When a customer shows up at 10:00 a.m. and
asks “How long will it take for an oil change?” what most service advisors will
do is answer with a specific time estimate. The superstar service advisors
know better, so they’ll ask the customer, “How soon do you need it?” They know
that if they were to answer the question by saying “It’ll only take 45 minutes,”
they would then be expected to complete the service within that period of time.
On the other hand, if they ask the customer how soon they need to have it done,
the customer may very well respond with something like “I just need to have it
by noon.” At this point the service advisor can simply say “That won’t be a
problem at all,” and they now have two hours to complete the service, rather
than just forty-five minutes.
Best of all, if you are able to call that
customer an hour early to tell him the oil change is complete, you’ve just
exceeded that customer’s expectations by under promising and over delivering.
For the last 20 years, Bob Cooper
has been the president of Elite Worldwide, Inc. (www.EliteWorldwideStore.com), offering shop owners sales, marketing and employee management
audio training courses available for instant download. The company also offers
coaching and service advisor training services. You can contact Cooper at contact@eliteworldwidestore.com, or by calling (800) 204-3548.
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