5 minute read
AOCA CORNER
from NOLN - August 2022
by EndeavorBusinessMedia-VehicleRepairGroup
BRETT
FRASER
is the member programs specialist for the Automotive Oil Change Association (AOCA), the only trade group for the quick maintenance industry.
INFO
@AOCA.COM OR 800.230.0702
Setting Expectations
Crafting an experience for specific customer profiles
TO KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS COMING BACK FOR your services, a positive customer service experience is essential. Each customer has different expectations of what the positive customer service experience entails. While we can make some broad statements on generational expectations, it may be more useful to use customer profiles to craft the experience for different drivers.
While data-supported profiles are generally more useful, thought experiments can do an adequate job of getting the improvement process started. Below are some examples.
Customer Profile 1: Joe the Dad Joe, a father of two middle school boys who love sports, walks into the shop looking to get oil changed. His car maintenance is a bit behind because his kids’ school and activity schedule have filled his days up, and he is hoping to get service completed before he must pick up his kids from school and transport them to baseball practice.
What might Joe value? First, we know that he has a limited time frame, so he might not need “instant gratification” but rather just be on a tight schedule. Putting ourselves in his shoes, we might imagine that his window sticker has been staring him in the face for the last 1,000 miles screaming at him that it is time to take care of another responsibility in his limited time.
So, to help Joe out, and any other customer who has many obligations in a short time frame, let’s set the expectations for what his wait time may be when he walks in the door. Want to go a step further, utilize an app to book appointments and set expectations for wait time so that, rather than waiting in the shop, the customer now has the ability to choose how to effectively use that additional hour of what would be lobby-wait time to best accomplish his or her goals.
Customer Profile 2: Sally the Student Sally is a college student in her second year of grad school for her advanced degree in biochemistry. She lacks funds because, well, grad school is expensive. Her car needs to last until she gets a job that will pay the bills and, hopefully, get a more reliable car.
Sally has never maintained her own car. She has little time to do her studies as is and work her part time shift to afford her overpriced studio apartment. What might Sally value? It is reasonable to assume that Sally would want to understand the value behind her services, and very likely does not have extra disposable income for some of the additional care items. How might this change what type of service a technician may provide?
With this knowledge, the recommended additional services can be accompanied by a level of urgency for each additional preventive maintenance service beyond the basic oil change that she came in for. This will help her understand the short-term costs versus long-term savings that accompany these services and allow her to make an informed decision for what maintenance items she wants to prioritize. Additionally, she likely doesn’t want to be treated like she is dumb for not understanding these things on her own already. She is certainly not dumb, she just has a different strength in her understanding, which is biochemistry. That is why she is coming to the shop, because there are others who have a greater understanding of how to effectively maintain a car.
Customer Profile 3: Steven the Tech-Averse Steven is 30 and his job is to maintain forests to reduce fire-risk. He spends a lot of time with manual labor, and not much time learning the nuances of the latest iOS release. When Steven comes in to get his oil changed, what might he appreciate? For Steven, it might be as simple as having someone readily available to get him checked in and having a choice of whether or not he wants his receipt emailed to him or a printed version that he can store in his filing cabinet.
There is a lot of evidence behind the efficacy of creating customer profiles to curate your customer service experience.
To get this process started on your own, a few tips for creating your customer profiles that will guide your customer-service optimization process. • Create a name for your profile. This helps the empathetic process. • Establish what their individual goals might be (like getting to their sons’ baseball practice safely and in-time). • Discuss what obstacles they may face in their everyday life that they bring to their appointment (not understanding how to receive an e-mailed receipt) • Discuss how your service might be a different experience in their day that makes a good day continue to go smoothly, and a bad day a little bit better.
As mentioned above, the more data you have that supports these profiles the better, but if we just stop and think about the customers we already see on a regular basis, we don’t have to wait to get this process started.
ADAPT (32, 40)
API (33, 43)
AUTEL (15) 855.288.3587
AutoCenter Sales (8) 800.874.5793
Chevron (2) 866.354.4476
Devon Industries (12) 888.500.0353
FullSpeed Automotive (35)
Integrated Services, Inc. - LubeSoft - Modulube (44) 800.922.3099
Kafko International Ltd. Oil Eater/Degreaser (14) 800.528.0334
Phillips 66 / Kendall (38) 877.445.9198
Roth Industries (8) 888.266.7684
Royal Purple (5, 36)
Solid Start – True Brand (3, 37) 877.290.3950
Valvoline (21) 859.357.7303
Wrenchers (9) 800.261.7729
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