As a luxury auto repair shop owner or manager, you goal is for each customer to have a positive experience when they visit your BMW service center, ensuring they will continue to bring their vehicle in for future service and repair work. Because they often feel auto repair is out of their comfort zone, it is especially important that you are able to put your female customers at ease with the experience. There are several simple details you can focus on to earn the trust and commitment of your female clientele.
Professionalism: Show your customer that they are important. Try opening the car door for a female customer when she pulls up. Make sure employees aren’t eating lunch at the service desk or parts counter, or texting or talking on their personal phone.
Communication: Be open to conversation and embrace questions. Women tend to ask questions, so answer them truthfully, even if it’s not exactly what they want to hear. Also, if they don’t need a certain part or service, then don’t recommend it. Throwing out too many recommendations can be overwhelming - and also makes the customer skeptical of everything you recommend.
Education: Understanding the service or repair that is being performed on their BMW helps to make more informed decisions. If your customer is well informed, it builds a stronger relationship and justifies the recommended service. If brake rotors are damaged and need to be replaced, show them to your customer and explain why they need to be replaced.
Simplification: Alleviate some stress by having a (clean!) shop shuttle or car available for customer pick-ups/drop-offs. Customers taking their BMWs to your repair shop can become stressed quickly, especially if they need to leave their car and get to work or take the kids to daycare.
Organization: Tidy up! This goes for the garage bays, service/parts counters, and especially the customer lounge and customer bathrooms. The appearance and cleanliness of your shop will leave an impression on your customers - you want to make sure it’s leaving a positive impression. No one wants to sit in a dirty, outdated lounge to wait on their BMW.
Females tend to leave more reviews than men by flocking to the social media networks and user review sites. These reviews can become a powerful tool for attracting other female clients into your shop. Think: Word of mouth. If one female feels comfortable here, maybe another female will too. Why not let them leave with a positive experience to share with others?
In the end, it’s not about turning on soap operas on your customer lounge’s television or having the latest version of Vogue available on-hand, there are more effective ways to attract female clients and maintain their loyalty.