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Strategies & Market Trends : ajtj's Post-Lobotomy Market Charts and Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ajtj99 who wrote (46325)	12/10/2021 10:36:52 AM
From: robert b furman	4 Recommendations Recommended By ajtj99 Hayduke Lee Lichterman III Lou Weed Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97958

HI AJ, That viewpoint about the customer only really works when it comes from the top. To make that easy to administer a fund for policy must exist. When we sold a used car, we allocated $100.00 for every car sold. We included a 90 day drive train warranty with a $100.00 deductible on everything we retailed (a lot of the newer cars had a factory drive train warranty that transferred with the car). If a customer came back to our service department and didn't like how the rear view mirror vibrated, we replaced it no questions asked - even though it was not a drivetrain item. My service advisors had that ability. If you grant the repair with out any possible doubt or need for clarification, it is perceived that you are taking care of an important customer. Which IS how you build repeat business. I always told my managers, we have the fund there to take care of customers. They in effect already paid for that coverage - use it. I'd end that viewpoint with : Because if the customer has to get to me - he's got it. It empowered my employees and I never had to deal with customer dissatisfaction. I had already had too much of that as a Chevrolet Service Rep in my early entry level jobs. As a service rep, I found my poorly run dealers cut customers off of warranty and then charged them more for customer pay "beyond warranty repairs". Their greed created heat cases. Once they found out I would authorize a lot of policy requests due to being beyond the warranty, my dealers loved me. It was then that they realized the customer was both of ours to collectively take care of. It amazed me as being counterintuitive at first. The more you spent on policy, the lower the total warranty expense went down. Dealers had found a friend with the factory and didn't have to do hidden repairs to get coverage for their valued repeat customers who needed some help on a repair. Once the dealer understood that, he told the service guys to quit cheating and fly straight with Furman - he's a good rep. I found two notoriously tough dealers melted away when they learned I was there to help our customers. Neat lesson to learn while out in the field as a newbie. Carried that view my entire working career. I found it was a great tool to retain employees as well. I learned that view from a very wealth and old dealer who ran Lattof Chevrolet in Arlington Heights. It was by far the best service department I ever contacted. Always very busy and always had very high customer assistance ratings. They kept their labor rate 2-3 dollars lower than nearby dealers, that drew good customer pay type work which attracted top shelf technicians. The son ran the dealership and the father quietly stood out in the service drive and watched the write up lane - every morning. The quickest way to get fired at that store was to create a mad customer! Bob