busy as can be and doing a terrific job.”
If you’re not doing all that well at any given moment that’s something to be kept between you, your shrink and your sales trainer. Why your shrink? Because he or she might be able to help with the attitude adjustment you need by reminding you that this recession and its impact on the general economy are not your fault nor are they problems you can’t work around. You just need to develop a new attitude to deal with the current plight. Why your sales trainer? It takes continuous re-training to keep you on track. Just because you learned how to sell some time back doesn’t mean you remember all of it or how it applies to individual customers and situations, especially in a tough economy. Do you know how to handle all their price objections and their claims that they don’t have the money to fix their cars? If you’re not sure, you need a refresher.
I think it was the razor manufacturer Gillette about 40 years ago that had the commercial jingle, “Look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp.” That applies well today. The sharper you, your employees and your facilities look today the better you will all feel about the business. When you feel good you gain confidence, the kind you need to make good, profitable sales.
Consumers shop around during tough economic times but not always for price, especially when it comes to the kind of services we provide. Many who have never had to be concerned with maintaining a car before because they were used to short-term leases and early trade-ins now find that keeping and fixing what they have makes more sense.
Since many of these consumers are new to the wonderful world of auto repair and maintenance, one of their major concerns will be to find a shop they believe they can trust. They will look at any facility they visit and the personnel they meet with a very critical eye. They will ask themselves some basic questions before they agree to any repairs or services, or to even leaving the vehicle anywhere to be checked. Even though you may never hear the customer voice them you need to be able to answer these questions very positively for yourself.
(1)
Does your facility look good both outside and in? Is the paint fresh? Is the signage good and easily visible and readable? Does it direct the customer properly? Is the parking lot clean? Are spaces well marked for customer parking and drop-off? Are the office and waiting area clean and uncluttered?
The outside image is extremely important. It sets up an expectation of what’s inside. If the building and surrounding premises look inviting and professional, the customer will expect to receive top-notch service inside. Fortunately, paint is still one of the cheaper commodities, and with a little time between jobs and some masking tape, your technicians should be able to do a great job of freshening up even a long-neglected building. Painting new lines in the parking lot, towing away junk cars, getting rid of old cores and scrap metal, and performing a daily facility inspection should keep appearances up to snuff.
(2)
Are the employees – especially those who deal with customers – dressed properly, and are they clean enough to greet customers?
I find it very disheartening to visit a repair facility that is clean and sharp only to be approached by a service adviser or, worse, an owner who looks totally out of place because he isn’t dressed properly or hasn’t made sure his hands are clean before meeting me. For some strange and maybe forever-unknown reason many front-office personnel can’t see the value in looking like the role they are trying to play. I’ve seen them wearing shirts with logos from other shops or businesses instead of their own, hats from the parts store down the street because they got them for free or, my personal favorite, the Harley-Davidson sleeveless T-shirt designed to show off the tattoos covering both arms from shoulder to wrist (might be appropriate for a service adviser at a Harley dealership but not to help the mother of two small children who is there to have her minivan serviced).
(3)
Is the service adviser going to make the customer feel welcome and safe? Will he or she immediately instill trust by being friendly, warm, caring and attentive? Will he or she take charge, leading the customer to the proper purchasing decision by demonstrating expertise in handling the situation without showing the slightest bit of arrogance that could turn the customer off?
With a new customer you have one chance in a fleeting moment to make a really good first impression, and – believe it – they will be watching you very closely and sizing you up. Do you fit their preconceived image? If you don’t you will lose at least a portion of their trust immediately, making it very difficult to sell to them at the price you want.
With a returning customer you need to understand that they came in again because they are happy with the experience they had during their most-recent visit. If this one falls short in any way there may not be another, so you can’t ever let your guard down. You need to look as sharp and act as professionally as you did previously. You can’t let the fact that you already know this customer sway you from your normal procedure, because that process is a big part of the reason they returned.
Eyeball people when you speak to them. If they get a puzzled look on their faces, be ready to give a better explanation. Don’t use industry jargon or abbreviations on consumers who can’t possibly understand them. You will lose their attention or, worse, they might think you are trying to put something over on them.
Although it’s true that in these challenging economic times consumers will do everything they can to save some money, it’s your job to convince them that dealing with a super professional, such as yourself, is the way to get what they need at a price that makes sense. So sharpen up the place, present yourself well, choose your words carefully and take the time to make customers feel good about their purchases. That’s the best way to allow your business to prosper in any economy.
Terry Greenhut, Transmission Digest Business Editor. Visit www.TerryGreenhut.com.
