The Trainer #37: Make oil changes an opportunity

“Hey, Pete…I need you to take care of a ‘waiter’ oil change for me.”
Oh, how I used to hate those words. Usually elbow deep in a repair that would actually pay me something, I had to stop what I was doing to take care of a job that paid a lousy 0.3 flag hours. I would grab the keys from my service advisor’s outstretched hand with a mixture of annoyance and disgust, and do everything I could to get the task done and out of my hair as quickly as possible. “Heck”, I thought to myself, “it’ll take me 0.3 of an hour just to get the car on the rack and up in the air!”
Then later in the day, when the scheduled work had been completed and there was nothing left to do, I’d complain about the lack of work and my shrinking paycheck.
But then I had a change of heart, when I realized that those pain in the neck oil changes were actually an opportunity to create additional work and even earn a new customer. The shop owners I worked for spent a lot of time, energy and money in an effort to attract new business and often it’s that coupon in the Sunday paper that brings them in. Yes, many that redeem the offer are there only because they wanted to save money on a service they know they have to get done occasionally, but there are those that use the opportunity to check out a new service provider, hoping to find THE one they will feel comfortable taking all of their business to. And more business in the door means more for flag hours for me!
I also soon came to realize that performing these “extra” checks was not only helping my paycheck, it was a moral and ethical obligation I had to the customer. After all, how would you feel if the shop that took care of your mom’s car failed to tell her a tire was about ready to go flat, or the brakes were worn well past the replacement limits? And then she has an accident or is broken down on the side of the freeway at rush hour?
Taking a more professional approach to the routine oil change taught me even more, and I’ll share it all with you in the January 2015 edition of “The Trainer”.
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[@monzsterman]

This video is so true. I have been in this business for 35 years and worked for my first mentor who in his hands went from "pump jockey" to "mechanic". Always told me treat every customer car like it was your own mothers and you will have a customer for life. I worked for him for 15 years before he retired and sold his business. Things didn't work out with me and the new owners so I moved on. Guess what. So did my customers. I am now servicing their children's cars all because to me they are family. All of my customers appreciate the fact that when I "look a car over" during that quick oil change and do find things they are, especially in todays economy, differentiated between if its a now, month or 6 month fix. Thanks for the video.

[@hollythomason9013]

As a potential customer.. I like repair guys who listen, and explain things to me. Do not act like I am not worth being treated with dignity because my specialty is not in automotive work. I look up info, and I assume that when the manual says something needs changed I want it changed. I do not trust you when you say it doesn't need it, because half the time anything that is hard..you say that. I only have one mechanic I can trust, that treats me with respect. Another mechanic is kind, but he doesn't have as much knowledge as first. OhOh!!! And DO NOT EVER EVER Tell me I need a new car. I am your customer for a reason, unless my floors are rusted through, tell me what needs replaced or fixed, and I'll be the judge of when I need another car. It is extremely rude. Some people pick between getting it fixed, walking, or rural bus service. Thank you!

[@chinookhelomech4059]

A LOT of car repair shops (and almost every single dealership owned repair shop) cuts their own nose off and hurts their business by doing one or more of three things.... 1. They DON'T listen to the customer, and they treat all customers the same, nevermind their is a big difference from a soccer Mom with no knowledge of car mechanics and a another person with a long and vast knowledge of their car that has done research and previous diagnosis before bringing in a car for repair. 2. When a car has a difficult problem (multiple DTC codes) the shop throws the parts cannon at it, instead of properly diagnosing the root cause thru good troubleshooting and fixing the root cause, wasting both time and the customers money. 3. The mechanics and owner treats their own shop like a garbage bin, used parts laying all over, greasy shop rags tossed in the corner, obious accumulation of crap over a long time, making their workplace look like they flat out don't care about their own things, most of these kind of shops also treat customers cars like crap.