Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here morning show. Take it away, you two. Good morning. Oh, good morning, everyone. Happy White Hat Wednesday. Welcome to the studio in North Utah. It's going to be a beautiful day. Yeah. Looking forward to it's finally feeling like spring. Yeah. You know, my, my A pull towards yard work is going to be part of our conversation today. Oh, is it? Well, that's why I did what I did. That's why I went. Oh, that. I see. She's definitely in spring yard work mode. Yeah. Well, yeah, I've been designing and planning. And I'm quite enjoying this. It's the time of year where in the mornings we can, you know, have the doors open. So you got nice fresh breeze and warm. That's lovely. We're coming out of, you know, a cold winter stretch, obviously. Yep, yep, yep. So we got a topic today around customer service. Are you ready to dive in? I certainly am. So maybe just preface, you know, in the description, I said, you know, we're all customers, right? We're all customers of something. Grocery store, you name it. Just on and on. We all do business various places. And this topic came around because we both had some interesting experience as customers. in recent days oh yeah like yeah yeah it was yesterday too both of mine I can both of mine still had a thread yesterday yeah so it's pretty fresh information for us in terms of what's happening but yeah if you want to um you know kind of share I can share that I had an experience online with a group that I was entertaining engaging I was going to book a you know discovery meeting with them And so I'll tell that story. I know you have one first from locally yesterday. So, yeah. And it was interesting because we were talking about this last night after I got home. Yeah, I had to run to one of the big... box stores and it was the one where they have to check your receipt as you're leaving. Okay. So I went and I got this big, long flatbed because I saw that they had soil compost for potting and all of that. on sale it was like super cheap and I'd been thinking about this for a while and I was like I'm gonna go today because I was heading into town and so I had my mom with me my mom and toe because we were gonna go to dinner afterwards and she's uh she's has a hard time walking so she was in one of those uh go-kart cart things. I'm going to call them skarts. Yeah. So, and I had this flatbed. So, you know, we went in and I got nine bags of this potting mix. Really great. And, you know, she got a couple of things too. And so we, we went through checkout and it was, we did self-checkout And someone came up and that was like trying to be helpful and said, hey, I can just go ahead and scan these on your thing and save you some time because then I wouldn't have to lift them all off because I put them on the on the thing. It was it was heavy. And so he comes around and he's like, how many you got? And I said nine. And he he scanned those and he scanned. I got some bulbs, too. So super excited. because it's spring. That's not part of the story. I know it isn't, but it's just, yeah. So I check out and then I look at my receipt and I'm like, I was overcharged. by a bit. Um, and so, you know, and I knew that there was a sale, so I called the guy over and I said, Hey, I think I was overcharged. Did I get the discount on everything? Because this doesn't, you know, my, I do math in my head all the time. Yeah, I know. Right. Um, and I'm like, it, it doesn't, it doesn't, uh, it doesn't add up. And he looks at it and he goes, he goes, he goes, he goes, he goes, he goes, he goes, he goes, Yeah, you've got these two and then the thirteen bags. And I said, I have nine bags of this stuff. So so he's like, oh, OK. And I said, can I just get a refund? He says, yeah, go over and talk to this gal. And he says, I'm really sorry. And it's like, that's OK. I mean, I get it. So I go over to the floor manager and I'm like, hey, here's the problem. go through this whole thing where it's it's like I'm I'm expected at dinner in like ten minutes and I just knew I was gonna fly in and fly out it took me twenty minutes to get this whole receipt thing resolved I mean it was it it I, someone was in training and, you know, and, and they were all really, really friendly and all of that. Um, and so it finally got it taken care of and I was like running late and I was texting, um, uh, it was my brother that we were meeting for dinner. My, my mom and my brother and I, we were celebrating my dad's birthday. Yeah. Yeah. And so we I go and I'm pulling towards the the entrance and someone from customer service just kind of, hey, lady, lady, ma'am, ma'am. And I was like, what? And he goes, he goes, you're pushing it the wrong or you're you're doing it the wrong way because I was pulling it instead of pushing it. Now, I have been to Costco a Whoops. A billion times. And when I do big things, sorry about that. When I do big orders, I'll do the flatbed if I know that I've got whatever. And I know for me, I can't see where I'm turning. And so I will pull it and then just kind of pull it around behind me. I do understand it doesn't turn as easily, but it's better for me because I can see. When you got it piled up. And even when I said, why did it irritate you? Well, it's here's the thing is it didn't irritate me until I got home after after this whole thing. So this is one part of the story. And then I get up to the guy. Oh, and I actually I asked the lady is we're working on the refund. I said, Listen, I'm running late. Can I maybe get someone help me load these in my car? Because I mean, I knew it was going to take me a long time and they got people. And she's like, yeah, just ask, ask as you're leaving. So I get up to the guy and so I bring my receipts and I'm like, okay, so here's the deal. I had to have it refunded and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And