Once upon a lifetime ago, I had a mentor that would say, “kid, you’re either a buyer or a seller in this world. What will you be today?” That question always stuck with me as I traveled thru my careers, because even though I’m an avid consumer, I am most certainly a seller in the scheme of life. As you personally ponder that question, I bet you think, as an owner of an auto shop, you’re a seller, and selling car repair. Which yes, on the surface you are, but right under the surface, in the subconscious where people make their biggest purchasing decisions, you are selling so much more than repairs to your guest. You are selling peace of mind and a guarantee to make things better for their future. You are the cultivators of security, trust, convenience, and care.
Like many of you, I own an auto shop. I have cars at my access on any given day, but if something happens to my daily driver, I am anxious and distraught. In my brain, I know I can get in another car, but it’s not MY car. It’s not set to my perfect seat settings, and it doesn’t have all the gadgets I like, and it doesn’t ride the same. I like it, and I’m very unhappy to be without it. So, imagine how your guests must feel handing you, their keys. For many of them, this is their only vehicle, they don’t have another car to hop in, and their life is still happening all around them. Their mind is spiraling out of control on how they keep going with no car. That’s a key moment you can make things easier for them.
Many of our guests are military moms with little kids. Every time we told a momma she needed lengthy work; we lost her. You could see the anxiety rise quickly. She knew she needed the work done, she wanted the work done, but she didn’t want to stay at the shop with the kids. And I get it. As a mom I know the feeling of not wanting to be stuck places with a tiny child. You want to get home. Our service team recognized this issue, and started talking about how we could move over this mountain. Once we worked through logistics, we launched Curbside Service to help people get around without their car. Our team will come get your car, drop it off for you, or take you to a local coffee shop if you have a quick service scheduled for the day.
Once word got out about Curbside Service, it took off. It was something tangible people could utilize, and it helped reduce the level of anxiety they felt about leaving their car at the shop. It was a point of difference that other shops weren’t offering, so Curbside Service gained us several new faces. But my favorite benefit to Curbside Service, that we didn’t even consider, was the opportunity to talk to our guests as we drove them around. We got to know them better and deepen relationships in so many great ways. It was a huge hero moment for us to roll this out, and the community loved it. Our service team made it easy to do car care with us. And the payoff was we saw our closing ratio rise and glowing google reviews come in.
Shortly after launching Curbside Service, we added one loaner car to the shop. We are a shop that does a significant amount of larger work, and sometimes it’s several days since we have our guest’s car. This sometimes would cause push back due to work schedules and family needs. Just as our Service Team recognized the mom issue, they saw the trend with long jobs being delayed. Our Service Manager requested we add additional loaner cars to the shop so he could offer them to more people with longer jobs. We have two loaners now and will add another this year. Pair that with a smooth-running curbside service, and we get to make car care easier for people several times a week.
I’m not saying you must start up curbside service or add loaner cars to your shop. But I am encouraging you to identify customer-facing issues you may have and use that issue as an opportunity to create a hero moment for your guests. The quicker you recognize and remove your public’s pain points of doing business with you, the quicker you have more keys in hand, and the quicker word of mouth spreads that you are more than just car care. And you are so much more than car care. You are a community helper, a family advocate, and a trusted professional. The Yes is much easier to gain when the ease of business is there. Make it easy.
