What’s in a name?

Mechanics have always been a bit of a sore subject for me.  There don’t seem to be many that instill the confidence in me that they are actually fixing my car and not taking advantage of me.  Trust indeed is a fragile thing when it comes to cars and mechanics.  In the same breath, they are absolutely necessary.  I tried changing my oil once and ultimately the mechanic had to correct the mistakes I made.

I’ve been taking my cars to the mechanic down the street from my house for a few years now and while I have written some hefty checks, I generally get a good feeling every time I interact with them.  I probably frequent the shop every three months or so but every time without fail he greets me with “Hello Mr Jeremy, which car are we working on today?”  It’s not an overly friendly greeting but he learned my name and remembers it!

Having spent many years answering my share of front line calls I have spent much of that time not calling customers by name and hoping they wouldn’t remember mine so they would pick on someone else on their next call.  A lesson can be learned from Mr Jeff, my mechanic.  By simply learning the names of customers and using them frequently, he has built valuable rapport and at least in my case, built trust and found a repeat customer.  This is something I am actively working to instill in our customer care team as we speak.