Are They Just Whiners

I recently read a great article in the newspaper travel section on how to complain. A vacationer had had a terrible experience at Disney and couldn’t get satisfaction afterward. The lesson here wasn't so much how to complain, although that was the point, but from my perspective, it was how to receive complaints. And even an iconic organization like Disney apparently falls victim to being human. That's sort of a relief, but in the end the lesson should be learned by us all.
Here's the deal; the vacationer had a bad experience at Disney and after getting home drafted an overly complete laundry list of all of the pains and inconveniences suffered during their stay. The travel expert explained to the vacationer that they had made too long a list of ills and came off looking like a whiner. What they should have done, and he did for them to get a resolution, was to narrow down their complaints to one or two significant problems and offer Disney a way to make things right. Thinking as a consumer, vacationer, abused customer, I realize that that is what we never ever do. We have one pretty significant "beef", but then when we retell the story in our heads and to all of our friends, we add in all the extra slights that may or may not have occurred in order to bolster our charges of what a sub-par organization we have come across. Think about it. You do it. I know you do. Even those who think they never fib, they are always of the highest moral integrity do it. It's as though we have to fortify our complaint to prove how our slight must've happened because everything else was wrong too. In Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, he notes the way that Rudy Giuliani cleaned up Times Square started with the subways and diligently, daily removing graffiti. We all, even criminals, make a judgment that a sloppy place, covered with graffiti isn't well cared for; crime could occur with less a chance of getting caught than in a tidy place which we reason has more "eyes" and wouldn't allow crime.
That same reasoning carries over to where we will do business. If it is clean, tidy, up-to-date, then the business must be clean, tidy, and up-to-date. If the business area is dirty, untidy, run down, then the business must be shady, cheating, behind the times, etc. It so doesn't matter if the logic is faulty, or if you know instances that prove it wrong. It's in people's heads so we just have to deal with it as if it is true. Because it is.
Now for you taking complaints, yeah, I know I took the long way around the bush to get here, but stay with me. Your customers seldom really bring complaints to you. It really takes a lot to muster the courage to speak up and tell you what you've done wrong. So when they do, they fortify their complaint with everything else that is slightly wrong that to them obviously contributes to the ultimate offense they have suffered. They will not ever simply say, "you surprised me with a higher price on my repair invoice." Oh no, they will tell you that you didn't greet them courteously, you didn't take the time to hear their real needs, you didn't offer them a ride to work, you didn't keep them informed of the status of their repair, you took too long to deliver the vehicle to them, you did not deliver the vehicle in as pristinely clean a condition as they brought it in, etc., etc., etc.
Soooooo, when you hear a big list of issues from your customer, resist with all your might the temptation to label them a whiner. Instead, listen. Listen with both your ears. Take note of every item. Then ask the customer to prioritize their problems… is it the price of the repair above all? Remember, they are fortifying their story for you, you must resist the temptation to dismiss them and instead be like a forensic investigator looking for the root problem. Find out what the customer would like for you to do to make things right, to retain them as a customer.
And then do it. Do it joyfully. Do it quickly. Do it with ceremony and flourish. And move on with joy that you have corrected a problem and retained a customer. That story will be told and retold and to your benefit vs. what will be told and the dollars that will not be spent with you otherwise.
btw – this is not just a vehicle servicing story, this is about every type of service that any business provides. AND, this is big, with that list of things that you captured, go out and attend to them too because those "little" things should not be happening to give anyone ammunition to load a faulty story about you and your organization.

Make It Convenient

What's the major influence for where customers do business wherever they do business: CONVENIENCE. Other things play, but that's the major influencer. Here's a convenience I just got from my dentist that makes my point.

I received a paper postcard from my dentist a month or so ago telling me that I needed to call and make an appointment for my 6-month check-up. I was surprised because I was sure that I had made my appointment the last time I was in… BIG mistake on their part! If you are not setting up the next appointment while the customer is there, you are making a HUGE mistake. Estimate when they should come in, find out the day of the week and time of day they prefer and set an appointment!

Okay, so I did call in but it was a Friday afternoon and the office was closed. I forgot about the appointment and didn’t try again. Now, here’s the point to the story: today I got an email including a link to the dentist's website to set my appointment. Guess what I did? That’s right, I clicked on the link and made an appointment.

So maybe you haven't been on the Continuous Appointment bandwagon. Maybe you don't think you have the staff to make outbound calls to invite customers for appointments. Maybe you are spending a lot of $$$ sending out paper postcards with coupons and invitations. Why not try email marketing to touch your existing customers and invite them over for a Pit Stop, or a Goodwrench Car Care Package or a "gee, we haven't seen you in awhile" check-up. Try a simple message with an appointment scheduling link... make sure the email isn’t too cluttered with info that the appointment link is not the major stand-out item.

Oh, and start collecting your customer's email addresses. Like I really have to say this, but customer info isn't complete if it doesn't contain an email address.