The question is the same one every shop asks me, or at least asks themselves. There are actually a lot of reasons why it makes sense to outsource your customers followup process. I got this question through a customer of mine from AutoShopFollowUp.Com.  Here is the response I gave to him.

1. Consistency - This is the biggest answer. The reason why shops don't use the secretary, or service writers? Because it doesn't get done. It may get done for a bit, but at the end of day, in the shop, all team members are going to go towards whatever fire is burning the brightest. This isn't a dig on team members its just the reality of running the day to day of the shop or any business. There are so many distractions day to day that your secretary doesn't have the time to make an additional 200 phone calls, write 200 thank you notes, invite people to leave reviews, followup with the reviews, and send out incentives for doing so, on top of all her other duties. This is nearly a full time job in and of itself. 

2. Outside Review - Part of the reason you called me back is because you were concerned about the dropping car count, and finding out if there was a reason within the shop, or something that could be changed. We are an unbiased third party. You will get exactly what the customer has to say about their experience from us. We have no reason to ever try and make things look better or worse than they actually are. We can be unattached and their answers and it wont hurt our feelings, so we never get frustrated because they are not talking about us. This is a common problem for shops that do it themselves as everyone wants to look as good as they can to their employer. 

3. We're trained for this - One of the other struggles shops have is that the goal isn't to "just make some calls and send some thank you cards," its to create personal connections and long lasting relationships. This is a difficult task that most people are not equipped to handle. It takes time on the phone and a certain personality to be able to call someone up and get them talking. To be able to make that connection with people in a 5 minute phone call is tricky to say the least. It is a very specific skill set that takes time, training, and some natural know how. That is what we do, it is our specialty. We have had customers stop in to shops when they didn't need service just to meet the girl they spoke with on the phone. We are really good at this. Its what we like to do and gets us excited. For most staff in the shop who get assigned this job, it is looked at as just that. Making some calls, and sending some cards. And you are not going to get the results you are looking for. 

4. We are very cost effective - If we do the math and look at what it would actually cost to hire someone to do this, we are very cost effective. In fact, we are cheaper than if you had to do it yourself. Just think of the staffing the time alone, cost of cards, postage, training... not to mention not having to manage the process yourself. What is your hourly rate? Just the time it would take you to manage this and make sure it is getting done effectively would cost you more than our pricing. Your time is more valuable used else-ware. 

5. Our return on investment is huge. It speaks for itself. One of our shops here locally who was kind enough to share all his numbers with us had astounding results. His customer retention improved 40%. How many customers who aren't coming back now would you need to save to pay for this program? What would a 40% improvement do for your business? Now what about online reviews? Now we are driving new customers in the front door, and shutting the back door at the same time. This customers return on investment was over 1000%. 

I know this was a long answer to your question, and maybe more than you were looking for, but I want you to know how serious we are about what we do. This program works, or we wouldn't do it. The program itself was designed with the owner of an auto shop to meet his needs and for it could be as effective as possible. 

I hope this helps! 

Thanks,

Mike

The amount of technology we have at our fingertips today is incredible.  You can interact with thousands of people in an instant, send information all over the globe, or get lost for hours flinging tiny birds at tiny pigs.  Almost overnight it seems as if the world has shrunk, as we can easily access anything we need instantly. As a business owner, you constantly want to be evaluating your best options in technology as they can let you extend your business and grow efficiently like never before.  But how do you manage all that technology that interacts with your customers while still remaining personal?  It is critically important to use technology to your advantage to stay competitive and reach your customers, but it’s never at the core of what makes your customers loyal and customers for life.  So here are some tips on how to strike that balance between technology and personal connections that can really drive business forward:

Just because you posted it on Facebook or Tweeted it, doesn’t mean anybody cares

• The great thing about Facebook is that it can bring people together from across the globe, but that doesn’t mean you can fill your feed with nonsensical articles or things that don’t matter to them.  Use your social media platforms as a chance to tell your story, be real and share what matters.  In the end, we all loved these platforms because of how they connected us as people, so keep that at the core.

We love emails, tweets and websites to help us understand what your business does, but to truly explain “why” we should care, we need to hear it from you

• What does this mean exactly?  It means every opportunity you have to engage with your customer at a face-to-face or human level, you need to take it.  Encourage your staff needs to engage with your customers at every visit and get to know them as much as they can.  As an owner, we love to see you still caring about your customers and the passion that you have that drove you to start this business in the first place.  Use technology to share that directly with them.  Have personal tweets from you, blog articles that you wrote, and letters that you send out.

Some things never change.  The phone and personal letters are still your friend

• While at one point in history the ball point pen and the telephone were cutting edge technology sadly today most people don’t use them enough.  There is a great opportunity here to separate yourself from the competition and engage your customer at a human level that can do more to build loyalty than 1,000 tweets can.  People love to know that you care about them enough to make a call and send a letter.  The message is direct and is guaranteed to arrive.  There is no better way to build a connection than a 1:1 interaction.

Want to learn more about Frontline Operations and how we can build human connections with each of your customers?  Ready to make your business more personal?  Give us a call or reach out to info@frontlineoprations.com

The long-term customer:  Reality or Urban Legend?

Competition is fierce these days.  Your ideal customer base has constant noise coming at them from all sides.  New competitors are popping up every day and it’s not as easy at is used to be to get new customers in your doors.  With this barrage of noise coming at your customers, how do you break through and make an impact?  After that, how do you ensure that you keep them coming back?

You’ve probably been to a few seminars or listened to a webinar about the next big thing in marketing that is guaranteed to work.  You’re probably experiencing some fatigue just trying to keep up with the latest and greatest way to engage your customer.  I can tell you from experience, there is no silver bullet.  After years of searching myself, I can save you the trouble and let you know now that I still haven’t found it.  What I have learned is this:  

Creativity and consistency works.

The reality is, nothing works overnight.  The positive news is that many of your competitors are focusing on a one-trick pony approach and giving up too soon.  Your job is to stay engaged, and to consistently take a variety of approaches.  The goal is to constantly be ‘in touch’ with your customer.  Build your brand and tell your story to them before they even walk in the door.  What does this look like practically?  As I mentioned before creativity is king, but you need to be consistently interacting with them.  Direct mail, Facebook, Door-hangers, Local events, Email, Networking groups.  Be creative, meet the customer where they are at, but don’t give up after one approach fails, stay consistent and keep telling your story.

So you’ve got them in your door!  

They liked what they saw and made their first purchase.  Done, right?  This is one of the most important times in your customer interactions.  You have the chance now to create value beyond price and ensure you make customers for life.  One of the biggest reasons a customer continues to come back to a business (especially a service based one) is trust.  But more than just a trust that you’ll do the job right, rather a trust that you have their best interest in mind.  People still want a human connection.  Creating a personal follow-up program for each of your customers can build a trust that goes deeper than just price or convenience.  People will drive that extra mile to come to your shop if they feel that care exists.  How do you create that?  Nothing fancy here.  Handwritten notes, personal follow-up calls, maybe even a thank you gift?  Consistently keeping a personal connection with your customers through those things can have a monumental impact.  Those quotes about the simplest things in life being the most extraordinary are most definitely true.  Take the time to invest in your existing customer base this way and you not only help create customers for life, you expand your reach through your "ridiculously happy, tell everyone about it” customer base.



Interested in learning more about Frontline Operations and how we’ve helped businesses create lasting relationships and real connections?  Contact us at info@frontlineoperations.com