I, you know, he goes, he goes, that's not self checkout. And he was really, really testy with me. And I was like, okay, whatever. You know? And I'm, I'm usually just, I, I, I'm cheerful. So I was like, you know, it's, you know, we got it resolved and I had to do it. And I said, Hey, is there someone that can help me with loading these? And, and he's like, go out and ask one of the cart guys or be out there. And so I continue on. out and my mother's behind me with her receipt. And we weren't chatting or anything as we pull up. And so then she goes through her thing. I get someone to load the car, all of that. So after dinner, we're on our way home and my mom goes, I need to tell you something. And I was like, what? And she goes, that guy that did your receipt as you were leaving said, next time bring your husband. And was just really, really testy. I mean, he said to you. He said behind my back. Next time maybe. He said it as I was leaving behind my back. My mom heard him say, next time bring your husband. He didn't say it to your mom. He did not say it to me. But my mom heard it. My mom's not that great of hearing. So it was loud enough. So when she told me this, I chuckled. And I was like, you know... It's really, really interesting how when someone judges a situation that he didn't know everything I'd been through. Right. He didn't know. But he was testy from the moment I got up to him. Right. And then he said something derogatory. Yeah. And when I got home, we got talking about this. I was like stringing this whole thing together. And I was like, as a customer, one... I'm a female customer. And so that was the first thing that came along. So the idea in my mind as I was kind of going through this is that I had two interactions with people. The guy that was like, hey, hey, no. He was trying to help a woman that didn't know better. And that was the energy. It was like, you're just not as smart or something. And I got through it and it was fine. And he was friendly. He was trying to be helpful. But he was still... talking down to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so at the door, this one was not trying to be helpful. He was testy and he was talking down to me. And he was basically accusing you of something that you didn't even do. It was somebody else who, who brought you through the checkout, right? So, you know, when we, when Jim and I were talking about this, it's like the, for, for me, the moral of the story is, and I, where we're talking about doing what our topic today was going to be, And the moral of the story is there's a couple. One, I have in this industry, I'm just going to be really, really frank. I'm going to be frank. I have watched an attitude towards women that is appalling. Right. And I've seen it in dealer threads. And I've heard from stories from customer threads that dealers are telling about. That the way that, and it's offensive. It just is. I'm a pretty darn intelligent person. You are. Woman. And so to talk down to me is offensive. So there's that. And then the other thing was, is that making an assumption. I mean, I got that guy was trying to be helpful with helping me do the thing. So great. But making an assumption and being grumpy and saying things behind my back that are derogatory. Right. That is highly and very sexist. That is highly offensive. And I wasn't upset. And I wasn't even upset. I really... When I say highly offensive, was I like, holy... No, it was just like, that is an old way of thinking. And in twenty twenty five, we are flipping better than that. Yeah, we really, really are. And so My story is a call to two things. Oh, three things. Don't assume someone's situation. You don't know why when they get in there, it's like they talk about... This is the conversation I had with my mom. It's like, is there a reason why they say you need to walk a mile in someone's shoes before you can pass judgment on however it is that they enter your field of awareness, your thing? Second is... It is time. looking at the screen. Okay. It is time for us to not speak down to women. Yeah. It just is anyone or anyone or any, or anyone. It's like as, as they consider them, I mean, for me as a woman, but I've seen people like, well, they're less intelligent or they're, and it is just time. It is time to stop that. Right. And, um, you know, there's, there's great things in being helpful, but yeah. So I guess that was too. Yeah. And, and I, I heard your story last night and you know, I can definitely tell it, you know, Michelle is definitely, I can say somebody who's very intelligent. She's also like when it comes to mechanical matter, she's really great with all those kinds of things. So I think I understood the mechanics of the whole thing. It's like, you know, so it's like, you just, when you do that, you're, you're, that's this guy, he's stepping up and, and, you know, talking to you in a way that, um, it ends up coming across as condescending. It's, it's, um, He was trying to be helpful. He's trying to. The first one, yeah. Yeah, well, but either way, it's like you're trying to be helpful. Context of being helpful, you're doing it in a way that ends up, you know, irritating or offending someone. You didn't respond to it or... You were kind about it, but it's like, it's, it's unnecessary. Yeah. It's one thing if he just said it the first time and then I said, no, I understand. I'm okay. And he goes, no, no, no, you don't understand. And I was like, I fricking understand. Right. Yeah. I knew you were a little more upset about it than, you know, you were kind about it, but it irritated you. And I think all those things to me are in the context of, you know, when we think about customer service and obviously the work that we do puts us in the threads with car dealers and the CRMs and them working with customers and