Empower the Customer

It has been a rough few years for independent service providers as many saw business steadily eaten away by dealerships, a fact confirmed in regular studies by such firms as J.D. Power and Associates. However, this year has proven to be different.

In this issue of SSGM Magazine, we are giving our readers an in-depth look at the most recent J.D. Power Canadian customer satisfaction survey with auto service, a study that shows independent service providers have after five years of decline, now stabilized their market share.

According to this annual J.D. Power study, one of the most extensive available of the aftermarket, dealerships actually lost ground to service shops, particularly on vehicles that were between two and three years old, and those between eight and 12 years old. Dealerships continued to remain strong amongst owners of vehicles that are between four and seven years old.

That four to seven year range is likely due to many of those vehicles still remaining under long-term or extended warranties, while the eight to 12 year old vehicles have ended their warranty periods and owners are gravitating to the independents. This is a trend that will likely continue as many vehicles purchased between 1999 and 2003 are quickly approaching the end of their warranties.

But what was most interesting in the survey, and one that should give this industry something to build on, is what the study’s authors discovered about what works in developing customer loyalty. According to the authors, whom SSGM interviewed, customers felt most loyal to service providers who provided them with a consistency of service and empowered them in the decision making process. For example, when a client was told their vehicle needed some kind of service, customers were most appreciative of those service providers who took the time to explain why the service was being recommended, were given options as to the kinds of parts needed and then being allowed to make the final decision on what parts and service work was to be done. The study’s authors told SSGM pretty bluntly that giving customers this kind of choice and making them feel they control the final service decision does more to keep them coming back to the shop than anything else.

Fountain Tire took this empowerment approach to customer service a little over a year ago and the results have been tremendous, a success story SSGM profiles in this issue. By doing such simple things as acknowledging customers the moment they stepped into the shop, going through a checklist of the work done, explaining what needed to be fixed, then offering choices as to how to go about the work, helped push the customer satisfaction rating for Fountain Tire to the top of the J.D Power survey. In fact, Fountain Tire improved by 12 ranking points in customer satisfaction from where it was last year, a jump that pleasantly surprised the company’s head office and should inspire all service providers in Canada.