PEOPLE PLEASERS!

I had a customer in a previous life who thought rats were just the coolest thing.  In his customer service area he would have caged white rats.  At times he would let them run free in his service desk as he talked to customers about the repairs they needed.  They would nibble the corners of his work orders and of course when rats eat they also….well you get the picture.  Since at least 50% of the cars are owned by women these days, when a woman came into his shop he would prop a rat on his shoulder and discuss the repairs needed.  Needless to say this reduced the number of female clientele coming into the shop which was OK by the owner. 

Please respect the customer.  This is not supposed to be an adversarial relationship.  As the owner you shouldn’t be trying to get back at the customer by imposing your interest on them.  Don’t offend them.  Nurture the relationship.  Find out what their interests are and talk to them about their interests.  I had a customer who was just the most arrogant guy you could ever imagine dealing with.  Had my 1968 Mustang Fastback at work one day and he came in just gushing about how much he loved Mustangs.  I also discovered that day he had significant hearing loss due to his job.  To this day we are still buds when we see each other.  I thought he was a jerk, then discovered all I had to do was talk to him about what he liked and do it loudly.  When dealing with the public you can’t really have an opinion on much, because you’ll just offend someone and that will cost you income down the road.  Try to remain neutral on most issues even when you have a strong opinion.  Remember you want a customer that feels good about you when they leave so they come back again.  You don’t want that last image to be rat droppings on the customer’s invoice when they sign it.