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Believe Your Customers: The Pontiac Parable [E054] - Speak Up!

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Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express

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In this episode - Craig has some fun with an old anecdote that intends to reminds us how important it is to take a customers complaint seriously - even when it sounds absolutely ridiculous!

The old story is about a man whose new Pontiac will not start ONLY if he goes and picks up vanilla ice cream… but if he buys other flavors, like strawberry or chocolate.

While this story may not be the best case study for a no start diagnostic process - it DOES provide a great moral lesson for taking clients seriously so you can get to the real details and the facts that matter.

Grab some vanilla ice cream and enjoy Craig’s take on this story and please consider sharing your own radical stories from the shop to [email protected].

Communication gaps are almost always prevalent when those strange cases come up - and we’re sure you have a good example that could be worth sharing!

The WOTD:

Anecdote: A short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.

  • An account regarded as unreliable or hearsay

In our episode today…

We’re talking about Customer complaints.  Specifically the off the walls ones.

More specifically - listening to them - as though what they are saying is accurate and true - even though things don’t even remotely plausible.

You don’t need to be in auto-repair to appreciate this topic - but our loyal listeners who ARE in auto repair - you definitely will. 

For me - there was a common gripe I’d hear from our techs at the transmission shop.  “I can’t get it to act up!”  Which is a horrible thing to have to call the customer to tell them.

They know there is a problem.

We can’t see it.

And in many cases - this is where things end.

The real problem, you guessed it, is a communication problem. 

Sometimes the details provided for our specialists are just not very clear - and what we do get from clients make it impossible to replicate an issue so we can diagnose a problem.  It’s why, in auto repair, intermittent problems are an absolute pain and can be massively time-consuming to solve. 

But this came across my desk from one of my colleagues in Autoflow.  

It’s something of an anecdote -

Anecdote

noun

  • a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
  • "told anecdotes about his job"

Never underestimate a customer’s complaint, no matter how funny it might seem! This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. 

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem..... You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds.

What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind? 

Before I continue the story:

  • Every night?  Maybe save some gas?
  • Do you drive to the store every night?
  • This tells me this story has to be from somewhere around the 1940s. Post WWII (after rations on fuel and other things were lifted.  OLD story.)

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night, and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start. The Engineer returned for three more nights. 

The next night, they got chocolate. The car started. 

The second night, he got a strawberry. The car started. 

The third night, he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start. 

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor. 

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock". It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Now. OK.

If you’re like me you probably want to poke even more holes in that story -

Nope not permitting it folks.  Remember.

In this episode we are defaulting that this anecdotal story is TRUE.

Besides - you’re probably jealous because it’s summer and that no start issue in your shop this week didn’t yield ice-cram.

I know some of our listeners in the aftermarket have some gripes about how engineers don’t seem to care about some things we do - but I am willing to be you can’t get their attention because you never bribed them with ice-cream.  And maybe that’s been our problem.

My take: The issue isn’t a time issue - or a no start issue - it was a communication issue.

OK, believing this story is true would be super tough- I think it’s obvious this anecdote was crafted to convey a clear point - and we can allow it to serve this purpose.

Fast forward back to our age - and our modern methods of communication - there is simply no reason to send someone to diagnose a problem like the one described.  But the problem in this story is only meant to guide our resolve.

Clients present us a wide variety of issues they are experiencing.  If they are telling you something - and it doesn’t make sense - you’ll need to use some critical thinking and learn to ask some very carefully calibrated questions that open the individuals up to gain the details that really do matter.  That won’t happen if you discredit their story entirely, become defensive, act like this will be another “time-waster”

This is particularly critical when dealing with come-backs.

In my years as an advisor - I learned how important it is to take little things seriously - because little problems are MUCH cheaper for us to fix than MAJOR ones.

This required me to emphatically remind our clients that if they feel anything out of the ordinary - please do not hesitate to bring it to our attention.

It’s also important not to make people feel silly… (though I sure appreciated the ones with a good sense of humor and high degree of patience)

Thank You To Our Partners The Institute, AutoFlow, AutoLeap, Shop Dog Marketing, In-Bound, Express:

The Institute at WeAreTheInstitute.com.  "Stop stressing over your business, you deserve a good night's sleep. The Institute’s coaching helps you achieve success and financial peace.

AutoFlow at AutoFlow.com. Your partner in technology, Autoflow consolidates your client interactions - before, during and after the visit to a single thread. Learn more at Autoflow.com

Shop Dog Marketing at Shop Dog Marketing.com. "Want to see your auto repair shop thrive? Let Shop Dog Marketing be your guide. Our customer-first approach, combined with AI-driven creative content, ensures top rankings.

In-Bound at CallInBound.com. Cover your communication needs and revolutionize your auto repair business with AI-driven call analytics from InBound.

Express by Facepay myexpress.io. Keep your existing merchant processor and software at your service counter. Express is integrated into your workflow to make the experience better.

Contact Information


The Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com/

Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through Story Telling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/

Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z with Matt Fanslow: From Diagnostics to Metallica and Mental Health, Matt Fanslow is Lifting the Hood on Life. https://mattfanslow.captivate.fm/

Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/

The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/

The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/

Click to go to the Podcast on Remarkable Results Radio

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