On my flight over to the recent I-CAR Annual Conference, I read in USA Today how business at Best Buy, despite the weak economy, is thriving thanks to its emphasis on customer service. This emphasis on service is also the reason Best Buy is kicking the pants off its competitor, Circuit City, which is having major financial trouble.
This is just another example of how important customer service is to a business. Yes, the retail electronics business is a completely different animal than collision repair, but there is something we can learn here. With not enough repairs to go around out there and insurance companies steering most of the available jobs to their preferred shops, some shops are at a loss as to how to bring in more business or at least make sure to close the deal when a customer walks in to "interview" them for the job (that's right, the customer isn't coming in for an estimate, he or she is waiting for you to impress him or her by extolling the virtues of your shop). One way is stellar customer service, something the industry as a whole could polish up on.
Sometimes it's the little things that count, such as coming out from behind the counter as soon as a customer walks in and engaging him or her right away in a friendly manner. Some restaurants tell their servers to try to engage diners within 30-45 seconds of their arrival at the table, and if one server is slammed then someone else should at least greet the diners and tell them their server will be with them shortly. The bottom line is, people don't like to be ignored. It makes them feel you don't want their business.
And all shops could show a little more empathy to their customers' situations. In the article "Sell That Job!" in the upcoming August issue of BodyShop Business, Hank Nunn writes that "the customer wants empathy above everything else when he or she comes to our business."
Extreme customer service. It's something every shop can improve and reap benefits from.