RR_v65-3.indd - PPG Industries

KEEPING
CUSTOMERS
FOR LIFE
Want to put Carl Sewell’s
principles to work in your
shop? Here are Steve Pearce’s
top three recommendations
for getting started at earning
customers for life:
Hire the right people
“You aren’t looking for
‘qualified;’ you’re looking for
‘exceptional.’ Interview as
many people as it takes to
find the person with the
capabilities, the character
and the vision to think this
way, day in and day out.
Staff your shop with nothing
but that kind of person.”
Treat them like family
“The ‘them’ here refers to
your customers and your staff.
If you go the extra mile for
them, they’ll reward you
with a loyalty that money
can’t buy.”
Read the book
“Customers for Life contains
lessons that you can put to
work the moment you set the
book down and step out into
your shop. It’s like a graduate
degree in doing business the
right way.” Customers for Life
is available anywhere books
are sold (ISBN 0-385-41503-6).
26
Lifetime of Business
continued from page 7
setting (as Carl Sewell says, “If we
don’t like them or find them pleasant,
how will the customer?”).
Once hired, Sewell technicians
have a work environment that is
rarely seen outside of race shops—
painted floors in most work areas,
tile floors in the paint prep area, air
conditioning in every part of the
shop and everything neat and wellmaintained,
with no grease or grime
anywhere. There are no quality
inspectors; everyone is responsible
for his or her own work.
And if a job has to be re-done,
the tech re-does it—and does not get
paid for the job.
“That’s not punishment,” says
Pearce. “That is a provision that allows
a person to be proud of what they do.
Motivated people like the ones we hire
here would feel badly about making
the company pay for their mistakes, so
they are more than willing to do the
job again on their own time, often
with guidance from another tech or a
supervisor who is willing to help them
learn to do an operation correctly. In
fact, it is usually not the customer
who asks us to re-do a job; it’s the
tech who did the job. And when they
come to us and say the job’s not
right, or they damaged a customer’s
car, we’ll give them the materials
they need, but they provide the
labor to make it right.”
Because the atmosphere is so
supportive and so invigorating, Pearce
reports that the Sewell shops have
almost no turnover and a long waiting
list for every position. As he says,
“We pay well, but dollars aren’t
everything. In this business, no matter
where you work, you’re going to spend
a lot of time in the shop. A comfortable
and clean working environment, being
surrounded by people with a can-do
attitude… that means a lot. It makes
you look forward to coming in every
day. And nothing makes Carl Sewell
happier than changing people’s lives
for the better—that goes for the people
who work with him, as well as the
people who do business with him.”
Pearce says that his techs also like
the fact that they are empowered to
please the customer.
“If someone brings a car in with a
crumpled front fender, and we notice
that they also have a taillight that’s
out, we will put a new bulb in at no
charge. If the car’s running on fumes
when they drop it off, we’ll put some
gas in so they don’t have to stop on
the way home and be late for dinner,”
says Pearce. “We’ll do detailing that
we know the insurance doesn’t cover,
just because it makes it nice for the
customer when they pick the car up.
Because collision work is generally
done by insurance allowances, rather
than shop estimates, we usually can’t
beat our own estimate. But we can do
work that we see is needed and not
charge for it. That lets the customer
know we’re truly grateful that they
came here.”
All four of Sewell’s shops use
PPG products exclusively. “That’s
no accident,” Pearce says. “One of
Carl’s principles is, ‘You can’t give
good service if you sell a lousy product.’
So first and foremost we go to PPG
for the quality, and for the fact that
they’re like us; they stand behind
their work and they’ll make things
right if the results aren’t what’s
expected. And the PPG Roundtable,
the CertifiedFirst ®
Network, their
continuing education programs?
Those things are all so much like
Carl’s way of doing business that
you’d think he invented them.”
It all adds up, bottom line, to a
way of doing business that works.
And Steve Pearce reports that, for the
customers, it’s kind of like a cult as well.
“I constantly hear from people who
buy here and get their service here
because their parents came here,”
he says. “My folks said, ‘I don’t care
what kind of car you get, as long as you
get it from Sewell.’ I can’t count the
number of times I’ve heard that.” ■