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Whether
you work on cars, electronics, heating and air conditioning, or any
other equipment, if you are just repairing the equipment, you are only
doing half the job you should be doing! You also need to
"repair" the customers relationship and restore their faith in
their product and your service company at the same time. Failure to do
both will cause you to lose future sales and income!
Think about the emotions you had when you bought your new car or
television. You were excited and could not wait to take it for a drive
or plug it in and watch a movie in hi-def! You were happy with your new
purchase. Now think about how you felt when you brought that same item
in for service.......
Chances are you weren't thrilled. If the item broke, you were likely to
be annoyed or frustrated. You might even have lost faith in your
decision and the product itself. Needless to say having to have anything
fixed or serviced is usually not a positive experience. It's not about
cost, either as even those with service contracts still have the
inconvenience and the lass of use of their product.
With all of that in mind, it is crucial that every service tech take the
time to reassure the customer both in their choice of product, and their
ability to service it. A service tech should make it a priority to
address not only the product failure but the attitude of the customer as
well.
It is amazing how many service dealers and techs do not feel this way.
Their thoughts are "Well, the sale has already been made so why
worry about the customer?". This is a very short sighted approach
for several reasons.
First, unless you are the only source for service in your area, your
customer can go to other service companies for their future service if
they do not like your service. this results in lower levels of business
in the future.
Second, if you are the selling dealer who also services, your future
business with this homeowner is at stake. yes, the customer just bought
the TV or car from you. But what about the next TV or car? After all,
these things don't last for ever! failure to provide an exemplary
service experience now places future sales and revenue at risk!
Third, every service opportunity is also a sales opportunity for service
contracts, accessories, and other products. If a service tech does not
establish the correct relationship with the customer, those sales and
revenue are jeopardized as well. I know of two particular dealers
in the same town with the same size businesses and one sells over
$500,000 MORE through their service department than the other dealer.
They sell the same products made by the same manufacturer. I wonder what
the difference is?
These skills are not difficult to learn and any service tech can quickly
learn and implement them. It makes no difference what you sell or what
you work on. The skills are transferable. They work just as well on
service techs, service managers, delivery people, or anyone involved
with service at any level. They are not expensive either. Nor do they
take huge amounts of time to learn.
If you are a service tech, or if you employ service techs, I urge you to
get these all important skills as soon as possible. The investment is
extremely small and the return on your investment will be immeasurable!
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