In business today, the service industry is a challenging one, particularly at the retail level. Whenever you deal directly with the public, everything must be 100 percent, or you may never have the opportunity to serve that client again.

To make matters worse, today’s consumers are constantly bombarded with negative messages from every source imaginable. Bad news sells, and news stations and newspapers seem to pride themselves in breaking out the never-ending “consumer rip-off” stories.

These pieces recount the horrors of consumers falling prey to the conniving heating and air-conditioning service man, the roofing contractor, plumbers, accountants, lawyers and, of course, the auto mechanic.

It is no wonder that a customer’s guard is up when he or she enters an auto repair establishment, especially for the first time. That customer comes in expecting something to go wrong: The customer’s goal is to emerge with a vehicle that is repaired to some degree without being ripped off too badly. That would be considered a good service experience to them.

To overcome this negativity and to make the experience more pleasant for consumers, we need to educate our customers. We need to teach them who we are, why certain things need to be done a certain way, and how doing so helps them get the greatest value out of their vehicles.
One example of this would be explaining why it’s smart money to replace a water pump with a timing belt change on many vehicles. This preventive recommendation could save the customer a lot of time and money, but the customer has to understand why the part is being replaced. Otherwise, they could perceive this suggestion as a way of “padding the bill.”

The vast majority of repair facilities want to do a good job and have the best interest of their customer in mind. (The remaining minority are the ones the news people seem to find).

One of our industry’s biggest weaknesses is a lack of people who are able to communicate to the customer on a level he or she can understand. That person must be able to guide customers through the service experience and help them make a buying decision that is right for them.

Most consumers who say they have been “ripped off” feel that way only because there was a breakdown in communication somewhere during the service process. The automotive service industry is very technical, and we get wrapped up in the jargon — forgetting that the customer does not understand (or care to know).

Shop owners spend a lot of time and money on technical training, which is good, but they should also put more effort into communication and people skills training. There are a number of training classes geared toward our industry that are readily accessible and very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, not enough people in our industry take advantage of them.

When customers understand the person they are dealing with, they will develop a trusting relationship that will last for a long time.