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Lee Harkins' Thoughts
In our business, Customer Retention must be our ultimate goal! Your competition has been successful in stripping away at your business. These independent service providers are fighting for every customer they get! Your fight must include focusing on making your operation “different” than before! Remember, they disqualified your operation because of the way you were. Not changing anything and then thinking they will return is a poor strategy.
M5 can help you and your dealership develop tactical methods to advance your business. Call us for suggestions! It would be our pleasure to help.
Thank you,
Lee Harkins
President and CEO
M5™ Management Services, Inc.
leeharkins@m5ms.com
Please be sure to share your reply to the survey questions listed below. After supplying your response, notice how your operation compares to the others.
Also note, the questions will change from time to time, so be sure to check back!
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Would You Treat Your Mother That Way?
by: Bruce Gamble
It still amazes me how some employees treat their customers in service environments. Some talk down to customers as if to say “I know everything and you know nothing”. Some pass customers in the hallway or service reception area as if the customers were not even in the room! Others, when asked where the restrooms are, would point to the door and say “through there”.
To help your staff realize how customers might perceive them have them perform this exercise at their next weekly training meeting (assuming you have regular training meetings). Give them each a sheet of blank paper and ask them to draw a very large cross on the paper. On the top left side of the cross write “THE BEST”. On the right side have them write “THE WORST” as in the example below.
In the left column have them write down five (5) particular businesses by name that they like to do business with and give them two (2) minutes to make the list. Ask each of them why they like to do business with that company and list those items on your white board or flip chart. Now ask them to write down in the right column five (5) particular businesses by name they do not want to do business with in the future and give them two (2) minutes to make that list. Now list those companies and why they would not do business with them again on your chart.
More than likely you will find the reason they do business with a particular company has more to do with customer service than money. My bet is the majority of the reasons, in either column, do not mention money. Would you have guessed that? Most staff feel customers do not return to them due to price. You probably proved that wrong in the above exercise.
Hopefully they will ask themselves which column their customers would place them on if these same questions were asked.
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Skid Marks
Skid Marks is an ongoing article series that shares the lighter side of working in a service department. All the stories are true. Brand names and real names have been removed.
I was a service manager at a dealership and at the time there was a campaign to replace the front door airbags. I had one technician who was deathly afraid to work on airbags because he thought one was going to deploy on him while he worked on it. One busy day this poor guy was the only tech available to perform this campaign for a waiting customer. So as many technicians do, he asked one of the other guys for a little help. Of course the other tech told him not to bother disconnecting the battery and that all he really needed to do was remove the interior trim panel, unplug and remove the old airbag and reinstall the new one.
Being the subject of more than one practical joke, this poor tech was a little skeptical but went ahead with the process. Once he got to the point where he was ready to remove the old airbag, he called his “helper” over and asked for a little assurance. Of course, the senior tech couldn’t let this great opportunity pass by without having a little fun, so he picked up a big wooden block that was in his stall and walked over. “Don’t worry” he said to the nervous tech, “just unplug it.” So while leaning over the side of the car and watching the poor unsuspecting tech unplug the airbag, he slammed the wooden block against the side of the above-ground lift just as the airbag was unplugged. Now I wasn’t there to personally witness this, but I’m told by a few of the other techs, that he literally came off the ground when he heard the crack.
Needless to say, that was the last time he performed that campaign...
If you have a funny story that you'd like to share with your peers in the industry please send them to newsletter@m5ms.com and we will include them in a future Skid Marks article. Please remember that we will remove ALL brand names and real names.
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