An industry that seems to have lost touch with its consumers is professional sports. Leagues such as the National Football League and National Basketball Association have moved away from giving the fans a superior product and have instead put the increase of profit first, which has often left fans with a mediocre product.
Since 2021, the NFL has moved to an 18-week season, changed its playoff format, and added Black Friday and Christmas games. Last year, the PGA added six high-stakes events to the tour. And the NBA? It added an In-Season Tournament this season. Why? The gamble is that more events mean higher ratings and more revenue from ad dollars. The question is: do fans want more games or better-quality events?
This isn’t a problem isolated to professional sports, it’s prevalent everywhere you look. As Victor Broski pointed out in his March 19 column, consumers don’t want to be sold, they want to be valued. They want an experience. If you can deliver on that, you win.
And that’s where the intersection of your shop’s data and consumer and industry trends meet. Unlike pro sports leagues who know fans will come back no matter what they do, your customers may not if they don’t feel heard.
In this month’s Breakdown, Mike Bennett, shop owner and industry coach, talks about which trends auto repair shop owners can expect in the automotive aftermarket in 2024. It would be wise to review these findings against your observations. Despite what you read in the news, the data doesn’t lie, as my colleague Brandon Steckler says.
Understanding where your market is and where you need to meet them is mission-critical. In giving them the service options and experience they want from your shop, Dutch Silverstein’s column this month is one for your break room. It’s a short primer on how to make your communication with customers clear and without ambiguity. Often, it’s not what we do that impresses our customers, but what we say and how our words make them feel.
At the end of the day, customers aren’t looking for more from you. They always want a better experience. Find a way to give it to them.
