I’ve had the privilege of visiting thousands of dealership service departments throughout the United States. The most successful have common characteristics and today I would like to illustrate one. Many have heard me say how important customer pay effective labor rate is along with repair order count. I’ve had countless training sessions illustrating the importance of gross profit margins on labor or technician fill rates from the parts department. I’ve worked with advisors about the importance of the customer intake process and what that means to retention and profitability. I’ve written an eBook on feature benefit presentations and the importance of preventive maintenance. We want state-of-the-art equipment with special tools in order and easy to find for our Technicians. All of these items deserve attention, however have nothing to do with your primary focus I am recommending today. The primary focus has to be the customer. No matter what industry you’re involved in those that produce excellent customer care are at the top of it. Morton’s Steakhouse is an expensive experience however it is so evident their primary focus is always on those people they are serving food to. They seek out your preferences and expectations for your meal prior to the food preparation to get it just right for you. You never feel like an inconvenience or interruption to the staff. Managers flow through the restaurant asking customers how they are doing and asking if they can help in any way. This practice isn’t to micromanage the staff it’s simply to provide the best experience possible for their customers. I have always been impressed with the servers that even scrape up the breadcrumbs from the table without being asked to. If you want to be successful in today’s dealership service environment it must be built on a culture that makes your customer the primary focus. When the customer sees the entire staff at your dealership committed to making the experience as nice as Morton’s steakhouse your fixed operation profitability will never be in question.

Sincerely,    
Rob Gehring, President
Fixed Performance Inc.
rgehring@fixedperformance.com
Cell: (419) 282-1351
1-888-205-8718
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