xrac

4 hours ago, Transmission Repair said:

Reviews are especially important in the transmission repair industry due to the transactional nature of the business.  Repeat business is usually either a warranty claim or somebody with very bad luck.  The vast majority of our customers are first-time visitors and they put a lot of weight on reviews because they have nothing else to base their choice on.  It's not like people have a lot of experience with transmission repairs.

When we get a bad review, I simply call the customer up, recognize their concerns, apologize, and ask what I need to do to make it right.  No matter what it takes to make it right, I simply do it.  Only 1 time did I have to give a 100% refund although several times I had to make "price adjustments" to cover stuff like detailing their vehicle or paying to clean their driveway due to a leaker.  We don't need a 5.0 Google rating; we simply just have to have a better Google rating than our competitors.  We had a 4.4 average rating over a 7-year period at our location.

Negative feedback is one of the best business teaching tools around.

By our response to negative reviews people judge how we handle issues and those reponses can be use to win over customers. Most people understand things go wrong and if they think you are responsive and concerned it goes a long way with them.

I never cease to be amazed at some shopowners who nearly have a heart attack because they got their first negative review.  They even try to bribe customers to get them changed. I do not like to get a 1 star review but I know if I will get five new five star reviews I basically bury it. An active business will get bad reviews occasionally that you deserve, but often you will also get them from competitors incognito, from disgruntled employees, from idiots that don’t understand anything, or from people who wanted something for nothing. The answer to bad reviews is respond professionally and get enough good reviews to bury the bad reviews. As Joe says a rating in the mid 4s is good enough.  Just don’t let it fall below 4.0 because Google search tends to ignore business below that level.  Our current Google rating is 4.5.  People come to us all the time because they saw our reviews.  We have a few 1 star reviews but some of those have no message.  When we get a 1 star review we always respond.  It is easy for potential customers to read our response, and explanations and see that we are resonable people who own up to failure and try to solve problems. It is also easy for them to see some of the 1 stars are basically crack pots or frauds.  The plus side is many of our 5 star reviews are so glowing they are almost embarrassing.  It is easy to see that we have happy customers who genuinely love us.  

Here is one of our typical 5 star reviews.  "The battery in my truck died and I was out of town. It was nearing closing time on a Thursday evening and I needed my truck the next morning. I searched Google for a repair shop near me and Car-X had a lot of good reviews. I called and asked if I got my truck towed there they would help me. It wasn’t easy for them to get me in on such a time crunch, but they did. Nate talked me through what was probably wrong over the phone, and then the owner Frank kept me occupied with good conversation while the guys changed my battery. I paid a reasonable price and the personnel was amazing."

16 minutes ago, Transmission Repair said:

I've never heard it quite that way, but I believe you are right.  My dad used to tell me terrible depression-era stories.  He was even into long-term food storage for fear of going hungry.

I know that when we opened 23 years ago price was a large factor but does not seem to be today. 

I think also we are seeing the passing of the baby boomers. Boomers were taught to be tighter with a dollar by their depression era parents. The younger generation is pretty free with money. 

7 minutes ago, Transmission Repair said:

Being in the transmission business, virtually all of our business is a transactional business, rarely repeat business unless it's a warranty claim.  I was rarely asked about our individual prices.  People would only look at the bottom line, with tax.  When we raised our labor prices, nobody knew or asked about it.

I have only had two people ask what our labor rate is the last three months. All people want to know is how much and how soon.

About three months ago I did a $25/hour increase. I don't even think about it today.  The price is now what it is and I will probably do another increase soon.

Good ideas for service writers to be doing. 

These are points well taken. The internet makes it harder for parts store and for repair shops to get the markups they need due to on-line competition.  

Free flat repair, free diagnosis, free air, free inspection, etc. Guess who pays for all of this.