A New DIY Era Is Upon Us
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.
What Did You Expect?
When you’re hiring new employees it is extremely important to tell them exactly what your expectations of them are right from the beginning. There has to be some direction from the start or they can easily decide for themselves what this job should be, and that probably won’t get you the results you want.
What Are You so Afraid of?
Do these customers threaten physical violence if they don’t get their cars fixed at a cheap price? Not usually; if anything they say scary things like “That’s too much money,” “the car’s not worth it,” “I can get it cheaper down the street,” or “I don’t have that kind of money.” Now, if those phrases have rattled you so much in the past that you are now at the point where you drop your price before you even present it to the customer, you are losing sight of a very important point. The customer who would try to negotiate down your price by giving you all those objections would do so no matter what price you started out at. He or she would have fought you no matter what. The problem is that if you started low out of fear, there is nothing more for you to do than go even lower or try very hard to fight off the onslaught of price objections to follow. Starting higher would at least give you some wiggle room if you couldn’t handle every one of their price objections and felt at some point that you would have to negotiate. Then even a negotiated price would be profitable.
It’s not What You Do, It’s the Way You Do It!
Presentation is critical in dealing with comebacks or other customer concerns
Good intentions are wonderful, but they are only a concept until they are put into action and properly executed. For example, you may be more than willing to take care of a comeback or other not-so-enjoyable customer situation, but is that what your voice and mannerisms convey to your customers?
Understaffed Shops Make for Underserved Customers
When the shop is understaffed, owners and managers turn down work. Often they don’t know they are doing it and they will never admit that they are chasing customers, but that’s what they’re doing by not trying very hard to sell a job or by stalling customers off to a point where some of them just go away – all because they are understaffed and don’t know how they will get the work out after they’ve taken it in.
It’s Not Your Fault – or Is It?
We may need to market our goods and services differently, but we should never change our morality and basic philosophy. We came this far by providing honesty and customer service at profitable prices; to change any of that would prove disastrous. I understand that the fear of charging too much during hard economic times can scare shop owners into lowering prices and not trying as hard to sell everything the customer may need, but the reality is that you need a good price or you won’t be around to sell the customer anything in the not-too-distant future, and it is a disservice not to report everything that’s needed.
Do You Sell Enough to Keep Your Technicians Busy?
Technicians can play a big part in the sales process, thereby controlling their own destiny to some degree. They can and should be doing an excellent job of checking out each vehicle that comes into their bay no matter why it is initially there. They should make all repair and service recommendations to the service adviser even if they find so many items that it might scare them. The service adviser’s job is to sort them all out, check the vehicle’s history to see what has already been done and decide what the customer really needs now, what can be put off for a little while and what can wait even longer; then he or she has to do a stellar job of selling all those items and giving alternatives only if the customer can’t or is unwilling to have them all done now. The idea is to keep the vehicle on the lift and perform as many repairs and services as possible to save the technician from making unnecessary moves, allowing for maximum productivity.
Rounding It Down
Did you ever get excited about the prospect of paying a visit to your local deli for coffee or a sandwich? I do every time. From the point of view of a marketing and sales consultant, doing business in this store is an absolute and rare pleasure, the kind of experience we should provide for our customers every time. Because I witness so many doing it wrong, it’s extremely refreshing to deal with people who go out of their way to do it right day after day.
On Building Better Customer Relationships
Not very many years ago the business world seemed to be in full swing. Anyone who wanted to put forth even a minimal effort was making money at one thing or another. Jobs were plentiful – to the point, in fact, where many could not be filled. Compared with now it was relatively easy for us to sell our services and repairs, because the motoring public had readily available funds or the credit they needed to secure them.
Alignment
No, not wheel alignment – people alignment; aligning yourself with the right people for the situation you happen to find yourself in at any given time.
All the books we’ve read and audio programs we’ve listened to about goal setting and achievement tell us that after we decide on what we want and set a goal we have to make and stick to a plan. Part of that plan has to be identifying and aligning ourselves with people in the right places who can help us get what we need.
It’s Sometimes Overwhelming
Are you in a continual state of being overwhelmed by either having so many customers that you can’t find adequate time to sell properly and do for them everything they need, or not having enough customers and always being behind with the bills you have and sometimes cannot pay? Either scenario is not healthy for you or your business. In fact, the first could easily lead to the second if not remedied. Not spending enough time with your good customers and selling them what they really need when they come in for minor services can lose many of them for you and put you in the unenviable position of not having enough customers to generate the dollars you need.
What Is a Good Shrink Worth these Days?
Psychiatrists and psychologists charge an awful lot of money for an hour’s worth of their time. Unlike us, they really don’t fix anything quickly. They mostly turn it around on the patient and ask, “How do you feel about that and what do you think you should do about it?”
Can you imagine trying to ask your customers either of those questions? It would be the last time you ever saw them. They want us to diagnose and fix it right the first time, as fast and for as little as possible.
