Make Money While the Snow Flies
Nobody wants to admit that the transmission business is seasonal, but we all know that to a degree it is. Winter and summer are the busiest times. Whether you’re up north where it’s cold and snowy or down south where the snowbirds go to escape, you can expect to be much busier from December to February than you are from March to May and again from June to August than from September to November.
Sharper and Sharper!
For many years trainers, myself included, have been teaching our industry owners and managers to do everything we can to keep the mystery in our trade, and to not freely give away our diagnostic and repair secrets to the motoring public and our competitors. Our education is something for which we paid dearly, and we should be compensated for providing it. As much as we would like to keep that information proprietary it’s getting more difficult every day, which is why our sales skills must become sharper.
You Can’t Get a Lot for a Little!
Although some customers will try to get away as cheaply as possible, most realize that they have to at least pay a fair price to get a car fixed properly. Fortunately for us, people who place quality and service above price outnumber those who don’t by four to one. That means that about 80% of your customers are far more motivated by the look and the feel of the service than the price of it.
Do You Come to Play or to Win?
As many of you know I am an avid golfer among other things. I meet lots of people when I golf. Many of them are out there to play the game. They want to drive the cart or walk around in the sun and just be happy that they are out there away from the responsibilities of life for five hours.
Retrace Your Steps for an Easier Sale
When a customer calls to tell you about a transmission problem and possibly tries to get you to quote a price over the phone, a process has been started — one that, if handled properly, will go from the phone call to a shop visit, to a diagnosis, to the eventual sale of whatever repairs or services are necessary to solve the customer’s problem.
Your Guess Is as Good as Mine!
What do your customers really think of your shop and the services you have to offer? What do they really want from you? What will make them want to come see you again and how often? What incentives, if any, are important to them? What will turn a prospect who doesn’t seem to want to buy into a customer? What will it take to keep that customer for life? Do you know, or are you just guessing on the basis of your own feelings or a few comments that a handful of customers have made to you over the years.
They Don’t Listen
What do lots of owners whose small businesses get into trouble have in common? They don’t listen. Maybe they don’t even ask, but the fact remains that they have major difficulties because they assume they know what their customers want and need. Finding out could save the lives of their businesses and allow them to prosper. Their lack of listening skills also gets them into trouble when they’re trying to handle customer-relations issues. We’ll look at both problems.
Hiring a Good Service Writer or Shop Manager
Many owners believe that they can save a $50,000-a-year salary if they do the selling themselves, but if they aren’t any good at it or their hearts aren’t in it they might be throwing away $150,000 in additional profits to try to save $50,000. I can understand the concept of running lean and mean if the phones aren’t ringing much, in which case a lot more promotional work needs to be done, but if they are ringing and the work isn’t being sold because of an owner whose sales techniques are questionable at best, not having a manager is a major mistake in judgment.
Being Nice Pays Off like a Slot Machine
Some of the most-successful business people in the world are also some of the most gracious. When you talk with them they make you feel important, that what you have to say matters, that you are their only concern at that moment. Just think how successful you might be if every one of your customers felt that way about you and your company. The key is to have people say, “Wow, what a great experience I had with the person I dealt with at ….”
Baby, It Was Cold Outside
For those whose business increased, it was all about an attitude adjustment and application of the techniques they had learned. One multi-shop owner reported that one of his locations that had averaged $10,000 a week in sales pretty much forever did $10,000 in the first two days after the manager got back from the seminar. He attributed the striking increase to his manager’s new attitude toward the customers and the business. It was like all of a sudden the light bulb went on and he realized that you can be nice to the customers and aggressive about marketing your products and services to them at the same time, that selling them what they need isn’t a turn-off to them, but not giving them the opportunity to buy is.
Hello! Complaint Department
We all know the difference between a recession and a depression. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours. But a recession makes people crawl into a foxhole to wait for the war to pass by. The cycle generally lasts for a year or more. It usually takes about that long for Joe Average to figure out he isn’t going to lose his job. During the time he’s in fear and not buying anything, a strange phenomenon is taking place. He’s actually paying down his credit card and other debt. As soon as he again feels confident that his job is OK, he opens the floodgates and begins to spend, and pretty heavily at that. After all, he has to catch up on all those things he wanted to buy.
Customer Loyalty – You Can Expect It Only When You Earn It
Many in the transmission and auto-care business claim that customers aren’t loyal anymore. I guess my first question then is, “Were they ever?” On their own, without the necessary effort on the part of shop owners and managers, were those customers ever really loyal?
