Let me be blunt. This isn’t a topic to be taken lightly. Most of you will benefit from this article, but only a few of you will get its full impact. If after you’ve read it, you think, “That makes sense,” but you don’t feel inspired to make some specific changes in your processes, you may have missed the most pivotal point.
However, if you experience an “AHA” moment and can’t wait to make some immediate changes, both in practice and thinking, you likely got it, and you’re in that smaller group.
If you’re not sure, don’t worry about it. Read it again and feel free to reach out to me for some free coaching on it.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a triple-A, minor league baseball player and a player who’s made it to the majors? A few years ago, a young triple-A player rented a room from me while he spent part of the season playing his way back to the majors. He’d spent nearly two years with the Texas Rangers and was rehabbing from an injury.
During those few months, I learned a lot about what it’s like to play professional baseball. What he told me about the difference between major and minor league players wasn’t what I expected. I always thought it was skills, speed, and ability to handle the big-league pressure. But to my surprise, he said it was being able to anticipate, adapt, and quickly adjust to the changes that occur during the game.
He said that players at the triple-A level have essentially the same skills and other physical assets as most major league players, but they haven’t developed the ability to adjust quickly enough to the dynamic game conditions. For example, a major league batter can adjust to the pitcher’s offerings within 1 or 2 at-bats, and the best players do it within 2 or 3 pitches. Whereas a minor league player might not realize what he should have adjusted until the game is over – that’s too late.
What does anticipating, adapting, and making quick adjustments have to do with your company? E-marketing has become an integral part of the landscape of our industry. Perhaps no other aspect of marketing has changed how we do business more than E-commerce. This brings us to the topic at hand – quickly adapting to No-touch, Low-touch, and High-touch customers – balancing the touch scales. How well and quickly are you balancing the touch scales?
Over the last few decades, auto repair shops have transitioned from fixing cars to people-centric shops that fix cars. One adage states, “We don’t just fix cars; we fix people.” Of course, we still fixed cars, but we started providing high-touch, relationship building interactions with the car owners too. Ironically, today, that isn’t always the case. For some people, the pendulum has swung back to the no or low-touch zone of just wanting their car fixed.
For example, COVID forced the necessity of a no-touch auto repair process upon us, dispelling the belief that auto repair requires face-to-face, direct interactions with customers. We discovered that it only requires direct interaction with the vehicles.
Today, many shops routinely perform major repair work, priced in the thousands of dollars, without ever personally meeting the car owner. The entire transaction occurs online, beginning with a Google search or website visit, leading to a text, email, or phone call, with keys dropped in the key drop, followed by digital inspections, E-estimates, E-authorizations, and E-payments.
Post-COVID, many people still prefer the no-touch or low-touch process. Here are some reasons.
- Concern about spreading viruses and diseases is still an issue for many people.
- Convenience of not having to come in during the shop’s hours.
- Fear of dealing face-to-face with the repair shop. People feel empowered online.
- Unfortunately, progressing from Gen X to Millennials, and ultimately to Gen Z, our society is becoming less socially adept. Digital conversations are preferred by many of them.
Considerations for marketing to the “E-generations”
- Talking on smartphones ranks fifth on the list of how phones are used.
- Phone calls and voice messages are often ignored with texts or instant messages preferred.
- How can we determine their preferred mode of communication?
- Where and when can we reach them?
- What’s the communication Goldilocks Zone – not too much, not too little, but just, right?
No and low-touch preferences present other marketing challenges.
- How do we build relationships?
- How do we build trust?
- How do we effectively detect emotions and read body language?
On the other hand, a substantial portion of our customers prefer the high-touch experience for car repairs. The challenge is how to balance our marketing and sales processes. Our intuition is not sufficient. Our perspectives are biased by our generations, lifestyles, professions, and personalities to name a few. Don’t assume that everyone wants to engage in the same fashion as you do.
How can you integrate no-touch, low-touch, and high-touch into your marketing system? What types of adjustments do you need to make? How can you quickly identify no-touch, low-touch, and high-touch customers? What are some of the clues?
Integrating no-touch, low-touch, and high-touch strategies into your auto repair marketing and sales system is crucial for meeting the diverse preferences of your customer base. Here’s how you can tailor these approaches specifically for auto repair customers. Start with your existing customer database.
Customer Segmentation: Begin by segmenting your auto repair customers based on their preferred interaction styles. Some may prefer minimal contact, while others value personalized attention. Use data from past interactions and their responses to customer satisfaction surveys to better understand their preferences.
