ACtion Magazine - March 2014 - (Page 6)

Raising the bar By Andy Fifﬁck CUSTOM FITTINGS AND HOSE ASSEMBLIES O n my recent trip to New Orleans for the MACS Training Event and Trade Show, I experienced something that made me question the public's perception of customer service. My experience showed me that we all have different perceptions of customer service at different times, based on who is providing that service. When it seems that no one is actually providing customer service at all, it appears that no one seems to care. I drove to the airport expecting to park in the garage next to the terminal. I pulled a ticket from the automated dispenser, and as the gate swung up the dispenser's screen indicated there were 67 parking spots available. Inside I found several green lights indicating empty parking spots that were actually occupied. They were at the ends of the open ﬂoors, ﬁlled with plowed or drifting snow. After 20 minutes of feeling like a pin-ball, bouncing around seven levels of the parking garage along with other frantic motorists, I ﬁnally backed my truck into one of the snow-ﬁlled spots, burying it up to the door sills. As a customer, I expected at least one of the 67 "open" spots would be available to me. But it appears as though parking lot management doesn't care that this might make someone miss their ﬂight. I tried Why is the motoring public to complain at the ticket counter and was demanding more from us advised to call or email airport management. With no human being available to in the automotive service hear my complaint, I hurried off to catch business? my ﬂight. I tried to talk about this with other people in the security line, but no one seemed to care about my parking problems; some even blurted out "What would you expect?" And that's my point! Is our society so accustomed to inadequacy in our large public services that we actually don't expect customer service from them? I believe the answer is 'yes,' and not just from this one experience. If this is true, then why is the motoring public demanding more from us in the automotive service business? Could it be that customer service is so poor in the big places that they demand more from those of us in small businesses because we actually can provide it? I see a relationship between accountability, demand and availability. In a large faceless business, it is hard to determine who is accountable to the customer. But in our business, we stand right in front of our client, and the accountability is all ours. It also appears that when demand is high and supply is short, people expect less customer service. But today there is an abundant supply of new-car dealerships and national repair shop chains, and they have raised the bar on customer satisfaction. We need to be aware of and react to this competition. I believe we can win the war on attracting and maintaining clients, because we are the only sector where the owner/ operator stands face to face with the clients and can assume accountability and ownership of the clients' problems. That's the exceptional personalized service that separates us from the others. Simply ﬁxing the vehicle correctly is not enough to compete in today's marketplace. We need to continue to go above and beyond what the clients expect from us to gain market share. " Reader Reply 800.525.2370 meicorporation.com 6 ACTION * March 2014 Sincerely Andy Andy Fifﬁck chairman-macs@macsw.org 330-220-8384 http://www.meicorporation.com http://www.macsw.org/imis15/MACS/Publications/ACtion_Reader_Reply/MACS/Publications/ACTION/ACtion_Reader_Reply.aspx?hkey=ac24bddb-c045-442a-813c-cbf05f88ac4d http://www.meicorporation.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - March 2014

Coolant pump replacement
Computer controls for Air conditioning replacement
Outlook
Freeze Frame
Leonard's Law
Virtual View
Service Port
Last Watch
By the Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
New Products

ACtion Magazine - March 2014