The "Helicopter" Customer: How To Soothe These Anxious Car Owners
Posted on: 4 December 2017
You have heard of "helicopter parents," right? They are parents that actually hover around their child's school, watching everything their kids do just to make sure their kids are doing everything right. While it is understandable that these parents want to protect and help their children, it can be more disruptive than helpful. Similarly, "helicopter customers" are customers who are worried sick about their wrecked cars and want to hover around all day to watch everything you do in your collision repair shop. These customers are very anxious about their "babies," but there are ways to calm their fears too.
Portfolio or Pictures of Successful Restorations
If you keep pictures of all of the amazing work you and your crew have done on previous vehicles, pull these out for these customers to see. They will be able to see for themselves that their cars or trucks are in very good and very capable hands. When they can see all of the experience you and the others in your shop have, these customers can relax a little bit. Be sure to show them some of the very worst wrecks that you and your employees have restored.
Communicate at Regular Intervals
It helps to calm anxious people if you talk to them at regular intervals. Step into the waiting area once every thirty minutes or once an hour, and tell your "helicopter customer" about the progress thus far. Discuss what has been done, what still needs to be done, and ask the customer questions about important details and things that would require a decision on his or her part. Since he or she really should not be in the shop, it helps him/her know exactly what is going on at each stage of the collision repair process.
Let the Customers See the Progress at the Halfway Mark
Finally, the last way in which you can help soothe these anxious customers is to escort them to their vehicles halfway through the process and show them the progress. This gives them an opportunity to see that you and your employees really are doing a great job and that their vehicles are looking far better than they did before the vehicles were brought into your shop. Let these customers ask as many questions about the process as they want to ask, and always show or tell them with visuals so that they can feel more assured.
Contact a company like Select Collision Group for more information and assistance.
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