Garage capitalises on customers looking for car services during TV ad breaks
Published: 17 May, 2022
An independent garage says it has successfully responded to the way in which customers now seem to look for vehicle services.
P&W Auto Services in Manchester, noticed a trend in the growing number of online enquiries it receives out of hours from late night surfers and, during what it assumes are TV ad breaks.
Trisha Pallister, co-owner of the family-run business, first noticed the change when she started tracking where and when the garage’s enquiries were coming from.
She said: “Years ago, if you wanted to book your car into the garage, you were restricted to getting in touch during opening hours. Now, I think people expect to be able to action things as soon as they come to mind – no matter what time it is.
“Thankfully, we were ahead of the curve. We commissioned a website and it’s literally like having another me that’s on call 24/7. My first job every morning is to respond to the email enquiries sent overnight via the website; we get at least four a day. These are almost always converted into bookings and those people then recommend us to other people.
“We get even more enquiries over the phone. It’s hardly surprising when you consider how high our website ranks in Google searches. We appeared in over 21,000 searches in March and from those, the enquiries that filter through are exactly the type of work we want.It’s because the site is built to attract what our potential customers are typing into the search. It’s something that can only be truly achieved with a bespoke site.”
Trisha also credits the decision to get a website as a game changer for P&W Auto Services’ growth. She continued: “Overall, it has helped the business grow massively. People liken us to a small dealership – obviously without the price tag. We’re definitely intercepting work that would have gone to a main dealer and we’re seeing a lot of in-warranty vehicles and prestigious marques.”
Trisha added: “If our website disappeared tomorrow, trade would drop off by at least 25%. I’m absolutely thrilled to bits with it. The team at Garage Services Online offer a customer service that’s rare these days. The whole thing was effortless, quick and not expensive. They asked me what I wanted. I got it. And boy is it delivering.”
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- Dealing with customer complaints
Running any business, and perhaps more so a service business like an independent garage, you have to learn to recognise there are different types of customers with different expectations.
How we deal and adapt our services, the customer journey to meet and exceed these expectations are essential if we are going to succeed in having a healthy profitable business. This function must be adopted by everyone in your garage regardless of size.
Occasionally however, we are faced with challenging customers who complain, usually in a passive aggressive manner. These customers feel they have a reason to be upset. I always used to say to my team at Brunswick Garage, that there will always be a small percentage of customers that we will never be able to please, and importantly we must not let these handful of customers taint our view of all customers. When you find yourself having to deal with a disgruntled customer, remembering a few simple techniques can help to defuse the situation. Both parties being upset and defensive will not amount to anything positive.
Listen
In my experience running independent garages, I came to the realisation that in virtually every case of an unhappy customer, all that was needed to resolve the customer concern was to listen to the customer, or recognise actually they weren’t being listened to.
The customer isn’t always right, but it’s not always okay to tell them that, sometimes you have to act as if they are right. Active listening, eye contact, nodding your head in agreement, being on the same level with them, expressing empathy, and relating to how the customer is feeling can be incredibly helpful. Remember to place yourself in the customer’s position or frame of mind and never patronise a customer or look for excuses. We are working in an industry where many aspects of the customer journey have to come together from the initial phone call to returning the customers vehicle keys, so we have to accept that sometimes things go wrong however much we try to avoid mistakes.
Rapport
Once you have been able to establish some rapport, you may find a mutually agreeable resolution to the problem, and you must do whatever you can to achieve this outcome. Explain to the customer what you are going to do to help the situation. It could be engaging the customer in a test drive to better understand the complaint, admitting the garage made a mistake, or if possible, offering the customer a lift back home, work or a loan vehicle while you resolve their issue. You must assure at all times the customer feels that you are truly trying your best to resolve their concern and provide them with the least convenience as possible.
Research indicates that customers prefer the person they are speaking with to instantly solve their problem. However sometimes complaints have to be moved up the chain of command, but make sure they don’t add to the customer's frustration. So, wherever possible, resolve the issue yourself. This has the added advantage of demonstrating to those senior to you that you are willing to manage difficult situations yourself without resorting to escalation.
