Silverstein: Price Shoppers Versus Genuine Customers

I think as shop owners, we can all agree that time is our most precious asset. We routinely use time as a barometer to measure efficiency and productivity. We order parts online, communicate with customers via text messages, develop strategies to help technicians save time by locating parts near their bays, and we're constantly looking for ways to streamline operations to use time more effectively to our advantage—except for, it seems, in qualifying customers over the phone who may be price shoppers. 

Countless minutes are wasted, often culminating in hours squandered, as shop owners try in vain to convince those whose focus is solely on price of the need to bring their car into the shop. It's easy to understand why, as marketing to make the phone ring can be expensive, and shop owners want to capitalize on the money spent. I refer to the technique commonly used as the “20 questions” tactic.

The service advisor asks multiple questions, typically beginning with: "What makes you think you need ..." and continues from there. It stems from the perplexing idea that even with the collective sum of human knowledge available a few keystrokes away on the internet, people are suddenly and inexplicably rendered ignorant, incapable of conveying their thoughts in any other way except to ask about price because "they don't know what else to ask." How absurd.
 
The importance of investing our most valuable asset—time—wisely with those who are a good fit for our business can not be understated. If there are faster, more efficient ways to weed out those who aren't a good fit, we owe it to our employees, actual customers, and families to employ those methods and determine those whose values align with our own.  
 
In my experience as a 26-plus-year shop owner, what follows has proven itself to be a great way to qualify legitimate prospects and focus on customers who value my shop's expertise and services. This is not a script; you need not quote it verbatim. What's important to note is that if the prospect replies with anything other than “yes," then you can decide if it will be worthwhile to spend additional time with them.

To quote Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman: "The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests." The goal, therefore, is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship based on shared interests. Simply put: your interests must directly align with theirs. If you find yourself fighting to establish that common ground, you'll likely be wasting your time.

The example “dialogue” below highlights a technique that I used to successfully distinguish price shoppers from my ideal customer.