Marketing for Results: The Learning Revolution

Marketing is not only about communicating value; it’s about bringing value to your customer value that is equal to:

your knowledge of the automotive service maintenance and repairs,

your customer service processes, plus

sound business practices.

Have things changed in the service business over the past decade?

Of course. Have you been keeping up?

1. Have you made a commitment to life-long learning in your business?

2. Is your business committed to life-long learning?

3. Do you personally have a desire to learn new skills?

If a business and individual have no desire to learn anything new, does that mean they already know all they need to know … forever?

It’s no longer enough to have staff just “do their jobs.” Continuous learning and improvement are essential! Why? It’s your only competitive advantage. You can have an attractive facility, great service, quality workmanship, and an expensive Website, but it always comes down to people … your people.

Typically, top performers are committed to learning. They are always looking for a new edge, thought, idea, and strategy to propel them forward. And companies that are committed to having the sharpest and best-educated team are usually the most successful.

Learning Myths #1

Training doesn’t pay.

In poorly run businesses, this is usually true, but not in well-run organizations. You can have outstanding customer-service policies and customer-recovery strategies on paper, but who must implement them? Your team. A poor team equals poor business practices and usually poor results. The poor businesses can have high turnover (we wonder why), and therefore never get any return on their training investment. By the time the staff person is trained, he or she is out the door to another firm.

Learning Myths #2

Staff members don’t like training.

Who lets this happen? The learning culture in any organization is a reflection of leadership. When the leadership expects all individuals to participate in continuous learning, they will. If you state the expectation of ongoing learning-up-front, during the hiring process-individuals who don’t like learning won’t apply.

Leaders who see learning as a nonproductive event create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Do you have a team of long-term staff members not interested in learning new technology and people skills? Only you as the owner can determine whether their lack of ability/skill/attitude is competitively acceptable.

Learning Myths #3

We don’t have time for learning/training.

We all set priorities each day. Learning opportunities can be part of the “To Do” list. It’s simply a “value” relationship. For whatever reason, people believe that what they are doing at the moment has a greater short- and long-term value than the improvements this new learning can give them. If we told a man we would guarantee him a big bonus for attending a special educational session for a week, do you think he could find the time?

Learning Myths #4

We can do it on our own.

“We don’t need any formal learning or training.” If you believe that is true, answer these questions.

Does your business performance over the past three years prove that assumption?

Why have we-experienced consultants hired several professionals to assist us in our business?

Why do the best athletes in the world have coaches?

Why do political leaders have outside advisors?

Getting a business or a person from A to B in the fastest and best possible way usually involves input from others. If it’s not a dangerous practice, being an island in business is certainly foolish.

Future Learning Trends

1. Learning as a way of life

Learning is no longer just about getting a degree, diploma, or certificate. That’s only a beginning. Embracing life-long learning must be the norm, not the exception. A “don’t bother the staff with training” attitude will be a significant disadvantage in your marketplace.

2. E-Learning

Universities now offer online degrees. E-Learning offers us educational options we have never had before: faster delivery that maintains high quality and consistency; self-study; and more personalized curricula than previous learning models.

Here are just a few of the new e-Learning options.

Video Streaming

Online Assessments

Real Player Audio

Video Conferencing

Self-Study Processes

Interactive Online Chat Lines

Personalized Learning Processes to Match Learning Style

Recently we discovered a company that provided all the body shop and service-station safety certification programs online. In fact, over 700 automotive tech schools in the U.S. and Canada were accessing their online learning. E-Learning will not replace all other learning models; it will enhance the overall experience and value.

3. Future watch

Dave Chalk, host of the TV/Internet Computer Show, shares some recent research: in 10 years, all of mankind’s knowledge up to 2003 will equal only 1 percent of our total knowledge!

“We never trained in the past, so we don’t need to start now,” is a head-in-the-sand attitude. Don’t look back to what you have done in the past. Look ahead to what you need to do for the future.

4. Personal coaches and mentors

In another 2002 study, conducted by www.learningcircuts.com, business leaders identified that the key component of their professional and personal development was a personal mentor or executive coach. Over 44 percent felt this was the most important factor in their improvement. They said it is invaluable to have a person give honest feedback, hold them accountable, and provide non-emotional opinions. There is no substitute for having a quality executive coach or mentor. It’s a must!

5. Your “Employable Value”

If a person has not developed new skills over the past year, what does that tell you about the individual’s values, drive, and willingness to contribute? To stay employable in-and valuable to-a changing economy, you must be better today than yesterday.

Has the automotive service industry changed in the past decade? You can hardly recognize the op codes. Computer chips, boards, and programming now dominate many repairs and maintenance events. You are either improving or degrading. Which one applies to you and your team?

Step right up!

Life-long learning is for winners!

About Results Consulting Group Inc.

Results is an international full-service business consulting company with special expertise and experience in the automotive industry.In the past five years alone, Results’ team of automotive professionals has trained more than 20,000 automotive personnel-and logged thousands of in-store consulting-project days, from independent operations to national and international chains. Senior Partners Ken Keis and Gordon Cameron have over 45 years of combined business-ownership experience and 15,000 hours of automotive consulting experience. The Results Performance Institute provides a full range of information products and services designed to increase your business and individual performance, including personal one-on-one coaching, in-store consulting, on- and off-site educational sessions, tele-conferences, videos, and audio solutions. Results also provides appointment-scheduling and dispatch software solutions-ServiceMate-specifically designed for the independent maintenance and repair sector. Shops wishing to start growing their service business immediately can now order ServiceMate software.

Created for shops from 2 to 32 technicians, it almost pays for itself the first week you use it.

Learn more about this easy-to-implement solution: Call 1-866-852-4347.

Results’ copyrighted service marketing and operational system, “0% Customer Defection & 100% Customer Retention,”

has a proven track record of increasing service gross by 10-20% and beyond-in less than six months.

For further information about Results and its automot
ive and business solutions, call us Toll Free at 1-866-852-4347, email results@shaw.ca, or visit our Website at www.resultsconsultinggroup.com.