What Should You Do when Your Service Center Customers Don’t Trust the Technicians?

1. What Should You Do when Your Service Center Customers Don’t Trust the Technicians? There’s a stigma of mistrust surrounding auto dealerships and service centers in this country, and in some cases, that mistrust has been well-earned. This makes it difficult for the truly trustworthy and hardworking dealerships to build a reputation of trust within their communities, too. If you find that your service center customers are doubtful, fear- stricken, or otherwise generally unhappy, there are things you can do to improve the experience and build trust. Be Honest The most important way to improve trust between your customers and your service center is the most obvious, but it’s also one of the most difficult – honesty. The most honest dealerships and service centers of them all know they have integrity, but it’s difficult to translate that integrity in a way that customers who are already fearful of the auto service industry can understand. Be honest with your customers as much as you can. For example, be honest about any used cars you sell on your lot, sell your vehicles for a fair price, and make sure the services you’re providing in your service center are of good value to your customers. Solve Problems Think about the reasons why people seem to distrust auto dealerships. Many believe the sales team is “pushy”, and still others believe that auto salespeople will purposely scam them out of their money. When it comes to the service side of things, customers mistakenly believe that technicians will claim to perform repairs that aren’t necessary or even purposely cause other issues that send the customer back into the service center shortly after driving away. What can you do to alleviate these common issues and build trust with your service center customers? Video evidence is by far the best solution. Creating short, simple videos that adequately explain the issue and show the before-and-after (wherever possible) are excellent ways to build trust with your customers. Speak at Their Level Consumers who don’t know a lot about their vehicles, boats, or RVs often feel as if service center technicians are trying to “pull a fast one” by using jargon and terms they have no way of understanding. Because they don’t understand, they have no way to know whether they were treated fairly, and this causes them to question your service center’s integrity. One of the best ways to overcome this is to make sure your technicians are speaking at your customers’ level. They should carefully explain the nature of the issue, why it is an issue, and what needs to be done to correct it in a way that makes sense to the customer. This alone can have a huge impact on trust; in fact, many of your customers may even express their gratitude at your thoroughness. It is completely possible for any dealership in any part of the nation to overcome the negative stigma of distrust that seems to surround the auto repair and service industry. Utilizing honest, careful explanations accompanied by a video can truly go a long way toward rebuilding trust in communities and securing your reputation as an honest and thoughtful dealership.