If you really can’t solve the customers concerns, take ownership of the issue and ensure that the complaint is effectively escalated and that you follow up to see what the outcome is.
It’s also worth mentioning that if you say you are going to do something, you should always do it. Don’t be tempted to tell customers that someone will get in touch with them in an hour when they might not get a call for a few hours. The customer won’t thank you for it in the long run. Always be sure you can meet the promise you make.
Perspective
Many of us have worked in the automotive sector for so long we forget what it is like to bring our vehicle for repair. Knowing what your competition is doing can also pay dividends in other ways too. It can help you set yourself apart by creating a business experience, an atmosphere that is different from any other garage locally and far beyond.
Keeping perspective when it comes to the customer experience will help you to create a positive customer experience and maintain a solid customer base. At Brunswick Garage we were of course never happy to receive complaints, however we used it as a prompt to better our service and if a customer made the effort to write or email us with a concern, we displayed their comments in reception with the thank you letters. We wanted to show our customers that we were not perfect, but also show them we took complaints very seriously and we always aimed at achieving a positive outcome. Learning to handle challenging customers will build respect for your business and ultimately result in higher customer retention and profits.
Positive/negative
When we receive complaints, we often look upon them in a negative way. However, complaints can be really useful to any garage and although it doesn’t feel like it at the time, the complaint is extremely positive in that it helps highlight problems with our service and procedures.
The alternative to receiving customer complaints is not receiving them and carrying on just the way we are, oblivious the negative impact our actions are having on customers who perhaps won’t return or will be complaining to their friends rather than to us. This is extremely damaging as we never get the chance to put right the errors that we don’t hear about. It’s a bit of a cliché, but complaints really are a gift.
- Additive advantage
For any garage, finding new revenue streams is a key priority. Being able to increase your profit per vehicle makes business sense. But with so many products out there, how does a workshop owner know which way to turn? Which product is a genuine business opportunity that works for both your garage and your customers and which could turn out to be a waste of money, or worse?
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global fuel additives market is set to reach $12,117.8 million by 2028. Fuel additives can help vehicles perform better, reduce carbon emissions and increase fuel efficiency. Oil additives can help to reduce friction and wear within the vehicle, as well well as keep engines clean by flushing through deposits such as sludge. Both types of additives and cleaners can also create a valuable additional revenue stream for garages. What motorist wouldn’t want to give their vehicle a deep clean from the inside out, leaving it in tip-top condition and delivering improved fuel economy?
But according to Andrew Goddard, Chairman of the independent trade body for lubricants, the Verification of Lubricant Specifications (VLS), it’s not quite that simple. Andrew urges caution when it comes to oil additives: “The latest generation of highly sophisticated lubricants is formulated with advanced chemistry, using the latest synthetic technology. They strike a delicate balance of meeting manufacturer specifications within exacting tolerances. The tiniest change in a formulation can have a real impact on the performance of the finished product. “Aftermarket additives could mean that the performance of the lubricant to cool, clean or protect moving parts is not as effective as it was, as well as causing an unnecessary expense to consumers.”
That’s certainly an outcome no garage owner would want. Andrew continues: “Lubricants are working harder than ever before, catering to the strive for reduced emissions, demand for greater performance and better fuel economy. Smaller engines are running at higher temperatures to maximise efficiency, power output and fuel economy. Longer oil drain intervals, taken together with smaller sumps, have created the need for less viscous, synthetic oils to provide the lubrication required in these challenging conditions while meeting customer’s demands for performance and economy. Added to that, lubricants must be able to cope with temperature changes, increased bio-content in fuels, hybrid vehicle technology, challenges like start-stop functionality and overcoming problems arising from LSPI.”
So it sounds like it pays to do your homework when it comes to additives. Garage owners should make sure they really research any stand-alone additive packages they are recommending or using, and understand how they might impact the consumables already in customers’ vehicles. That way, you can be confident that you are making the right choices for your business and your customers in both the short and long term, balancing short term profit with long term business sense.
