Classic Motorsports

By Becky Witt  For shop owners, it’s often better to treat people the way they want to be treated, rather than the way you would like to be treated  

The industry continues to preach car  count. Shop owners are taught that in order to increase sales, we must  have more cars. Makes sense, right? I’ve long said that we don’t need more cars, we need better cars. We need customers who want their cars fixed right. Going beyond  that, we need customers who are willing to perform operations that  reduce breakdowns and extend the useful life of the car. 

Selling might carry a negative connotation  to some. Consider that selling is nothing more than helping a person  get what they want. In order to help someone get what they want, it’s  important to understand what that is. Half the cars in most shops today  are owned and operated by women. It can be difficult for a man to  understand what women want regarding their cars. 

Men and women are from totally different  dimensions. Whenever you see a video entitled “Hold my beer and watch  this,” you can be reasonably assured the main characters are male. For  some reason guys feel compelled to prove their manhood. Women are seldom  impressed with the feats of bravado. 

Going back to our origins, the males were  hunters. Their jobs were to occupy a hilltop, scan the horizon for game,  club it and drag home dinner. The ability to accept risk was  genetically engineered into them. 

Women stayed close to home and protected  and nurtured the young. They were extremely averse to risk and relied on  large males to protect and defend them. 

One of the first business skills taught in  our industry is “Practice the Golden Rule—Treat people the way that you  would like to be treated.” 

While the Golden Rule sounds like a  wonderful idea, take another look at it. People who thrive on risk are  treating people who are averse to risk like this is what they should  want. It’s no wonder that misunderstandings occur. It should demean no  one to accept the fact that different people want different things. This  doesn’t even have to be divided along gender lines. There are men who  love to sew and women who can hunt and kill a deer. 

Let’s introduce a new idea called “Witt’s Diamond Rule—Treat people the way they want to be treated.”  I’m  going to suggest that it would be wise to understand that there is a  large segment of the motoring public who willingly pay good money to  keep cars from breaking. Well, it sounds easy, but it involves a change  in thought and education on new technology. 

One of the most obvious examples is  battery replacement. When does a person buy a battery? The answer was  always when you need one, Einstein. This makes as much sense to me as  driving around with an empty gas can in your trunk until you run out of  gas, then walking to the nearest place to fill the can. You buy gas  before you need it, most of the time, right? 

I decided to try to determine the best way  to prevent battery failures at my shop. I recorded the age of battery  failures over years and thousands of cars. I used the scientific formula  for probability which revealed that battery failures in Lincoln,  Nebraska, ramped up dramatically at 39 to 42 months. I concluded that I  could drastically reduce the odds of a failure by replacing batteries at  36 months as a maintenance item. 

I posted this concept on a popular  technician network and was promptly barbequed and labeled a crook. How  could I sleep at night, knowing I had replaced a battery that was still  under warranty? Clearly, I was a carnival snake oil salesperson, intent  to prey on wide-eyed innocent consumers. 

What I understood was this: When a woman’s  car doesn’t start, it can be a potentially life-threatening situation.  When a man’s car doesn’t start, it’s often just another adventure. Ask a  question of the men in a group, what steps do you take to protect  yourself from sexual assault when you go out at night? Crickets, puzzled  looks and confusion will be the result. Then ask the women in the group  and you’ll get a LOT of different answers. The percentage of women who  have been threatened is alarming and we in the auto service business  need to understand this and address it. 

My point is that replacing a battery based  on age and location makes perfect sense when it comes to protecting  women. Consider dropping one of your loved ones off someplace after dark  when they are alone and leaving them there to fend for themselves.  Unthinkable. But if their car won’t start, the result is exactly the  same. They are potentially threatened. People don’t want a battery; they  want a car that starts at midnight. 

The Witt Diamond Rule—Treat your customers  the way that they want to be treated. Track automotive failures in your  area to determine how you can reduce failures. This applies to  batteries, tires, hoses, belts, filters and a host of other things.  Resist advising repairs until they are desperately needed. Consider prevention as a reason for replacement. 

Tire Rack did a study of wet braking  traction. It found that tires worn to 4/32nds tread depth took almost  double the distance to stop from 70 mph as a new tire. We recommend tire  replacement at 5/32nds. Customers love this and the difference is  striking. Worn tires are a safety hazard. 

The best marketing strategy is Relationship Marketing.  When a shop has a strong relationship with a customer, price is less of  an issue. Women value relationships and when strong bonds are  developed, they will be your most loyal customers. Not only does this  strategy cost nothing at all, but it is also more profitable and more  gratifying to all involved. 

Don’t sell a tire that’s worn to the limit  of 2/32nds. Sell the safety of replacing tires at 5/32nds. Don’t sell a  cheap tire as a great buy. Sell a choice of tires with different  performance ratings. Once you get your customer talking about what they  want, the sale is almost automatic. 

Ask every customer about their batteries  and wiper blades. This is a great start to finding out how people want  to be treated, as well as easy sales for you.  

By Becky Witt   © 2023 Hearst Business Publishing, Inc