At the end of the day, customers are the lifeblood of any business.
While this may seem obvious, it is a fact that can never be overlooked for long. In today’s fast-moving world of new technology, increased speed, and constant pressure to improve efficiency, taking a step back to focus on the customers themselves can be a powerful way to stand out from the competition. This approach is especially important for collision repair and body shops, where most customers come through the door stressed and unfamiliar with the repair process. These conditions create many opportunities for confusion, frustration, and miscommunication.
One of the most effective ways to understand the typical customer experience is to interact with your business as if you were a customer yourself.
While a full “undercover boss” approach is usually unnecessary, simply going through the normal steps—such as requesting a quote, dropping off a vehicle, signing paperwork, providing sample contact and insurance information, and receiving standard customer communications—can reveal where your shop performs well and where improvements are needed. A key part of this process is truly putting yourself in the customer’s position. If instructions are unclear, such as how to submit insurance information or contact the shop effectively, you should resist the urge to step in and fix the issue internally; instead, reach out with questions the same way a regular customer would.
This exercise provides leadership with direct and valuable insight into which processes are clearly communicated and where customers unfamiliar with collision repair may struggle.
Identifying these bottlenecks, confusing steps, or rough spots in the customer journey helps highlight where improvements will have the greatest impact.
However, making meaningful changes often depends on the tools your shop uses to communicate and manage information. For this reason, it is important to ensure your shop’s main website, customer relationship software, and employee management systems are capable of supporting a smooth, clear, and consistent customer experience from their first step into your shop, till their last.
What methods do you use to understand how your customers feel when dealing with your shop? What tools do you use to make your customers’ time in your business easier?
Please share with us and others in the comments below.