all these kinds of things. And I think this is where, from a coaching standpoint, I thought here's a, here's a white hat Wednesday opportunity for us to kind of explain what, where we would be coming from on a customer service approach in coaching around White Hat Way, right? first and foremost, it's inclusive. Okay. So it's, and I'm always saying, especially let's, let's, let's take it to the context of the car dealer, the buy here, pay your dealer. Who's, who's meeting customers in person or online, right? Their team is meeting person at meeting a person. Now we've got this artificial intelligence going to work and meeting people out on the front line. And that's all good. I'm, you know, technology, we definitely want to leverage technology. Begs the question as we do all those things, are we, peopling properly? Are we really treating these human beings as humans, treating them with respect? And there are all these different ways that I see dealers sort of get in their own way or their team get in the way of what could be a buyer. And they sort of have this disqualifying sort of approach that is, you know, we call it qualifying, but I kind of have always called it, often called it disqualifying because we end up weeding out people who would be a buyer. And so I think, you know, in our segment, it's probably a little more exaggerated because we know the customer who comes to us in a buy here, pay here dealership environment is in a tough credit spot. So we know their disadvantage from a buying perspective is and they're human beings right so this means that you know how we uh respond to them might not only affect whether we win that customer today but their next purchase and their co-workers purchases next week and all these kind of things like it's just really important that we recognize all these touch points and listen We're, you know, when I talk about in the thread, I said, you know, we don't check the touch points frequently enough. And we're a business. We have clients and people that we have touch points with and we don't do it perfectly. It's the attitude that we want to bring to the thing and kind of the mindset that we bring into customer relations that is especially important to me. I want to tell a story about my own experience online. So you guys know. He has visual aids too. Yeah, I brought visual aids today so you can kind of see the stuff because I think it's relevant in the context of what we're talking about here in terms of, think about this in the context of CRM, okay? So what I'm going to show you here is, let me preface the fact that Michelle and I, this is probably in the range of our four hundred and fiftieth episode of the Buy Here, Pay Here Morning show, okay? We've never had anybody you know filter that content we've known we've just been piling up content knowing it's like another day another day another day rough math yeah we probably have five hundred hours of video content and another who knows how many hours of audio content on top of that I I go looking for somebody to start to manage that content right we've known that was on the horizon now we're looking to capitalize the process of you know kind of um clipping they they have content creation process where you go through video and you clip it and you create little clips and you release that for marketing and educational purposes whatever and so I started into that process of trying to find somebody and I ran across somebody on you know my my feed in Facebook and I initiated I would watch their little short video and they seem like they're probably somebody they sound like they have a solution right to be able to and I think they're mostly thinking about taking content now that you create today and turning into something and not realizing that when I reach out to them and we've got hundreds of hours of back They don't know you. They don't know me. They don't, they don't know. And that's fine. They don't need to, in this case for the story to be relevant. Let me kind of tell you what, so I, so I clicked the thing. It gives me a little short video and then there's a little thing. You're going to show these. Yeah. Number one. So when I get into the thing, I'm go to book an appointment. Okay. Okay. So as I go to book my appointment, it has about five questions there. And I only featured a couple of them that were, kind of intriguing but this is kind of one of their qualifying questions right question number one are you a coach consultant course creator agency or online service provider not real estate agent they have their reasons apparently uh with a price point of two thousand or greater please do not continue if the answer is no which how can I hear that except we're just really not interested in talking to you if you don't have a budget of two thousand dollars or more Right. So it's pretty easy to see how that translates to a buy here, pay here sort of environment. It says we're really not interested in talking to you if you don't have a budget of two thousand dollars or more. Now, do we have a budget of two thousand dollars or more? There's a whole lot to be figured out. But we will. How many thousands? We're talking about a long term engagement potentially. So it's well over two thousand likely. And how many thousands are we talking about to organize and kind of filter through all that content that's out there? How many thousands would we end up paying somebody that we engage to do this thing? So this was kind of a turnoff. It was like, you know, that just hit me as a disqualifying question. It started to just like go, ah, that's unfortunate. Yeah. Yeah, because I could probably, as I shared with you this morning, I could probably come up with five ways to write that question better. Right? And well, it's obviously to me when I read this, it's like they've had bad experience with real estate