Wrapping up the service experience.

You want to make sure your customers are ecstatic about the service you’ve provided.

Previously we’ve talked about the majority of people buying for emotional reasons. They then justify their purchases after with facts. So here we are at the end of the service experience with an expensive bill for our customer. We need to be able to justify their expense for them.

Before you present this bill, update your maintenance tracking report to include all work done today.

If you’re using ServiceIntelligence, simply hit the synchronize button. The history of that vehicle will be recalculated and age everything for the future.

If the customer bought a battery, show them on the report how the battery now has five more years of life to it. Or that transmission job gave it three more years of life added to it. You want to make sure you’re helping them with the justification of adding life to their vehicle.

By printing out your maintenance tracking report, you’re giving them something tangible.

Make sure to print both the before and after reports. That way they can see what changed.

While most shops are going paperless, there’s a problem with that. The problem is that customers can’t feel a coolant service. They’re driving down the road and can’t feel a transmission service. So the report is necessary. This gives them something they can see, touch, and feel that they can bring home and show their family.

An email gets buried within the hour with other emails. Your customer needs to make a conscious decision on what to do with the paper report. They bring the report home, throw it on the island for a day or two, and eventually, it gets thrown away. At least for the time they’ve kept it, they have a reminder of what you’ve done. Hopefully, they’ve kept it because they want to know when they’re services are due in the future.

One of the biggest things that we’re doing here is that you’re helping them prepare for the future.

You’re reducing the surprises caused by inspections. When the customer returns a few times, the report shows what’s been done and not due, and what is going to be due. This makes for a much more pleasurable experience.