Peter Drucker has been called the founder of modern management. He was a brilliant Management Consultant, Author, and Educator. One of his best quotes is: “The Entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” This tells me that we must constantly evolve in the way we conduct business.

What is the biggest opportunity we get every day? The phone! Incoming phone calls are a regular part of every day at any given shop. The question is, are you exploiting this opportunity to its fullest? Probably not. Most shops have no real process, so the caller guides the call, and we hope for an appointment. Every time your service advisor fails to convert a phone inquiry into an appointment you lose a lot of revenue. Not only losing the amount of the average repair order, but the repeat business that lost client would have produced and all the references that could have come from that new relationship.

The cost of not converting a call to an appointment is staggering. Let’s say you are losing only one conversion each day at $250 / average RO, 300 working days per year, that would be $75,000. That is real money. Research shows most shops lose 2 to 3 phone leads each day.

The good news is you can better exploit this opportunity without spending any additional money and bring that business to your shop.

Here are a few things you can do now to improve your phone call conversion rate:

Before the Call:

• Meet with your team and select the things that set your shop apart from the rest. For example, 22 years in business, locally owned, ASE Blue Seal shop, Nationwide Warranties, etc.
  
• Craft a policy that when an employee is on the phone, everyone else covers for them so that the call can go on uninterrupted.
  
• Always answer the phone with pen and paper in hand.
  

Answering the Call:

• Answer by the 2^nd ring.
  
• Have a uniform greeting that works like, “Thanks for calling Tiger’s Tires, this is Bob”. You answered the phone to help, so it doesn’t need to be said.
  
• Always answer the phone with a smile.
  
• Answer with cadence that is not rushed and use a pleasant demeanor.
  
• Ask for the caller’s name, write it down, and use it during the call. Dale Carnegie said that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
  

During the Call:

• Establish a connection with the caller. Discover the purpose of the call. Use complete sentences, not “What year again?”
  
• Listen closely to the caller. Don’t be distracted by other things happening around.
  
• Ask open ended questions that get to the caller real concern. Asking questions does 2 things; It builds trust and gets the needed information to get them into your shop
  
• Pace your caller. If they speak quickly, you do the same. If they are more conversational, slow your roll and keep their pace.
  
• How and when to put a caller on hold: Before putting the caller on hold, let them know why and ask them if they can hold briefly. “Mrs. White, our service manager would be the best one to answer your question, so could you hold briefly while I get him?” Next, get them quickly; give him the necessary info, and what line Mrs. White is on. Now, they should pick up the phone and start with, “Mrs. White, thank you for holding, Bob tells me you have a question about your….” Have you ever been on hold, the person on the other end just pick up, and immediately start back like they were never gone? It’s unprofessional and plain rude. Notice the customer does not have to tell her story over again. This is showing care and professionalism. It’s a simple thing to do but it is very much appreciated by your clients.
  

Closing the deal:

• Get them into your shop
  
• Offer to set up towing
  
• Ask when they could bring their vehicle in for an evaluation and get them to set an appointment.
  
• Remember they need something. No one calls around for the fun of it. Get their concern handled.
  
• If they don’t commit, find out what concern you have not addressed and handle it. Ask more open-ended questions until they commit.
  
• Keep your notes for future reference
  
• Be sure to leave a great last impression. Offer a closing line like –“Nice speaking to you today” or “Look forward to meeting you”.
  

So, don’t miss out on the biggest opportunity you have every day. Think of those incoming phone calls as more revenue for your business and make it your mission to convert them into as many new customers possible.

A while back I had the opportunity to interview over forty people for a panel of customers. My intent was to discover what drives their decisions in choosing an auto service facility, how they make their purchasing decisions, and the follow up they would like to see. In many cases I spent well over an hour with each of these prospective panelists, so I had the opportunity of learning many amazing things. Here is one you don’t want to miss…

Regardless of the length of time the people I interviewed had been patronizing the same independent repair facility, one of the questions I asked each of them was, “If the service advisor

told you that you needed a complete transmission or an engine, would you authorize the repair?” The overwhelming majority of the people I interviewed said that before they would authorize such an expensive repair, they would first contact the dealership or a transmission shop. When I asked why, the standard response was “Bob, a transmission or an engine can be pretty complicated, so I’d want talk to an expert first.”

