February 2018

S tart as you mean to go on, that’s my motto. Well, one of my many mottos, and at the beginning of the year it seems like a good way to go. Of course, getting me going isn’t generally an issue, as I am the first one in of a morning and last out the door at night. Some of my customers on the other hand, they do take some time to get going, their cars I mean. First day back after the Christmas and New Year break, the first call from a customer. I wasn’t exactly full of the joys of spring, it being January, but I gave it my all, well the on-the- phone version of my all. It’s amazing how engaging you can sound when you’re slumped on a counter with your head cupped in one hand. That’s customer service, but I’ll come back to that later. “I can’t seem to get started” the customer told me. Obviously this could be a number of problems, so we arranged to have the vehicle picked up and brought down so we could see what’s what. Happy customer It being the depths of winter, the first assumption on my part was that it was the battery. We checked that though, and apart from being drained by repeated attempts to turn the car over, it was fine. Turns out starting the car for the customer had been iffy for a while, which helped us narrow down our investigations. Eventually we identified the issue as being the starter motor itself. I rang up to let the customer know, and to make sure he was happy for us to sort out a new starter motor for him, which he was. It was all resolved by the end of the day, and the next day the customer had his car back, and all was fine. First problem of the year, solved in more-or-less linear fashion, with a happy customer to boot, that was certainly a good start for 2018 by any measure. What was also good, and something we needed to follow through on as we move forward, was the level of customer care. We didn’t make a good start on the first job of the year because we are particularly clever, we did so because we dealt properly with the customer, and asked all the right questions, alright most of the right questions, there was a little luck involved but we were going in the right direction. It helped that I was the one who answered the phone in the first place, but I am making sure everyone knows to probe the customers on the phone. Don’t get me started on when people pick up a call and don’t ask any questions! Still, we start the year from here, and if this is how the rest of 2018 goes, I’ll be an extremely happy Arthur indeed. START ME UP... 66 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2018 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net