Bob Cooper

There’s no doubt that pricing is one of the most misunderstood elements of business. There’s not only a lot of bad information out there, but with these tough economic times, there’s a lot of uncertainty, as well.

Anyone who has been selling service for any length of time will agree that there are two kinds of customers. The first is the customer who has a history of making good decisions, not just with auto repair, but with most decisions. And then we have the other type of customer: the kind of person who more often than not makes the wrong decisions.

I had the opportunity to interview more than 40 people for a panel of customers I moderated in Dallas, TX. In many cases, I spent well over an hour with each of these prospective panelists, so I had the opportunity to learn some amazing things. Here’s one you don’t want to miss.

It’s only natural that most of your employees would like to take their vacations during the summer. Unfortunately, that’s typically your busiest time, right?

Usually the reason your customers get angry is because they feel they’ve been taken advantage of, or they’ve made the wrong decision in choosing you. That’s also when, just like you and I, they’ll begin to feel either stupid or foolish, and their emotions of fear and anger will begin to take over.

It was decades ago when I stopped thanking my customers for their business, and here’s why …

Far too many shop owners are failing when it comes to properly branding their shops. In the world of advertising, unless the name of your company is a household name, your name means nothing to the general public. No matter how great your business is, the name itself isn’t going to make people want to learn more about you or your company.

In order to prevent maintenance service sales objections, you need to make sure that your customers fully understand the benefits of these valuable services.

Most shop owners and dealerships provide their service advisors with some flexibility in pricing. The objective is to give them the ability to adjust prices in order to ensure customer satisfaction, close sales that would otherwise be lost, and reward loyal customers. All good reasons. The problem is … it becomes easy for your employees to give away money when it’s not theirs, and these discounts can become sales crutches.

Here in the U.S., we have seen the stock market taking some wild swings, our economy is shaky at best, we are coming into an election year, and there is little certainty regarding what the future holds. Unfortunately, it’s during these times of uncertainty when most service advisors fall into the trap of telling themselves that their customers are concerned about their own economic futures, and are reluctant to put any money into their vehicles, which is why sales are down.

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?”

When car counts aren’t what they need to be, most shop owners will pump more money into their auto repair marketing efforts. But before you invest one more dime in your marketing campaigns, you should first make sure that you’re doing a good job of converting your current leads into customers.