Unsurprisingly, no Ratchet+Wrench Inside the Consumer's Mind respondent listed automotive training or expertise as a top concern or a major factor in their shop selection process. And for good reason.
Customers expect that you’re open for business because you have the training and capacity to do the job correctly.
“That’s the baseline assumption, but we know from covering this industry just how much time and money needs to be spent on training to continue to offer a quality repair—and we know that not every shop offers that same level of expertise,” says editor Bryce Evans.
“The key takeaway here is your customer doesn’t know what an ASE Blue Seal is and you have an opportunity to showcase the asset your shop can offer. It all comes down to how you communicate that," he says.
"You've already invested the time and money to keep your techs trained. Make sure you're capitalizing on that in a way your customers will understand." — Anna Zeck, Ratchet+Wrench editorial director
The team at Pride Auto Care snaps photos during training sessions or after a tech has achieved a new level of certification to post on the shop’s social media channels. The move is an easy win-win-win, clueing customers in on the training possible within the industry, showing customers the Pride Auto team is investing in that training, and helping customers get to know each individual on the Pride team. Co-owner Al Pridemore also writes educational blogs to help customers better understand their vehicles where he’ll incorporate references to the work his team is doing to stay up to date on a given issue.
And over at Matt’s Automotive Service Center where Matt Lachowitzer’s team is 100 percent certified (including 17 master technicians) and 25 hours of training are completed each quarter, training sessions and accomplishments are celebrated in social media posts as well, but they’re also hyped up to customers in person.
“Now they’ve heard about his credentials and how that’s going to benefit them, but they’ve also got a connection to the actual person who’s going to fix it for them,” he says. “It helps them feel like they made a sound choice and they have a personal contact at the shop.”
