Finding Your Hero

Finding Your Hero

Recently I was visiting a client, Sam Leman Auto Group in Bloomington, Illinois, and witnessed something worthy of this week’s newsletter. The Bloomington Chrysler shop was very busy with the schedule in service completely full.

An individual pulled in with his one ton pickup truck and he wasn’t a customer of the dealership. He was just traveling through the area and his vehicle started running rough, so he knew he needed to get it repaired regardless of the inconvenience. Legitimately the shop had no available time to get involved with this concern, as it might impede taking care of customers that were in process and scheduled. As the owner of the pickup truck was explaining the issue to a member of the staff, a technician Jim McGee over heard the conversation and asked to get involved. He requested 10 minutes and explained he was familiar with this concern and if he is correct it would be a quick easy fix and the customer would be back on the road again promptly. Jim McGee was granted time to look at this customer’s vehicle and he was absolutely correct. The repair was exactly what he thought and in short order the customer’s engine was back to normal. This is an example of the culture that is needed in today’s service departments. No vehicle ever breaks down when it’s convenient. You can’t schedule vehicle breakdowns and call your local service department up to a week in advance so it’s convenient for the dealership to repair.

Most customers find it insulting to have a problem and be turned away by someone who can fix it. Put yourself in this customer’s position which was traveling and had a problem with this pickup truck. He’s not going to be a regular customer so why not disappoint him? I challenge all of you to look inside yourself and find your hero. The mission is for your service Department to help people in distress and resolve their needs. We may not wear a cape like Superman however, we can sure go above and beyond the call of duty like technician Jim McGee. Choose to be the hero!

Sincerely,
Rob Gehring, President
Fixed Performance Inc.
rgehring@marginplus.net
Fixed Performance complete fixed operations coaching consulting