I came to a number of conclusions after speaking with all of these customers. First of all, most independent repair shops are not doing a good enough job of educating their customers on their level of competency and skill. Secondly, your customers are no different than you when it comes to looking for expert advice. Look at it like this… Imagine you have been going to the same doctor for years, and have a tremendous amount of faith in that doctor. Then imagine that doctor told you that you had a problem with your lower back. Even though your doctor may be very well-skilled with lower back problems, and possibly even better skilled than many orthopedic surgeons, I suspect you’d still feel more comfortable speaking with an orthopedic surgeon. Why? Because they’re viewed as the “experts”. Your customers are no different. If you have a general auto repair shop, they’ll look at you as their friendly family doctor—good for most things, but not necessarily the expert.

The “expert” perception plays a huge role in how brake shops are able to generate new customers. You might think they attract customers by offering low-priced brake services, but in reality that’s not the case. The reason they are continually able to bring in customers is because the motoring public perceives them to be what they are looking for: the brake experts.

So here’s my suggestion to you: if you want to build a more profitable, successful auto repair business, then one of the things you’ll need to do is brand yourself as the “expert” in every way that you can. Those of you who have specialty shops, such as transmission shops, brake shops, etc., should incorporate the word “expert” in all of your media campaigns. Those of you who have general auto repair facilities should use terms such as “The SUV experts,” “Toyota experts,” etc. Your customers are looking for an expert for all aspects of their lives. When it comes to auto repair and service, make sure they know in clear terms, it’s you.

For additional help increasing your car counts from Elite Worldwide President Bob Cooper, learn more about Elite’s auto repair marketing solutions.

Not long ago, I interviewed over forty people for a panel of customers that I moderated in Dallas, Texas. My intent was to discover what drives their decisions in choosing an auto service facility and how they make their purchasing decisions. I also need to mention that all the candidates met the profile of the perfect target customer for today’s auto service facility; they were all average to above average wage earners, they all had at least two years of college education, they had good credit-worthiness, their vehicles were less than 9 years old, they drove an average to above average amount of miles and the majority of them were female. Unlike you shop owners and managers, I was able to ask very specific questions about perceived value, motivators and price. Here are the most revealing conclusions…

Regardless of their income, the majority of your customers are very sensitive to price, even if they have been dealing with you for years. They’re looking for value, and they determine value not by the lowest price, but by what they receive in return. I also discovered that today’s customer is highly motivated by coupons, and the discounts don’t have to be large to be effective. Most of the people I interviewed, who again were average to above average wage earners, felt a $10.00 savings on a service was enough to motivate them to take action. Now I realize that many shop owners believe they have a business and clientele that are above coupons or discounts. Unfortunately, they’re dead wrong, and it’s that pompous, over-inflated feeling of self-worth that has put many business people out of business.

Now please don’t misunderstand me, because I am not suggesting that you give away your services. What I am suggesting is that you establish retail prices for your services in a way that allows for both coupons and some limited discount programs. Just look at Dell computers; clearly they don’t have to provide the promotional prices or discounts they advertise. Without question, Nordstrom, the leading high-end clothing retailer, doesn’t have to offer semi-annual sales either. But there are two primary reasons why they do: not only do promotional prices drive sales, which are the lifeblood of every business, but equally as important, they send a powerful message to their customers. It’s the message that says these companies care enough about their customers to constantly be looking for ways of assuring they get a really great value for every dollar they spend. Ladies and gentlemen, I may be the messenger with this article, but this message came from the single, most important part of your business: your customers. I can only hope… you listen to them.

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Bob Cooper is the president of Elite Worldwide, Inc (www.EliteWorldwideStore.com), an ethics-based company that offers shop owners industry-leading sales, marketing and employee management audio courses available for instant download; coaching services and a wide variety of carefully chosen services from its affiliate companies. Visit the new Elite website for more great tips on how to increase auto repair sales in your shop or service center.

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