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Letter to the Editor

Managing the Customer Communication Process

Using Effective Communications to Increase Sales and Customer Satisfaction - Special Feature

The communications that take place between repair facility personnel and customers, whether referral sources, the referred customer, or individuals walking off the street for repair estimates, are crucial to the success of any plan to increase business. Each step in the customer communication process provides an opportunity to give your sales pitch and increase your professionalism, good reputation and customer satisfaction.

A detailed flowchart of the customer communications process appears on page 14 of this issue.

Initial Contacts

While many feel that their first customer contact takes place on the phone or when someone drives into the facility for an estimate, the true initial contact with the customer usually takes place before they call or visit the facility. How so? The potential customer’s first contact is usually with the repair facility’s advertising placements or through conversations with a referral source such as a friend or neighbor who has had their vehicle repaired in your facility, or a formal relationship with a dealer or insurance source.

Unlike actual advertising, referrals are an often overlooked avenue to communicate with the customer directly. Most shops that have developed formal referral relationships with other businesses rely on those businesses to market their facility. The referrer, whether an OE dealer or insurance company, explains the relationship and directs the customer to your facility for an estimate.

However, providing the referring business with brochures and other sales materials is an often overlooked method a few repairers are using to inform the customer beyond a simple estimate referral. Providing ample brochures gives the person giving the referral a source of information to help them sell the customer on your business.

The next opportunity the collision repairer is afforded to talk to a prospective customer is during the customer’s initial visit to the facility for an estimate. While many estimators are well versed in the technical aspects of repair work, the human side of the equation is often forgotten. The customer has just been through a traumatic experience. Good communications skills, comforting the customer, letting them know the facility will take care of their vehicle and solve their needs and the problems that have arisen are paramount.

To help determine a customer’s specific needs, many repair facilities include questions regarding the need for a rental vehicle, and customer concerns regarding the repair process on a customer information form.

In past issues of INSIGHT, we have detailed various customer information forms and how they can best be used to improve communication between the repairer and the customer during this initial contact.(Editor’s Note: For a sample copy of a customer information form, contact INSIGHT at (800)860-2744.)

With knowledge garnered from the customer information form, coupled with a good dose of listening on the part of the estimator, the repair facility can better communicate and close a greater percentage of sales.

Repair Progress Updates and Delivery

The next phase of the customer communication process includes repair scheduling and customer updates on the progress of the repairs to their vehicle. If, as is often the case, the vehicle will continue in service until all of the necessary parts have been ordered and received, the estimator should keep in regular contact with the customer regarding the scheduling of their repairs.

Once repairs begin, updates on problems that occur during the repair process that may affect delivery of the vehicle should be handled promptly.

As any parent who has waited for a child to call late at night will tell you, prompt attention to your customer’s information needs will go a long way to ease fears and eliminate negative impressions. Calling the customers a few hours before scheduled delivery to inform them their delivery will be delayed for two days can ruin whatever positive impressions they may have had of the facility.

Progress updates, especially those concerning delays in the scheduled delivery date must be timely. Careful in-shop monitoring and communication is crucial to this task.Careful attention must be paid to the preparations for the actual delivery of the vehicle.

Is the customer aware of his financial responsibility? Do they have the insurance check? Or the deductible amount? Has the bank signed off on the completed repairs?

All of these factors and others must be explained to the customer before the delivery so they are prepared.

Finally, when delivery is made, the estimator or manager must pay careful attention to the customer’s questions regarding their satisfaction. The key here is to identify potential problems before the vehicle leaves or a bad CSI report is returned to the shop.

Next month, INSIGHT will examine in-depth the role of CSI tracking and how it can be integrated into a shop’s communications and improvement process.  o

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