Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 206 Location: Camp Verde, AZ
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject: Living in fear
Has this ever happened in your shop?
New customer picked up his vehicle yesterday, Today he calls back, saying “this is Bill, I picked up my truck yesterday and I want to talk to one of the guys”. The person answering the phone puts it on hold, tells you who it is, then gets the copy of that service order. The thought that runs through everybody's minds is “what did we mess up on this repair”. When you pick up the phone you are fully expecting to hear about problems with the repair on his vehicle. To your surprise he is having issues with another vehicle and wants to get it looked at.
Your come back rate is very low. The shop very seldom has problems with substandard repair work. The few times that is has happened, most of your clients are very understanding and and work with you to get them resolved. It is not like you should be gun shy about having irate people in front of you.
This is an irrational fear, yet it seems that many shop owners and service writers, I have talked with, have it also. Why do we live in fear? Why are we letting the very small percentage of people that yell and scream control us? Do we set policies and procedures because of one or two bad experiences? Shouldn’t we be making decisions based on what the majority of people think of our shop?
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:26 pm Post subject: Re: Living in fear
Hi Dave,
Dave wrote:
Has this ever happened in your shop?
New customer picked up his vehicle yesterday, Today he calls back, saying “this is Bill, I picked up my truck yesterday and I want to talk to one of the guys”. The person answering the phone puts it on hold, tells you who it is, then gets the copy of that service order. The thought that runs through everybody's minds is “what did we mess up on this repair”. When you pick up the phone you are fully expecting to hear about problems with the repair on his vehicle. To your surprise he is having issues with another vehicle and wants to get it looked at.
I admit every time this happens my reaction is always to expect the worse. Perhaps this is just our built in fight or flight reaction? I have worked hard to control it, but it's still very much there.
For example, Friday we repaired the air suspension on a Cadillac. Two hours later the client returned and asked to speak to the tech that worked on his vehicle. I swallowed hard and asked if there was anything I might do or was there a problem? No, not at all. I wanted to give him a tip for the great job . . .
Dave wrote:
Your come back rate is very low. The shop very seldom has problems with substandard repair work. The few times that is has happened, most of your clients are very understanding and and work with you to get them resolved. It is not like you should be gun shy about having irate people in front of you.
This is an irrational fear, yet it seems that many shop owners and service writers, I have talked with, have it also. Why do we live in fear?
I can never remember anyone getting what I would call irate. Never a raised voice nor threat. Still I hate that feeling. Perhaps the passion we feel for our work makes it tough to know we have not satisfied someone? I have noticed those that seem to care most about their work also seem to be affected most.
Always expecting the best is a rare gift. We have a local Cajun phrase, Joie de vivre [zhwaa-de-veev] There is no exact equivalent in English. It means Joy in living or simply joy to be alive. I always thought there was great wisdom there.
Dave wrote:
Why are we letting the very small percentage of people that yell and scream control us? Do we set policies and procedures because of one or two bad experiences? Shouldn’t we be making decisions based on what the majority of people think of our shop?
Great post Dave, I think we all tend to do this. I think it's reacting to a special cause as if it were a common cause. Special causes can be dealt with on a one on one basis, not a change of the system. The exact opposite of common causes. Thanks Dave, this is a good reminder.
Just last week I had the opportunity to listen to a nice lady take 20 minutes to explain everything her regular repair shop had done, in vain, attempting to fix her car. She wasn't mad or unreasonable, just aggravated at all the trouble her car was giving her.
When she left an SA told me 'I warned you about her.'
But there was nothing to have been warned about. She paid for our time and agreed to do everything I asked her to.
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject: Fight or flight/irrational fear?
I think that if you did not personally work on the customer's vehicle you might subconsciously see your shop's life flash before your eyes when that dreaded call comes in. It's a bad habit to assume guilt or expect the negative--sure, the worst that could happen is that you're right--and if you're not at fault, then you're pleasantly surprised. In the back of your mind You're thinking: "Oh man, What could we have left loose, or..." ? You've worked on cars yourself and you know that your people are human, things happen-- just hope no one gets hurt.
It's so rare that anyone has the decency to give positive feedback that it's everyone's default reaction to assume the worst. I generally have nothing but positive reactions and I'm conscientious and my customers know it. If something ever does go awry they are understanding. I take care of our customers. It's rare that I get a negative call or a boomerang.No doubt we are the same in that respect; or we wouldn't be here posting on this forum of quality minded owners/managers.
