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What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate!
by: Jack Fitzpatrick
The economy may not be recovering at the speed we all would like to see, but it’s chugging along. For most of us, business is fair to midland, but by no means, good. However; things could change for the positive, almost overnight, if we would just focus on the most important ingredient of our business, the Customers.
In a nut shell, “Customer Satisfaction” is the constant driving force that customers use to determine who will be their vendor of choice. Not only in the car business, but in any purchase decision they make. Think about it. Do you go out of your way to spend money on a product or service where you feel you are not getting treated the way you should? Of course not! Why should you?
Why should this be any different in our Service department? We need to go out of our way to make sure we understand what the customer wants, and also relay back to the customer the fact that we understand, and can provide information that provides a practical solution to the issue at hand. What we are talking about here is communication!
- Communication occurs when you transmit information to another person.
- Successful communication occurs when the recipient of the message actually understands what you are trying to tell them and then provides feedback letting you know they understand the message. This will happen from Customer to Service writer, and also Service writer to Customer.
We are constantly communicating with each other, both with words and without, Verbal & Non-Verbal.
Because communication goes beyond the words we say, we often experience problems in our attempts to communicate effectively with others. For example; stand at your Service drive one morning, and observe the customer interaction from the time they walk through the door until they leave. You might be surprised. I hope pleasantly surprised, but, unfortunately, with the business the way it sits today, we might be on the wrong side of the fence. But that’s OK, as long as we recognize it and change for the better.
There are 3 basic ways we communicate with our customers: Verbally, Vocally, and Visually.
- Verbally - Simple enough - the words we use to attempt communication
- Vocalization – Not just the words we use, but how we use them (tone, inflection, pitch, volume)
- Visualization - This is what the Customer “sees” while we are talking to them. This is by far the most powerful element of the 3 types of communication listed here.
In the “Believe it or Not” category there have been studies that have broken down the percentage of the three elements listed above, and its effect on communication. Verbal accounts for about 7% of communication, Vocal accounts for 38%, and low and behold, Visual accounts for up to 55% of how we communicate with our Customers. It’s pretty amazing when you sit and think about it.
But now let’s get back to our lane observation, and think about what we have learned from the above. Is Joe, the Service advisor, just hunting and pecking at his keyboard as the customer is telling the story of the “running rough condition” with his head down not even looking at the customer? If the answer is yes, there might be room for improvement in this area of communication at your store.
If we could improve this facet of your operation, the overall payout to your department can be increased Customer satisfaction which leads to Increased Customer Retention...which can lead to increased sales, and the ultimate goal to raise departmental net profit. Now isn’t that a novel idea?
At M5 Management Services, we specialize in helping you recognize the areas of opportunity you might have in your fixed operations, and then develop, with you, a plan for success based on proven best practices that we use on a daily basis in dealerships all across the country.
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