Submitted
by: Tim Hawkins
To repair or not
to repair - that is the question
you will face many times over your
service career. What do you
do? When is the best time
to have your customer repair or
replace. As a servicer you
always want that repair, but is
that the best thing for your customer
and your busienss of building relationships.
So, if you are a servicing dealer
what do you do? If you are
a servicer only, what do you do?
From the servicing
dealer stand point I can only speak
from my own experience. When
we get the phone call and the customer
asks what should they do - repair
or place - we will discuss several
options with them. The first
thing I will ask them is how old
the appliance is. We tell
our customer to expect 15 years
out of their appliance. The
next thing we will ask is how satisifed
they are with their appliance.
Based on their responses we will
try and guide them in the right
direction. If after discussing
there options and they are still
not sure what to do, I will let
them know how much the service call
is and make them aware that if the
until turns out not to be worth
the repair we will give them a $40.00
coupon towards the puchase of a
new appliance. This way they
have made an educated decision on
what to do with their appliance,
and if you have coached your techs
on how to deal with customers this
is an excellent time to sell the
benefits of your company and build
that relationship with your customer.
If you are a service
dealer only what do you do when
you find out it is probably not
worth the repair? Who are
you referring your customers to?
Are you giving them anything for
a future service call? What
are you dong to build a relationship
with that customer and dealer when
it comes time to replace the unit?
I would suggest as a servicer to
get to know the dealers in your
area that will refer the repair
to you when needed and you will
know which dealer to refer your
customers to.
I feel as
most of you do, the bottom line
is taking care of your customer.
We are the experts and they look
to us for guidance and advice in
these times. So be fair, honest,
and up front with your customers
when it comes time to repair or
replace.
