MANAGEMENT

25 February 2009

Technician Access

The Key to Repeat Visits

Amanda Elias
amanda@rippleforce.com

From oil changes to wiper blades to replacement brake pads and shoes, a retail customer will spend $325 per year on service, parts, and accessories. Over a driving lifetime of 50 years, that’s more than $15,000. From a single informed customer.

Is your team selling one oil change ata time, or a lifetime of oil changes, every time?

Invest a little in long-term customer spending. Build consumer confidence in your trained technicians. Demonstrate your commitment to increasing customer awareness, with a hands-on, interactive Service & Safety seminar.

A need to know

Today’s automotive service consumer has more than the need to go—they have the need to know. They have questions and concerns about the second-largest expense in their lives. You have everything you need to address their questions, and instil customer confidence in your technicians and services.

A professional, interactive, hands-on Service & Safety seminar builds relationships and reinforces trust. Ultimately, taking customers’ needs seriously, before they need you, makes them think of you first when they do need routine services, preventative maintenance, and repairs.

So where is the shiny red tool box loaded with approachability and unparalleled access to trained technicians? In which aisle is your ample supply of credibility neatly hung? Is there a heap of believability stacked right out in the open for all to see? No, there isn’t. Those are things your customers have to see in action to believe.

Respect knowledge and training

Your technicians and apprentices are a remarkable tool when it comes to relationship building. For them, your Service & Safety seminar presents a rare chance to have their education, training, and knowledge respected. If you ask any technician or counter person what is their most frequent occupational frustration, chances are they will say “dealing with ignorant/ uneducated consumers.” You can change that, and increase your overall profitability in the process. Everybody wins.

A strong Service & Safety seminar addresses the most urgent of driver concerns, while showcasing your technical crew as knowledgeable, friendly and, approachable.

An effective, customer-driven seminar will include:

Separate workgroups for men and women. They have entirely different ownership priorities, questions, and concerns.
Simple training in public speaking for presenting technicians, so that they are effective communicators. Give them a content outline to follow so their information is cohesive.
Interactive, hands-on workstations. Nothing is more boring than a lecture, and customers want to get involved.

Show them how

Teach them a safe, easy roadside tire change. This provides excellent opportunities to discuss inflation, rotation, and alignment. Inflation ties directly into fuel economy, letting participants know you have their budgets in mind. When you discuss the importance of routine tread inspections, you build confidence by saying “we do that for you!”

Have a demonstration of fluids and fill ports under the hood. Let customers open the hood, as many don’t even know where their secondary hood latch is. Have customers check the oil dipstick, under guidance of a trained technician. This station provides abundant opportunities to re-emphasize “we do that for you!”

Customer tour

Take customers for a tour under the vehicle. Have them identify jacking points, which are relevant to the Tire Change. That ties your workstations together. Remove a front and rear tire, preferably on a disc/drum system, and remove the brake pads for passing around.

Invite your customers when they pay for their service, when they will be most interested. Clearly describe the benefits. Offer them a choice of two pre-scheduled dates, and give them an invitation to take home. Keep a list of those who are given an invitation, so you can call and remind them.

Are guests welcome at your seminar? Absolutely. After all, you never know where the next $15,000 will come from!