Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

KEEPING SERVICE SOLD By JOHN S. DUNHAM President, QRV Radio Service, Inc. MONTH the writer discussed some phases of radio service and compared them with similar ones in the automotive busi- ness. In solving our own problems, a few of the things the automotive industry has learned about service can help us all. Some of the methods used in the author's own organization which have proved to be productive of real dividends will, we are sure, interest every dealer. And all of the ways of doing things which can be profitably applied in a purely service organiza- tion can be applied with equal profit in every dealer's service department. It doesn't cost any money to lose customers — there are few things which can be more easily and rapidly accomplished — but it does cost real money to gain new ones. The fewer cus- tomers we lose, the less we have to spend getting "replace- ments" for them. Likewise, the more names we can keep as steady customers, the less we have to spend in advertising to extend our clientele, because a satisfied customer is the best advertising medium in existence. It thus becomes profitable for us to expend a good deal of energy, and some money, for the operation of a carefully planned system for "keeping our radio service sold." The Customer's Viewpoint In an excellent talk which the Editor of RADIO BROADCAST gave before a dealer group at the Buffalo Convention of the Federated Radio Trades Association last February (see RADIO BROADCAST, May, 1929), he brought out the rather novel idea that perhaps the average dealer does not consider the effect on the customer of the service he renders. Perhaps the dealer fails to put himself in the customer's place and imagine just how the service rendered would appeal to him were he actually the customer. The average service depart- ment is prone to consider that service has been properly ren- dered when the set has been properly repaired. Actually, proper service has only been rendered when the customer has been pleased. If service is to be successful, the fixing of radio receivers, while absolutely essential, must be secondary to the main object of "fixing" the customer as well. He must lose any desire he may have felt to "throw the damn radio out the window," and decide that it is now working better than it ever did before, that the serviceman and the rest of his organization are obliging and efficient workers, and the world, after all, well worth living in. Office workers of the service department can do much to create a strong and pleasant impression in a set owner's mind. The very first impression made when a new customer tele- Often, not only the radio, but the cus- tomer needs fixing — Little things keep service sold — Cheap and successful ideas which make service pay a pro/it phones in to have a serviceman call is extremely important. The voice of the person who answers the telephone is worth a great deal. \\ e have consequently made sure that those who answer the telephone in our office have pleasing voices. When our Telephone is Answered \\ lien our telephone is answered, correct English is invariably \ised, by our operator and a definite appoint- ment is made with the customer to suit his convenience al- ways, rather than our convenience; he is asked not only for his address and telephone but also for his apartment number, business address and telephone, the make and model number of the set he uses, and what his specific complaint is. Those details are necessary to the performance of g«>d service and they give the average customer an impression of business- like efficiency, lie leaves the telephone saying to himself, "Well, that outfit sounds as if they knew their business." If the person who calls has called for service before, that fact— if not remembered immediately—is determined by rapid ref- erence to the active file, which is within easy reach, before the customer has done much more than give his name. In that event no question is asked him other than about his complaint, and if he starts to give details such as type of set and equipment, or his apartment number, we reply: "Thank you, we have all that information," and he again gets an im- pression of business-like methods that he would not gel were he asked all of the details he had given the first time he called for service. Home Contact The telephone procedure in the office is only the beginning of the process of making a thoroughly pleasing impression on the customer throughout the service department's business relations with him. The most important part of it is the con- tact made in his home by the serviceman. Our servicemen are old enough so that they don't look like high school boys. They are neatly dressed, their shoes are polished, their hands and finger nails are clean. They are intelligent, clean- cut and mature young men. Their appearance, manners, and speech instill in the customer confidence in their experience and ability. They endeavor to gel more details of the com- 328 • • OCTOBER 1929