No-Touch and Low-Touch Engagement: Engage low-touch customers through digital channels such as email and text messaging. Send automated service reminders, maintenance tips, and exclusive offers via email. Use SMS notifications to update customers on the status of their repairs or to schedule appointments conveniently.
No-Touch Tactics: For customers who prefer minimal contact, focus on streamlining your online booking and service request processes. Offer digital vehicle inspection reports and estimates that customers can review remotely. Provide options for contactless drop-off and pickup, as well as secure online payment methods.
Multi-channel Marketing: Implement a Multi-channel marketing strategy that encompasses both online and offline touchpoints. This could include a well-designed website, active social media presence, email newsletters, and traditional advertising methods like direct mail or local events.
Personalized Communication: For all customers, utilize customer relationship management (CRM) software to personalize your communication. Outsource this if you don’t have the time or personnel to do it internally. Address them by name in emails, offer promotions tailored to their vehicle type or past service history, and send reminders for routine maintenance based on their individual schedule.
Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback loop to gather insights from auto repair customers about their experience with your service. Encourage reviews and testimonials on platforms like Google Business or Yelp. Use feedback to find areas for improvement and adjust your marketing and service strategies.
High-Touch Relationship Building: Invest in building strong relationships with customers who prefer a more hands-on approach. Train your staff to provide personalized service and attentive communication both in-person and over the phone. Offer complimentary road tests and basic testing to demonstrate your commitment to customer care.
For your high-touch customers, your follow-up system should include at least one follow-up phone call. Even your no and low-touch customers will appreciate knowing that you cared enough to make a follow-up call. Unless you delegate this to an employee as a dedicated task and ensure that it gets done, it won’t get done consistently. Don’t leave this to chance. Contact me if you’d like to learn about an inexpensive way to outsource this vital task.
Consider sending hand-written thank you notes to all new customers. Today, we don’t get much “snail” mail. Your letter will definitely get noticed, opened, and read. Also, it will likely result in the customer commenting to a friend about it because it’s so unusual these days. There are numerous resources for inexpensively automating this function. Contact me if you want more information.
Measure and Optimize: Track key metrics such as customer retention rates, average repair order, job mix, and customer satisfaction ratings to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Analyze data to find trends and opportunities for optimization, whether it’s refining your messaging or investing in new communication channels.
Identify Customer Preferences: In the absence of face-to-face interactions, it’s difficult to identify whether a customer is comfortable with your communication style. The days of reading body language aren’t completely in the past. We just need to use different cues and clues.
- How did the customer first contact you?
- If by email, text, or on your website contact form, that’s a clue that they lean toward no-touch or low-touch.
- If they call or stop in, they probably lean toward high-touch.
- How did they hear about you?
- If they did a Google or Yelp search, they lean toward low-touch.
- If a friend, relative, or a trusted shop referred them, they appreciate and rely on relationships – high-touch.
- How did they get their vehicle to you?
- If they made an appointment on the phone and brought their car in, they’re more likely to be high than low-touch.
- If after speaking with you on the phone, they dropped the car off after hours and used the key drop, they’re lower on the “touch scales.”
- If they texted, emailed, or used the contact form on your website, and then dropped the car off using the night drop, they’re no-touch to low-touch.
- What does their in-person demeanor tell us?
- If they’re anxious or nervous, they’re probably going to require some high-touch attention.
- If they seem skeptical or untrusting, you’ll need to win their confidence. Get them involved and engaged in the process as early as possible. Communicate clearly and “listen to their feelings.”
- If they seem comfortable with the process, be courteous and professional. Keep them informed, but don’t over sell.
- If they just want to drop their car off and get out the door, accommodate their need to get going. Don’t assume anything. Accept that they’re in a hurry for some reason.
None of the above steps will positively confirm whether they’re no-touch, low-tough, or high-touch. So, the best thing to do is ask, “Would you prefer that I reach out to you by phone, text, or email?” Their answer is the best clue about where they are on the touch scales.
Take your shop from the minor league to the major league. Work on anticipating, adapting, and adjusting your strategies as your customers’ needs evolve and the market dynamics change. Practice balancing the touch scales. Ultimately, prioritizing customer satisfaction and using their preferred method of communication will help build long-term relationships. Integrate these strategies into your procedures, and balance the touch scales for your no-touch, low-touch, and high-touch customers.
