Motivation and ideas seem to come from the most unusual surroundings. As I’m transferring this story onto real paper, I come to this most astounding realization. This could be the most unusual beginning yet, not that Timmy the toaster and talking keys were usual; it’s just that this one is being transferred from cocktail napkins with turkey pictures on them. Let me fill you in on the situation before I go any further.
I have been sitting for nearly three hours. What started out as a quick stop for dinner on the way home from a wonderful day of family adventure has turned into a battle of wills, one I don’t intend to lose. My five-year-old has managed to disassemble the entire array of table structures, the lamp and part of his chair with a crayon and a simple spoon. My daughter and wife have been asleep for nearly an hour, amazing in a restaurant with two hundred quite vocal people. “Where is our waitress?” I wonder to myself. “Boy, do I have a tip for her.”
Face-to-face service isn’t a science. It’s common sense combined with the most basic levels of society and societal responsibilities. If you treat your customers with respect, a smile and a bit of understanding, the payoff is immediately evident. They begin to treat you the same way. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The automotive industry is not so unlike the restaurant business in many of these regards. I am becoming well aware of this fact as time goes on.
Outward appearance and word-of-mouth advertising, judge, for the most part, a restaurant. If the food tastes like dirt, the chef goes hungry; even he wouldn’t eat dirt. This runs parallel to the automotive repair industry. The big scary dog we discussed last month would provide a similar deterrent in both situations.
When entering a restaurant, prompt service is expected of the maitre d’, or whoever is in charge of the “Please wait to be seated” sign. When a prospective customer enters your service area, they need to be greeted with a smile and tended to in a timely manner. Unless the invisible man just strolled in, there is no excuse for ignoring a customer.
In a restaurant, face-to-face service is in the hands of the waitperson from the time you sit down to the time you leave. Being a waitperson, in my opinion, is one of the toughest jobs around. But if you have the personality of welding slag, this isn’t the job for you.
The automotive service industry varies from a restaurant in a few ways. Face-to-face service, after the initial work order write- up, could be handled by any number of people, depending on the size and structuring of your business.
It’s imperative that all people in your organization be socially competent.
In many of my classes, I pose the question: “How many of you speak with customers regarding their concern?” The usual blanket answer is “Yuck,” interpret it as you will. I try my best, at this point, to instill the understanding of social responsibility and customer service. Your customers allow you to do what you do — to have that boat, vacation or what-have-you. They pay you!
A pleasant and satisfying visit should be the very least type of customer experience you will allow in your business. You want loyal, elated, exceptional, astounding, and magnificent to be synonymous with the service experience of your customers.
Prompt, courteous and professional service usually sets the mood and your frame of mind for an entire meal or service experience. These characteristics of human nature become quite evident when the bill arrives.
There is no second place in service, only unsuccessful people who never realize this: You NEVER get a SECOND CHANCE to make a FIRST IMPRESSION.
My tip to the waitperson, by the way, was fifteen percent and a guarantee to
never return. I may be strong willed, but I’m not cheap.
