As we get to hear a fair few tales of less than optimum customer experience of dealer customer service on this forum I thought I would post a reminder for those in the motor trade who could do with an update and bit of a brush up of their customer skills.

ESSENTIALS OF GOOD SERVICE

The performance of high grade service work is a vital factor in the development of a successful repair business, in fact it is the only safe foundation on which business of this character can be established.

High grade service advertises the business standards of the dealer. It inspires confidence in customers, and customer satisfaction is the forerunner of business growth. The elements of high grade service are:

A sincere desire on the part of the automobile dealer or service station to serve car owners so efficiently that they will derive the maximum satisfaction from their investment.

Prompt, courteous and intelligent attention to customers' wants.

Skilled mechanics; men who are specialists in promptly diag- nosing and correcting car troubles.

A clean, well laid out repair shop, provided with modern service equipment.

A well arranged parts department carrying a complete stock of parts and supervised by a parts salesman who knows stock and appreciates the value of courtesy and salesmanship.

Too much importance cannot be attached to the employment of competent mechanics, as the quality of their workmanship governs the satisfaction of the customer to a large extent.

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So where does this eminently sensible advice come from?

Some sort of up to the minute vehicle engineering consultancy run by lots of degree level business advisors with MBA's?

The truth is rather humbling.

It's in the foreword to the Ford Model T service manual published by Ford Detroit.

It's not dated but is probably printed around the 1920's - a hundred years ago!

If you want to read it in it's entirety of over 300 pages it details such service actions as taking up main bearing caps with a file and straightening sprung con-rods with a straightening bar. And the service workshop includes a babbiting bay!

http://www.cimorelli.com/mtdl/servicemanual/1925smcolor.pdf

Avant - this is not an advert.