I don't micro-manage but I insist on quality. I sell what the car needs whether or not the tech likes to do this or that type of work. I price the work at a level that fairly compensates the tech. I don't own the shop, so my influence is limited. I think Demming's way is the best. One type of job is no less profitable than another when I am involved. It's unfortunate that some owners are so "conservative"(not the word I'd use) that they think returning to old world ideologies of high quality and fair pricing frightens them. Strange how the world has changed; ignorant of the time tested methods that have worked historically. Always willing to try something new--and risky-- to make more money if it involves paying people less. They get less expertise, less quality, less concern, less loyalty, less honesty--what a bargain! If your employees are disatisfied, your customers will be the first to know.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 146 Location: Garden City, KS
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject:
I don't think it is a feeling I would want to go away. If it truly did, I would fear I've become arrogant. I may not want the client to sense I have this fear for fear that they may pick up on it and then fear my services may not be all that good....since I fear that I may have not performed a reliable and complete repair.
I feel we've all been there, probably at the very beginning of our careers...or at least towards the beginning of our lives (remember doing chores or tasks for your Dad?). We do everything by the book, or exactly as we were told, or just plain bent over backwards to do everything perfect (doesn't exist, right?)...and then the "true" result occurs. It's wrong, it isn't perfect, it has failed. Here we poured our heart, soul, sweat, and good will into this job/deed/task...and it feels all for not. Not only that, but it might have also triggered a frustrated, if not angry, response from the person to whom you performed this action for!
So, I guess the question becomes...is this a learned reaction, such as the example I just gave above. Or is it a sign of PRIDE? It may be both, but I'm leaning towards the latter. What are your thoughts?
Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 206 Location: Camp Verde, AZ
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:31 pm Post subject:
Matt,
MattFMN wrote:
I don't think it is a feeling I would want to go away. If it truly did, I would fear I've become arrogant. I may not want the client to sense I have this fear for fear that they may pick up on it and then fear my services may not be all that good....since I fear that I may have not performed a reliable and complete repair. :)
Had not considered that, but now that you mention it, it is probably very true. The people that I now that think they are "perfect" are very arrogant.
MattFMN wrote:
I feel we've all been there, probably at the very beginning of our careers...or at least towards the beginning of our lives (remember doing chores or tasks for your Dad?). We do everything by the book, or exactly as we were told, or just plain bent over backwards to do everything perfect (doesn't exist, right?)...and then the "true" result occurs. It's wrong, it isn't perfect, it has failed. Here we poured our heart, soul, sweat, and good will into this job/deed/task...and it feels all for not. Not only that, but it might have also triggered a frustrated, if not angry, response from the person to whom you performed this action for!
So, I guess the question becomes...is this a learned reaction, such as the example I just gave above. Or is it a sign of PRIDE? It may be both, but I'm leaning towards the latter. What are your thoughts?
For the most part I think it is a learned behavior. Most of the time we were told when we had done things wrong, but very seldom when they were done correctly. This is even done in schools. The graded papers that were returned to us told us how many we had done incorrectly, not how many were correct. If the growing up process was to bad some people became arrogant as a self preservation measure.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:02 am Post subject: Re: Fight or flight/irrational fear?
Rob Nissen wrote:
I think that if you did not personally work on the customer's vehicle you might subconsciously see your shop's life flash before your eyes when that dreaded call comes in. It's a bad habit to assume guilt or expect the negative--sure, the worst that could happen is that you're right--and if you're not at fault, then you're pleasantly surprised. In the back of your mind You're thinking: "Oh man, What could we have left loose, or..." ? You've worked on cars yourself and you know that your people are human, things happen-- just hope no one gets hurt.
Hi Rob,
You're right, it is very rare that there is a real problem. Most times it's something unrelated and an opportunity for another sale.
Rob Nissen wrote:
It's so rare that anyone has the decency to give positive feedback that it's everyone's default reaction to assume the worst. I generally have nothing but positive reactions and I'm conscientious and my customers know it. If something ever does go awry they are understanding. I take care of our customers. It's rare that I get a negative call or a boomerang.No doubt we are the same in that respect; or we wouldn't be here posting on this forum of quality minded owners/managers.
I don't micro-manage but I insist on quality. I sell what the car needs whether or not the tech likes to do this or that type of work. I price the work at a level that fairly compensates the tech. I don't own the shop, so my influence is limited. I think Demming's way is the best. One type of job is no less profitable than another when I am involved.
That's a very good point. How profitable a job is has more to do with billing than technical aspects. Amazing how some shop owners will continue to lose money on a job, and say, "You can't charge for that." I would prefer to charge what the job is worth. If that makes me uncompetitive, I may lose that job. Not loosing money on that job makes me more competitive on the jobs I do best. I'll settle for having the jobs I do best and loosing some that I don't make money on
Rob Nissen wrote:
It's unfortunate that some owners are so "conservative"(not the word I'd use) that they think returning to old world ideologies of high quality and fair pricing frightens them. Strange how the world has changed; ignorant of the time tested methods that have worked historically. Always willing to try something new--and risky-- to make more money if it involves paying people less. They get less expertise, less quality, less concern, less loyalty, less honesty--what a bargain! If your employees are disatisfied, your customers will be the first to know.
Now that's a quote worth quoting. If you don't mind I would like to add it to our home page quote section. Thanks Rob, you make great points.
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