Our very first client is a big success story. Garth was looking for a new counter man. Ryan was doing an okay job at transitioning into tire sales. Garth was looking for someone else to pick up sales not just fill a spot. He told me if I knew anyone else for the job to send them his way. I showed him my program and said I thought it would help.
He said "I like it and I always want to do the right thing for my customers. It's new. It's how they talk to each other, let's do it."
Within the first week of using the program he got comments from customers telling him thanks for the work, they appreciated him and his efforts to take care of them. They commented on the "niceness" of the idea and appreciated his help in remembering when they needed the services he suggested.
Less than a month later out of necessity he increased Ryan's hours and had to hire a new tire technician.
Three months into it I sold the service to his brother Max. When I went to Max's store to train and install he told me he wasn't willing to pay for training and installation that was on my dime. He thought it was a snake oil program I was charging to much money for taking advantage of people. He told me to leave his store. He literally kicked me out of his store.
The next week when I went to Garth's store he laughed and said yes sometimes Max does that. He then asked me if I knew another Service writer he could hire he needed another one. I said oh is Ryan not working out? He said no we need another writer we are to busy. He had also just hired an additional tire tech.
The next month when I went to his store he had found another Service writer that had left a different store and hired a new ASME mechanic for a total of 2 mechanics. He had brought on 4 new employees in 5 months.
I went back to Max's store to tell him I had adjusted pricing based on what actually happened in stores not our estimates and that I appreciated his candor with me 6 months ago. I hoped I hadn't damaged our friendship to the point of him not talking to me.
He said "Steve, I want the program."
I said "Okay, when do you want it installed and training to take place?
He said "Thursday would be great."
I said "Max we went through this once before. I'm not going to risk upsetting you. How much are you going to pay me?"
He said "It was $350 right?"
I said "Yes, but I'm not going to upset you."
He said "I'm paying you what you want. Let me tell you why. Garth has been in the same location for over 15 years. He has the same management, essentially the same employees, and he had to hire 4 new employees to keep up. He has almost doubled his volume and is making more profit than he ever has. These numbers are year over year not month to month. He will be a $2 million store this year and the only thing that has changed is the addition of your program. It works!"
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."Bill Gates
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