For customers declining repairs, don't pressure; instead, build trust

For customers declining repairs, don't pressure; instead, build trust https://ift.tt/3EPrUqB

To get a customer to reconsider recommended repairs that have been declined, a service adviser should forgo aggressive sales tactics and instead begin building a relationship.

That was the advice fixed ops trainer and consultant Lee Harkins gave during a Nov. 23 Fixed Ops Journal webinar. Harkins, CEO of M5 Management Services, says earning customers' trust by forging a friendship is the best way to get them to rethink their decision.

"We've got to be able to really make that customer feel good about considering us to provide that service," Harkins said. "There should never be pressure placed on a customer."

Instead, service advisers need to show they care about the customer. "Call that customer and say, 'Listen, we're concerned. Your brakes were really low, and we would like to ask you to reconsider having us do that,' " he said.

To get customers to rethink a declined service takes consultive, or relationship, selling, Harkins said. This approach is different than traditional selling that can be seen as manipulative or based on pressuring a customer.

But being good at consultive selling requires a process, which will give advisers and the service staff a routine to follow. Having this will develop confidence and improve consistency, Harkins said.

‘Collective brainpower'

The exercise begins with the service manager jotting down ideas of what the process should look like. Staff is invited to provide input. "One of our greatest assets in the store is the collective brainpower of our staff and of our people," he said. "Once we get them thinking, there's a lot we can do."

The draft document is revised as many times as needed after feedback is received. Once the process is written, training can begin.

"You conduct that sit-down review meeting with the staff," Harkins said. "As you're reading the process, you're explaining each step to them and what the manager's expectations are in that category. And once we do that, then we establish those expectations of performance.

"Now they have a standard that you have spelled out that you expect them to work at. This is a tremendous tool."

Retention is goal

The goal of this approach is the long-term retention of the customer, Harkins said. And that is best accomplished by establishing a relationship with the customer based on trust, not intimidation.

"We always want to be positioning ourselves for that next visit and that next opportunity, not drive them away," he said. "That's what we want to make sure doesn't happen. The word games — 'What's it gonna take to get you to …' — doesn't have a place in the service department.

"Let's put service back into it where we bombard the customer with extra perceived value — factory-trained technicians, factory parts, good prices — where the most logical answer when we ask him to spend that $800 is going to be 'yes.' "