Shop owners and Managers must adjust their business processes to address today's vehicle service realities.
Consider the higher quality of fluids and synthetics that are now being used today in all vehicles.
Consider vehicle manufacturers are now recommending 10,000, 20,000 even 30,000 kilometers between oil changes.
This means that there will be many cases where the shop sees the customer/client twice or maybe only once a year as we move forward depending on their annual driving distance and habits.
This raises a concern for 2 key vehicle issues, namely, safety and reliability.
If you have not done so, it is time to start discussions and to educate every customer/client the importance of having a thorough semi-annual vehicle inspection. The semi-annual date should be booked before the client leaves, with the shop following up within a week of the date to ensure it is still convenient for the client. If not, re-schedule.
Too many shops are not taking charge of their client base and managing their vehicle service properly. They rely on the client to remember to come back.
The fact is the consumer is too busy and has enough to look after in their own lives. The last thing most consumers think about is vehicle maintenance, in fact, vehicle maintenance has been neglected since the start of the recession. It is similar to the thought, if I'm feeling OK, there is no need to call my doctor for a check-up. The same now has happened with vehicles. They are built over all with a higher quality, so they just don't breakdown or require the frequency of service the way they used to 10 to 20 years ago. If it's running, everything is fine, why should I contact the garage for service?
As a Professional Service Provider you must understand what type of customer/client you are dealing with and what are their personal parameters in regards to servicing their vehicle? We must take the responsibility to do our best to ensure they are never compromising safety or are inconvenienced.
This opens the debate as to whether we should have mandatory annual vehicle inspections across the country and who is legally authorized to take an unsafe vehicle off the road? I am totally supportive of that concept of legislation. It is a safety issue. Some of the vehicles driving on the road today are outright dangerous. The annual date for an inspection to be completed could be on the individuals birthday; not everyone all at once by a given month as that would create chaos in a shop. This concept is urgent, however, it is for another blog as we move forward in this industry.
Review your front counter processes and your back end inspection procedures and reporting processes. Are you up to date with today's realities and your Professional responsibilities?
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3 comments:
What a concept - annual safeties! In the 1990's when I was a member of the the Provincial Advisory Committee for Motive Power Trades, we tried this one on. There was not the political will at the time to tackle this issue. We were instead presented with the early prospects of the Clean Air program.
Perhaps now with greater emphasis on "safety" as witnessed by WHMIS, our industry could begin to lobby again for this important aspect of automotive service.
I find it amazing that many professional service providers have yet to recognize the importance of regular scheduled vehicle maintenance. Maybe, they do not have the processes in place to make it happen? Maybe, they just do not know how to do it in a professional manner? To me its simple. Copy the steps and processes that dental offices use to schedule bi-annual teeth cleanings. The template is simple, easy to implement, and the foundation for building return clients.
So go ahead. Book a teeth cleaning today!
Sincerely,
Glen Matthew
Marketing Manager: BMGT, BA
Automotive Parts Distributors
glenm@apdparts.ca
403-885-5800
The practice of pre booking the next service and then doing the phone dance to contact the client to confirm sounds simple enough in theory. It is however time consuming and that time has to be alotted every single day without exception or it won't work if you fall behind!! It helps if your office management computer software has the built in tools to accommodate this, as ours does. Regular service reminder's be they snail mailed or emailed should be the backbone of every shops basic level of client/customer service retention.
At our shop we rely on all these resources as well as our online Internet presence to keep our clients in the loop. We find the method of communication
the client prefer's and embed that into their profile, and do our best to stay consistent. Communication is the key, the methods have changed dramatically in the last few years but the principle is still the same.
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