agents. Yeah. And they've had bad experience with people thinking they can do it for less than two grand a month. But, but my point really is they don't. And so they set that and look, their business, they can decide, they can filter these things and they can make the decision of something like that. But that's a very hard qualifier. Very first question. Are you ready to spend two thousand dollars or more? Because that's who we are. So, you know, I can hear people in a qualifying process using something similar, but down payment or whatever in our space. Now let's go to the second one. You want to tee up that second one? So this was the last question. You actually were booking the appointment. I chose a time. Will you honor the time slot that you selected and show up with all decision makers on the call? We do not allow rebooks if you no show and we receive no communication from you. And the questions were, yes, of course I'll be there. Nope, I don't honor my commitments and will probably ghost you. So this one, I definitely paused. Before I even accepted this one, I thought, you're placing... um something on me you don't know me and you're taking your past experience with others and you're applying it to me this is like pre-qualification and and it's because I I hear the same problems that dealers have yeah yeah yeah sure it's like how much money do you have down right and don't bother me if you're just lucky louie Yeah, and this is the part that I think, keep in mind, I'm a former salesperson in a new car store. I was a sales manager and trainer. So I come from that sort of background. I owned retail businesses before that, right? So as a trainer, I would be bringing the mindset that's different than this, where you're applying yesterday's bad experiences to today's customer. and in this case they're putting it right out front online like we're just saying we don't want to do business with you if you fit this box right yes and while I understand where it comes from and this one was it was kind of insulting I mean it was and I thought I I see where you're coming from I can see you trying to be professional and get people to show up the language is insulting I still selected yes and here's the part that's most relevant to me in a way as soon as I selected yes and I booked the appointment and and probably even before that when I spent even just thirty seconds watching the video from them to kind of promote their services then what happens facebook picks up from the algorithm oh look he's interested in content and you get everybody uncle was just a whole bunch of people that were hitting me with uh content creation opportunities and and services So that combined with this kind of questionable experience, I booked the appointment. I since canceled the appointment. Right. And I go on to the thing, I find the thing and I canceled the appointment, their booking process. And they ask for a why don't they? Yeah, they did. And I told them, I said, I said, basically I I'm, I'm going with someone else. And I I found your booking process to be insulting I don't think I use the word insulting but same idea I basically just said I didn't appreciate your booking process and you probably know that you have a lot of competition out there yeah so I'm just so I think this is in the context of I do this and I did another one yesterday and another we don't necessarily need to go into the other thread at all but I did another one yesterday where I got a survey. Hey, how was your recent experience? A little text message. And I had a chance to respond, which I do as a business owner now. And as a former business owner, somebody makes my living in operational coaching. I typically take a moment to give feedback. Like, I just think it's if it's good feedback or bad feedback. I love that about you. And I wish that more people just did that because usually you only get just like that. But it's like, let's just give you some really constructive feedback. And the short version of that story was, um, I had already hours earlier, I had already sent in something with this other company, not related to this one that we have on the screen, but this other company, I'd sent something in saying, um, Hey, you guys... Yeah, you guys kind of fumbled this order. And so just know that this was kind of a problem. And then hours later, I get another inquiry. Hey, how was your recent experience? I'm thinking, well, first of all, I already reported that. And so you're clearly not... paying attention to me. It's an automated system. And it's just like, well, I guess that it landed in the, in the trash. What happens as the customer I'm saying, you know, why bother? You're not really listening to me anyway. Right. You didn't know that I've already provided feedback. And so I think it becomes impersonal and we lose customers that way. Okay. So this same outfit that I, you know, canceled with, they've since reached out to me. I got another text message this morning. Hey, do you want to rebook? And I'm thinking, if you had read. Oh, the one from the, it's like, I canceled it. And it's like, hey, would you like to rebook? I told you when I canceled that I was going with someone else. And you're still pursuing me. And I told you why I'm not doing business with you. So many morals today, morals of the story. Yeah. And so, you know, I could go further, but it's like, they've already missed me. And so the thing that I've always said, and part of the reason you see me fill out those things, and I've said to businesses, I remember telling a business when I was getting an oil change here in Utah a few years ago, I told the guy verbally across the desk, I said, I've always said that I'll never tell somebody else how to do their business, but I will tell them how to earn mine. how to earn my business, right? I'm just telling you, I'm