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Prototype - A type serving as a standard for other things of the
same category.
Protowtype - A type serving as a standard for professionals in the
towing industry.
Differentiate - A
difference that distinguishes you from the competition.
Click the links to the
left under Training for each topic or read on.
Marketing Fundamentals
Statistics and Brand Building
The
average person will tell 6 people about a service that was performed
for them, good or bad in the following year.
This
is directly related to the image and impression we leave as the
frontline service provider.
This
is the basis for satisfied customer referrals and brand building,
especially for commercial customers.
This
is how AAA as an example has built their foundation of over 50
million members in the U.S. alone
By
being their service provider, enables you to capitalize on
and build your brand on their years of branding experience.
This
"branding" concept is the key. Why spend enormous amounts of money
in advertising when these companies have spent millions to build and
maintain it and are already the industry name that comes to mind.
This
single reason is why other motor clubs love it when a AAA truck
arrives to service their customer, it ties them to the biggest
industry name.
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Word of
Mouth Advertising - This is How it Works
Quick
math for good and bad word of mouth referrals for the average driver
8
calls per day, 5 days per week = 40 calls X 52 weeks/year = 2080
people who talk to 6 people each
12480 people per year, even if its half
that, worth leaving a good impression for them to tell their friends
about.
This
is the definition of "word of mouth" advertising.
With
this understanding, lets try to define our customers or "audience"
better so we can ensure they properly portray us to their friends
and family over dinner, coffee or a beer.
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Human Nature and understanding Your
"Audience" as a service "Performer"
First Impression - 7 Seconds... Like it or not, Some Psychology
As a
general rule, peoples impressions are based on all of the following
in about 7-10 seconds.
70%
of people are visual and base their first impression on you and your
trucks physical appearance.
20%
of people are auditory and base their impression on your
communication skills and knowledge.
10%
of people are kinesthetic and base their impression on how they
"feel" about the service.
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70% - Visual
Judgment Time - The Majority
Why
we keep ourselves, our shop, tools, equipment and truck impeccably
clean.
These
are the folks who instinctively judge you based mostly on how you
and your equipment look. Their judgment of you may have already been
formed before you ever met. They may have been impressed, good or
bad, when driving by the shop and how organized or clean it looks,
or have seen your truck in traffic, or dropping at a shop. Maybe
they saw you or a coworker while you were in tow and how safe you
drove, or their impression of your hookup or the way you handled
traffic, etc at an accident scene.
Their
impression, good or bad, may have already been formed by an
experience they encountered on the road while witnessing your
driving. Your trucks are rolling billboards in your community.
Courteous driving in a company vehicle pays off.
When
stopped at a light, do you let people enter in front of you who are
trying to exit parking lot, do you let people change lanes in
front of you or do you speed up, do you use hand gestures, honk the
horn, do you wear your seatbelt and use all of your safety equipment
to represent safety?
Our
shops and rolling billboards constantly represent us as a company
with the public as well as shops and law enforcement before we ever
respond to a call.
Eyes
are especially on you upon arriving to a call. If a negative
impression as explained above has already been established by you or
even a previous driver, we have to overcome this as quickly as
possible on this call.
Is
the truck clean, does he drive safe, how did he park when he
arrived, is it efficient and safe for the service he's performing,
is his hair cut, is he shaven, well groomed, is he clean, is his
shirt tucked in, in uniform, are his tools and equipment clean and
the "right stuff", is he well organized? What does the toolbox look
like when he opens it? Is he friendly? Does he make eye contact?
These
sound almost intimidating but are reality.
You -
Over 95% of your body is covered in your clothing, doesn't it make
sense to make sure this area is audience friendly?
Statistically, uniform colors are designed to either bring attention
to or visually calm the audience. If you choose to attract, excite
or intimidate, bright, flashy colors are normally worn. Why do we
wear uniforms and safety vests? What colors should we wear? The
marketing fundamentals are to create a consistent image so that when
they see any one of us anywhere, they recognize us and our brand,
before seeing our brand.
Using
law enforcement and the "image" they represent, what colors do they
wear and what do they represent? Blues, Blacks and Grays are typical
law enforcement "respected" calming colors. Recent information says
black is too intimidating and is slowly moving out. Law enforcement
situations require calming colors. Why does AAA use Red, White and
Blue? Accident, far from it. Patriotism and the brand respect it
deserves. The perfect uniform colors using both of these as
examples? Red, Gray and Blue maybe? Up for debate but undeniably a
topic.
