What Do Service Customers Really Want?
What your customers really – really – really want and what will make them loyal to your dealership and say wonderful things about you and your local brand to other people are:
- Warm and friendly responses –When customers make contact with you face to face or over the telephone, they want a warm response. It can still be businesslike, but you and your staff need to look and sound – friendly and likeable.
This may sound like common sense to you but think about these factors the next time you’re a customer in a business and ask yourself if they’re happening to you. Then ask yourself if your customers or clients are experiencing this from you and your team.
- They want to feel important –They know that you have lots of other customers and clients, but they just love it when you make them feel special.
3. They want to be listened to –Customers often get the impression that the person dealing with them is not really listening. You must keep working on your listening skills. Keep good eye contact with people and concentrate on what they’re saying. Keep an open mind and resist the temptation to jump in with an answer. It’s also important to show that you’re listening.
4. Someone to know their name –A person’s name is one of the sweetest sounds they’ll ever hear. If you use a customer’s name when you talk to them, it indicates that you recognize them as an individual. Don’t use it too often as it can become irritating, but definitely at the start and the end of a conversation.
5. Flexibility –Customers hate to hear the word “No” or “it can’t be done.” It’s not always possible to say, “Yes” to a customer or do exactly what they want; however, it is important to be as flexible as you can. Tell customers what you can do – not what you can’t.
6. Recovery –When things go wrong, and they almost always do, customers want you to solve their issues quickly. They don’t want to hear excuses or who’s to blame or why it happened, they just want it fixed fast. Customers will often judge the quality of your service by the way you recover when a problem does arise. They will even forgive your mistakes if you recover well. Don’t be afraid when something does go wrong; it’s often a great opportunity to show customers just how great your service really is.
Overall, customers just want to feel good about doing business with your store. They want to feel better after they’ve dealt with you or anyone in your dealership, than they did before. If you can create that feeling, then you’re well on the way to giving your customers what they really want.
This article by Alan Fairweather originally appeared in part in Customer Service Manager Magazine.