How To
Sell Automotive Repair To A Bottom Feeder
By
Eric M.
Twiggs
“How much business is an inaccurate
assumption costing you?
A plainly dressed woman wearing a baseball cap walked into an
upscale handbag store looking to make a purchase. She came in carrying a
worn-out handbag that appeared to have a lot of miles on it.
She gestured towards the most expensive bag in the store, but
before she could speak, the salesperson gave her the following response:
"Nope, it's too expensive. Look at these bags
instead." The customer asked a second time to see the handbag that was
secured behind a screen and was again refused by the salesperson who would
only show her the options that she believed were in her price range.
After asking a third time and being refused, she left
the store without buying anything. The plainly dressed customer
with the high mileage bag was Oprah Winfrey, who has an
estimated net worth of three billion dollars, and a twitter following of 41
million people!
She posted a tweet about her experience mentioning the
handbag store by name! The salesperson had mistakenly profiled
Oprah Winfrey to be a bottom feeder.
A “bottom feeder” is a term in the retail industry that
describes someone whom a business representative has profiled to be a low
potential customer.
To save their time for “the good customers”, the rep. will
short cut the normal sales process, by only presenting the lowest priced
offerings to this individual.
Oprah’s story teaches us that this attempt to save time,
can cost you on your bottom line! How much business is an
inaccurate assumption costing you?
Count The Costs
Some
of my discussions with a shop owner will begin with him complaining about his low
net profit results. As
we review his repair orders from the
previous week, he tells me he doesn’t offer the courtesy check to “certain
types of customers” who drive older, high mileage, vehicles.
These
conversations have taught me that there’s a direct relationship between the
inaccurate profiling of customers and low net profit.
In other
words, if you embrace a profiling philosophy, you’re likely to become
unhappy with your profit performance!
Don’t believe me? Well consider the following
questions:
1) Would you refer your family and friends to a shop that
treated you like you were a bottom feeder? 2)
What if the customer, whom you’ve profiled to be a bottom feeder, turned
out to be a billionaire? 3) How would you feel if she “tweeted” about her experience to millions of
people mentioning your shop by name?
Stay
with me to learn about something specific that
you can do, instead of profiling your customers.
Consider The
Possibilities
The
story is told of a rookie service advisor named “Cindy” who was new to
both her shop and to the automotive industry. There was an elderly
customer named “Sarah”, who had a history of never approving the estimates that
were recommended on her green Geo Prizm with 180,000 miles on it.
As
a practical joke, the service manager along with the lead mechanic decided to
give “the newbie” the estimate to present, which totaled four thousand
dollars. The manager and tech listened to the presentation from the
office while laughing to themselves.
They
laughed as Cindy approached the counter. They laughed as she presented
the “complete pile”, like she learned from Randy Somers in service advisor
class. The laughs changed to a collective gasp, when Sarah
responded with the following statement: “OK, go ahead and do it!”
This
story is filled with possibilities. It’s possible that Sarah
didn’t purchase in the past, because the shop treated her like she was a bottom
feeder. It’s possible that Cindy was too new to know that Sarah
wasn’t “the right type of customer. “
It’s
possible that you can succeed like Cindy, if you focus more on the process
than you do the profile! Consider the possibility that YOU may be
creating some of your “bottom feeders”.
Conclusion
So,
there you have it. If you count the costs and consider the
possibilities, you can sell automotive repair to customers whom you
previously considered to be bottom feeders.
Unlike
Oprah, you can’t give everyone in your “audience” a car. But, if you
focus more on the process than you do the profile, you can leave them
feeling like a billion bucks!
Eric
M. Twiggs
The
Accountability Coach
PS. Email etwiggs@autotraining.net
to receive an updated checklist of the estimate presentation process!
