I finally have supporting evidence for one of the claims I made months ago: if you take care of your customer, they will take care of you. A customer called asking if she could text over picture. She wanted to send a picture of a business card from an A/C shop that she was very happy with.
I’ll add some context here. She just wanted a simple A/C recharge on her 2003 BMW 325. She went to a nearby shop that does air conditioning service and repair, but it’s not that shop’s specialty. She didn’t care for how she was handled by the service advisor and proceeded to the A/C specialty shop that we had recommended. The owner wanted to do a complete service, not just recharge it (yes, that makes sense). However, she felt as if she was being sold stuff she didn’t need. She then went to a third A/C shop nearby. The owner was very nice and agreed to just recharge her A/C system. I presume he prepared her in case there was a slow leak and what that would entail in the near future. She was so pleased with him and how he treated her that she wanted to make sure we knew about it. I’ll bet she told other people as well. That’s my point: he took care of her, and she took care of him – by referring him. And here are two more stories about taking care of people.
At a previous Porsche race shop where I worked, we did some performance work on a Porsche 914/6 that the customer occasionally took to the track. His bill was about $400. The owner of the shop said to me: “No charge. He let me stay at his place for two weeks when I was younger.” That’s taking care of someone who took care of you. That’s also integrity.
That same shop owner was going through some tough times during his shop growth. One parts supplier worked with him during those tough times, allowing many late payments. To return that favor, that trust, that parts supplier has been his first choice for years, regardless of cost. He takes care of a company that took care of him.
A technician at a nearby shop is very good at programming and reprogramming on many systems. He has bailed out many shops in the area when they couldn’t figure it out. He charges good money for his knowledge, sometimes $500, but those that hire him still make money. He told me about a pretty tough job at a BMW shop recently for which he only charged $150. I said, “Wow, you could have charged a lot more.” He said, “No, he helped me get started in this industry many years ago.” Again, good people take care of people who take care of them. Good customers will take care of you if you take care of them.
But make sure you let them know. For example: “By the way, your headlights were a bit dull, so we did a quick polish on them. Your car looks new again. Ha, ha.” Or: “I had some room to knock a little off of list price for you.” “Tell the tire shop that we referred you. They give our customers a good price.”
I suggest you rethink your current business model and give this a try. Your happy customers could become your best salespeople just by referring new customers. And those referral customers are already three-quarters sold on you. This means that those referrals will most likely trust you and say yes to the additional work from the DVI. Think about it how much that new customer can be worth to you over a period of five years … You may even be able to spend less on marketing thanks to the customers who are referring you.