Your
truck and equipment - 100% of your image before, during and after
you perform service.
This
one issue is why owners and managers harp so much on drivers for
cleaning trucks inside and out as it is the rolling billboard
affect, either good or bad.
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20% -
Knowledge and Communication Judgment Time
Why
we educate ourselves and communicate better
These
folks listen more. They have formed their initial visual impression
before you speak, but are more susceptible to being impressed more
by your knowledge and experience in solving their problem. Even if
they did not like the way your truck looked or how clean you are,
might be overcome if your a good communicator or especially
friendly.
They
will not forget however how you or your truck looked when they get
the survey in the mail.
These
are also the types of people who write more complimentary letters
and tend to return more surveys. Being auditory, they also actually
read more. These are the folks that read all of their junk mail,
etc.
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10% - Kinesthetic - Judgment on How They "Feel" after the Service
People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you
care.
These
people appreciate that you care. Caring about helping people is what
we do. One thing we all have in common is the satisfaction we get
after completing a call.
One
huge benefit in towing is immediate satisfaction. Very few jobs
allow you to derive satisfaction and sleep well at night knowing you
did your part to help mankind. I know I personally made a decision
to stay in this industry because it allows me this opportunity. This
is what drives me to get up at 2 a.m. to rescue someone.
We
cannot rush these people. These people worry more about the future
and whether they'll ever see you again. They need to feel good after
the service.
They
are also the likely type to make a complimentary phone call or write
a letter about the service they received.
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Rapport - Latin - To Mirror
Find
something in Common in 10 Seconds
Building Rapport is important for all types of people. Mirroring is
commonality. As humans we all have something in common. What do you
have in common with every customer? The weather, a pet, grass to
mow, house to paint, etc. Greetings when you arrive should
always start with a hello, a handshake, eye contact and your first
name, then keeping control of the communication until its time to
listen, such as beautiful day today, the weather sucks, I can't wait
for summer/winter so I can go fishing or skiing, or I had a car like
this once or whatever.
Before you speak the customer is in normally in catastrophe mode as
there car is broken and all they're current state of mind is might
be on fixing the problem. By changing their mental state, even
briefly, opens them up to trust that you care making further
communication more valuable.
We
all do it to a certain extent but with practice this process can be
improved upon and done in a very short time with much better
results.
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Sales - Dirty Word for Most
Most
people think of salesman as slimy. This perception has been built by
just such people and deserves scrutiny.
It
makes us weary when purchasing anything presented by a "salesman",
door to door and car salesman are probably the worst.
The
fact is, you sold yourself on getting out of bed this morning,
brushing your teeth, taking a shower and coming to work. You sold
your boss on hiring you, you sold your child on tying their own
shoes and using the toilet so you can stop changing diapers.
Sales
is a larger part of your life than you may realize.
The
key with being comfortable selling is confidence in the benefits of
the products and services your selling. In your case it might be
towing, a certain repair shop, battery service or mobile repairs,
all involving a level of sales.
We
can further differentiate our perception and integrity by simply
changing the word Sales to Consulting.
You
are not selling your products and services to your customers, you
are consulting them by educating them to the best option for them
and it just so happens we have the best solution for them related to
their problem.
We
consult them and allow them to come to this conclusion by advising
of their options and ensuring our products and services are their
best option.
This
is option based benefit sales or "consulting"
Simple and fast when you are confident with your program and learn
to summarize the big benefits to your customer.
This
is especially beneficially when working with commercial account
customers such as body and repair shops.
What
benefits can you share with a shop using your professional image to
"their" customers in which they refer us?
As
"their" service provider, we represent them when arriving to a call
they refer to us.
Its
important that we remember to help them build their business if we
want to develop ours.
In
addition to the current "sale", the word of mouth advertising helps
you vicariously sell through your satisfied customer.
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Now What? - Maximum
Efficiency
Ok,
we all know some of these things already but now have a better
understanding of each personality type.
We
understand better the impact of our actions and some helpful
psychology behind why we do what we do as well as the impression it
leaves on our customers.
We
know we must address each of these items to achieve maximum
efficiency.
We
understand better the powerful benefits of positive word of mouth
advertising as well as the benefits of "consulting" our customers to
maximize satisfaction and customer retention.
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