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C ustomer service is a recurring them in Aftermarket. Every month, in some form we will discuss how important it is to provide good service to your customers. That goes beyond the just the work being performed in the workshop, and encompasses communication before, during and after the job, presentation in the environs of your business, as well as all the marketing and advertising that you are doing. Everything is connected, so even if you are doing a bang-up job with the work itself, if you are not keeping the customer in the loop, you could still lose that customer. Equally, if you are keeping the customer informed, but maybe missing a few tricks under the bonnet, it will catch you out. It’s not rocket science is it? That said, when discussing customer service in the aftermarket, we do often gaze up the road to the franchised dealer, and assume that they, in their glass and steel edifice, are automatically much better at customer care than a local garage can be. Is that really true though? Hopefully, we know the answer to that. With this in mind, one of our readers recently got in touch with us about a recent experience one of his customers had with a franchised dealer. You might want to grab a pen or pencil, and start writing down all the mistakes made along the way. Patient “One of our customers’ has a 2001 Mini Cooper. We don’t see it that often, as on this car the customer opted to extend the dealer warranty when it expired, back in the early 00s. I saw it as an interesting experiment for me to observe, at their expense! I kid of course, I am myself quite fond of the little thing as he looks after it so well. It’s very original, but has enough little differences to stand out in a crowd. It does less than 1,000 miles a year now, living a cloistered life, waiting to become a future classic. What can I say, he’s patient, and possibly a little obsessive, who am I to judge? His much ‘nicer’ main car comes to us, but I do like to hear about what goes on with the Mini. “Anyway, so he told me a story recently. The MOT was coming up at about the same time as the service light came on. He rang the dealer and booked it in. Being a busy man, he opted for the pick-up and drop off. He had done this before, what could go wrong? Anyway, so they came for it in the morning and he got on with his day. “A few hours later, he had a call from the dealer. It had failed the MOT, which was a surprise. The nearside rear wheel was a bit dinged, which was not the failure, but in the process, the tyre had been pinched, and there was a bulge. Over the phone, they also mentioned the front brake pipes showing a little corrosion. This was not a massive surprise. The rear has been treated several years ago for the same malaise, and then promptly disappeared from the advisories the following year. Funnily enough this was noticed this year. “That seemed to be it, so he paid up over the phone and waited for the car to come back. Now, he doesn’t take it out in the rain anymore if he can avoid it, so it was a shame it was raining quite so hard. When it did come back, the delivery driver was in a bit too much of a hurry to jump in the pursuit car with his mate to go to the next pick-up. Our customer wanted to give it the once over before he went. As soon as he got in, 8 AFTERMARKET DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 BIG ISSUE Below: Customer care is as important to your business as purchasing the correct parts www.aftermarketonline.net COME UNDONE: CUSTOMER SERVICE GONE WRONG Providing a good service to your customers should be so easy, but it is also easy to go wrong, and any business can go awry, even the big ones