Providing good service just doesn’t cut it anymore
By Bob Greenwood
It has been a tradition of our sector in referring and embracing a mind-set that states “the importance of providing good service to the consumer at a competitive price”. I think that statement is stale dated and out of touch with reality, considering the complexities of both the vehicles and the business today.
It is time to re-write that statement and have every level of the aftermarket get their head around and acknowledge “the importance of providing excellence to the consumer at the right price”. There is a difference with the statements. The first statement has emphasis on “competitive price” which in essence states we can beat a price that you have been quoted. The second statement emphasizes “competency and knowledge” with the word, “excellence”. Competency and knowledge is more important today then price.
 New car dealerships are sending the message that they are focussed on the consumer. This personal attention can be attractive and providing special details like washing every vehicle, proper, timely service notification and “going the extra mile” can be impressive. There is only one way to beat that level of service and that is by executing better than the dealership can. Delivering your service in an “excellent” format will impress the consumer and allow the independent shop to move his/her business forward by attracting and retaining a client.........the same type of person the dealership wants.
Independent shop owners and managers must clearly explain this to their staff. It is imperative everyone is reading from the same book and on the same page. It’s important that staff understand the complexities of today’s competition and realize they must come to work each day and function as a team with the real desire to beat the dealerships at their own game. With a focussed shop, this can be achieved. Get your team to follow you out of the trenches because they believe in your vision and purpose, not because they are afraid of the consequences if they don’t. Your people are the shop’s greatest asset. Consider that management can buy a man’s time; you can buy his/her physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of his/her skilled muscular motions per hour but you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy devotion of hearts, minds or souls . . . You must earn these. Good service is just not good enough anymore. We must strive for excellence which requires the following attributes to become the culture of the independent sector shop:
- Sensitivity to customer/client needs and anxieties. Listen carefully to them and look them in the eye when you do so.
- Become the Expert in your customer/client situation by understanding their outcome expectations.
- Take Responsibility to ensure that the customer/client’s expectations are exceeded.
- When this happens, the shop will become Valuable to the client as the trust factor begins to build.
- By becoming valuable, it means you have become Involved with the client by understanding his/her expectations completely.
- This means the entire personnel of the shop has now made a Commitment to work together and ensure they never let the customer/client down.
- When all these dots are connected, the shop and its personnel are now perceived as Excellent at what they do. This is the highest public perception a shop can achieve.
Notice the first letter of every highlighted word, when put together, spells the word “Service”. This is a new definition of service that raises the bar to take the business back from the real competition to a level of excellence. This service level is in-depth and requires management’s full focus to ensure it is executed within the shop. When it is executed, then the shop has reached the level of understanding that says they understand “the importance of providing excellence to the consumer at the right price”. The profitability of the shop begins to change when its culture changes since a better clientele is starting to be attracted for full vehicle maintenance and all service work - a client that used to go back to the new car dealership.
Much, much more in the print addition of Auto Atlantic.
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