I’ve been working in various forms of professional services roles for a number of years now and during that time the perspective I’ve gained has made me quite vocal about the type of service I receive.  Most people will always complain about the bad and never, or rarely, praise the good.  I suppose that’s just human nature but I figured since I have this new fancy blog, I’d share a great positive experience.  If you need a tip for delivering fantastic customer service, read on!

I brought my car in for service at Mississauga Toyota today and had a few things I needed to get looked at outside the regular maintenance.  The entire process from requesting the appointment to paying the bill was smooth and flawless.

1. Respond to your customer’s request:  Within a couple of business hours, my web request for service was answered with a phone call, they verified my info and setup the appointment.  Sounds simple, but this is the first car dealer I’ve ever interacted with over that neato thing called the internet.  Most dealers have a website but forms and email seem to fall into a black hole, at least in my experience when making first contact with a dealer through electronic means.
   
2. Know what your customer wants: I didn’t have to repeat myself.  I needed scheduled maintenance, they knew what was required for my car and also already knew to look at the specific stuff I mentioned.  Again, sounds simple, but EVERY service visit for my GM is handled by asking me exactly what the vehicle needs.  Hmmm, here’s the maintenance book, do what it says.
3. Communicate with your customer:  The shop technician called and updated me on the testing they did on 1 particular item, gave me 2 choices and then said they’d call when it was ready.  About an hour later the work was finished and they called and said the car was ready and gave me the price.
4. Go above and beyond:  Soon after they called letting me know the car was ready, the shuttle driver called asking if I needed to be picked up, even though I didn’t request one.
5. Close the loop with a bow:  When I picked up the car, the service adviser remembered who I was and filled me in on the details the shop technician gave me over the phone, the car was washed and the checkout was quick.

To me this experience shows how organized and how customer-centric they are.  There is nothing in this experience that doesn’t amount to common sense when dealing with customers but you’d be surprised how often companies don’t get these simple concepts right.  Throughout the process everyone was very pleasant to deal with and I would be very happy to recommend this dealer for service to anyone.

This experience reinforces why I love being in the service industry.  Have a great story to share?  Send me a comment!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.