If all that matters to you is getting approval for additional work or deferred work, I’ll bet you’ve got an attrition problem. I’ll also bet that after you get that approval, you move on to the next thing. But your customer does not, particularly if you had to “sell” them on the idea or deal with their objections. They are probably replaying what happened and wondering if they’re being taken advantage of.

The Cost of Selling

I recently heard a dealership service advisor coach say that if a service advisor can’t get approval for additional work, they should get another adviser to talk to the customer or get the service manager to talk to them—as if it were a personality issue. At that point, you are really selling, overselling, or upselling, not to mention making the customer feel outnumbered. Then there’s the probability of dealing with objections all over again.

Do yourself a favor—acquaint yourself with the phrase, “Everybody likes to buy, but nobody likes to be sold.” Then look up customer attrition in the automotive industry. The statistics for new customers, regular customers, repeat customers, and overall attrition are scary high.

Rethinking Customer Attrition

If I ask shop owners or advisors how the industry loses customers to attrition, they typically provide the standard answers:

• The customer moved
• They sold the kind of car the shop works on
• The customer died. 

Then I ask, “How many times have you moved?” “How many times have you died?”

Regarding customers selling the kind of car your shop specializes in, I'll bet many German car people buy another German car, American car people buy another American car, and the same goes for Asian car people. So how many customers are you really losing because they changed vehicles? Probably fewer than you think. What's left? The experience they had with your shop.

Here’s another possibility that nobody brings up: something didn’t go right between the customer and the repair shop. 

Or consider something I recently read about: a customer had a neutral experience. Wow! It seems like people would almost want a neutral experience. Or is that too impersonal? People want to be appreciated and understood. So what does a neutral experience actually look like?

From Transactions to Relationships

Let’s say the customer arrives at the shop and gets written up for maintenance and a check engine light. An hour or two later, the technician finds a few more concerns. The customer is called, agrees to all the work, and later picks up their car.

While that seems to be what’s expected, I wonder if that is a neutral experience. What else happened or could have happened during the customer interaction?

It’s been said that we are in the experience economy. What was the customer’s experience? Did you make an extra phone call on their behalf? Did you ask what’s new and catch up since you last saw them? Did you suggest a new restaurant, movie, or park for the kids or grandchildren? Were there a few laughs?

In other words, are you dealing with the customer as a friend or just tending to their car?

Now think about the customer who was talked into additional work and analyzed the conversation after they hung up, 5 or 10 minutes later, or a half hour later. Or maybe their spouse quizzed them on why they agreed to the repairs. The customer replays the experience in their mind. Was it an interaction or a transaction?

Hospitality Creates Loyalty

For a more realistic view of managing customers’ expectations, read the book “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara. It’s the story of a restaurant becoming the No. 1 restaurant in the world by way of hospitality—not just great food. Is there hospitality at your shop? Perhaps a smile and a warm greeting? Can they sense you care? Is there an unrushed atmosphere in the morning? How about small cookies or brownies on the counter? Pay attention to what other businesses are doing from a hospitality point of view—not just repair shops. See’s Candies still gives away a free sample of candy to guests visiting their company-owned retail shops. Although I’m a health food guy, I can still remember going with a friend and getting a free doughnut at a doughnut shop more than 20 years ago.

So, shift your repair shop out of neutral. Crank up the customer experience and keep your customers happy to be there—and coming back.