You’re in the people business. You just happen to fix cars, a shop coach told a room full of shop owners, technicians and advisors.
“You are not at the shop to fix cars. The purpose of any business is to create and keep a client,” said Rick White, president of 180Biz, during the presentation Business Boss Leader: From Creeper to Leader at this year’s Mid-West Auto Care Alliance’s Vision and Hi-Tech Training Expo.
And it doesn’t matter what the business is — everyone has the same purpose. And for this industry, it’s done by fixing vehicles.
He noted that the average shop loses 17-21 per cent of its clients every year. Reasons can vary from a customer buying a new vehicle to death to a family member opening a shop and the business going there.
Nevertheless, if a shop isn’t measuring how many clients they’re losing compared to how much they’re bringing in, it could spell trouble.
You want to get to know your client. White said to have “discovery conversations” with clients. You do this by making them feel seen, heard and appreciated — the ingredients of connection, according to professor and author Brené Brown.
So advisors have to learn to connect to the client by having a real conversation with them. “It’s about them, not about me,” he said.
He also advised to always have your antenna up and be able to read the room quickly.
“So it’s teaching them to always be looking and listening. And it takes time. It takes commitment and dedication,” White said.
And the function of any business is to run without needing the owner present. Think of it as raising a child. You birthed it, you helped it grow, you put it on the right path and you one day watch your child become their own person and live life without you watching over them.
“That is what a business is set to do. You are there to teach it and give it values and show it how to do things, and then you let that business go,” White said. “But we don’t do that.”
He brought it back to the fact that your business is there to create relationships.
“What I’m doing is using cars to create relationships. Because I’m in the relationship business, not the car business. And the sooner we understand that, the healthier our business becomes,” White said. “Because when you have a relationship with somebody, they’re not going to go to another shop to save $50.”
Image credit: Depositphotos.com
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