speaking for myself as one customer. Here's what you can do. Here's what you should probably avoid, you know, in terms of trying to keep my business. And so the one other one that was kind of a little thread, I've spent quite a lot of money with them over time. You know, it's been a really great experience. And I told him in my thread, I said, I've been a raving fan, but it seems that something's changed with you guys. It's really suggesting maybe a management change going on. But I've been a raving fan. But this experience was really vastly different. And so I just wanted to bring it to their attention. Not because I'm complaining, but because you guys are kind of fumbling customer experience here. You might want to have a look at this. And it seems to me like the right opportunity for somebody to pick up the phone and call me. If they looked at my thread, they'd say, oh, this guy was a regular customer for a long time. Yeah. He hasn't been. He came back for one time after a long stretch away and we fumbled it. Probably ought to call him. Yeah. Nobody called me. What I'm seeing, the moral of that story is dealers, we need to be aware of how our automated systems communicate start or stop. Because if someone has offered, there needs to be a way to be able to stop an automatic sequence of things. Because it does make our customers feel like they're not listening it does it doesn't matter they're not listening so you know that's a big one and that's both of those examples you saw that that it was an automated response they're not listening right and that's you know that's that's a big lesson yeah um you know and I i Um, as, uh, when I was kind of like thinking about all of this, as you were, as you were telling your story is, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of opportunities here for, um, for, uh, grace now. Um, You know, we always speak about grace and that, you know, to allow the allowances. So, you know, when I'm like, this guy said this and this guy said this and he was testy, one of the things in that conversation with my mom is like, I have no idea what happened to that guy this morning. Maybe his dog got ran over and he was testy, but he didn't have to say something sexually derogatory to me or, you know, behind my back. Right. But so, you know, it's like having the grace that people have their experiences. And so it's really good for us to be aware of that. Like that whole email thing for scheduling that appointment. I'm like, what kind of experiences have these people had that would lead them to that kind of communication? And it's like, it is offensive. That doesn't go away. But what happened to them? That led them to that, especially not real estate agents. It's like, oh gosh, there's a story behind that one. So we as consumers and business owners need to allow grace in. It's like people are having a human experience. People, you know, and so how we have our human experience sometimes affects how we people. Right. You know, our peopling skills. And so, you know, this it's like dealers be aware of how your automated systems are peopling your customers. Yeah, you want the good news? The good news is so many of our would-be competitors, if I'm a buy here, pay here dealer, they really mishandle this part. And so it creates a tremendous opportunity for us when we can see the opportunity that exists. And so back to your peopling thing, when we can learn how to better communicate, treat people with respect. And so the other thing that I didn't say early on is in the sales process, as a trainer, I'm always working to get more customers farther into the process. I want as many customers to get deep into the process. In fact, I want the decision about the approval to get as close to the dealer's desk as possible. Sometimes it's the dealer principal themselves who's the final underwriter, but I don't want us making decisions. I don't want some chat bot making decisions. I don't want to disqualify customers. I want to get customers as far into the process as I possibly can. And there may come a point where we just are out of options and we have to say no, but they're going to go away saying, man, they tried. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So that's the part that I'm just trying to say is I think from a service standpoint, I think we there's tremendous opportunity. And we just when we can quit being we can put aside the frustration about a customer yesterday and avoid bringing that into our dialogue today, then because that's going to pollute this new relationship almost right out of the gate. And so that's unfortunate. Yeah, that's a missed opportunity. Yeah. Well, and there was one other thread in there that like from just my experience is, you know, and we've talked about this a bunch of different times on the White Hat Wednesdays, is be really, you remember we talked about it's not what or how you say, but where you say it. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I can give grace for the what and the how, but the fact that that interaction with me was said in front of another customer, didn't know that it was my mom. It could have been a stranger, but the same effect, the absolute same effect that someone coming behind would be like, I wonder what they're going to say about me. Of course. Yeah. And so it's like, be really, really careful. And as a dealer, as a business owner, be careful what you do because that kind of flows through. But if you see something like that, that it's a really good idea to... aware, pull them aside, not in the view or sound of anyone else and say, that is not okay. That's just not okay. Yeah. And I think it's one of those things where we recognize it as a business scale, then that means we're going to have people out front who are the face of our business. They're the ones who are having the face-to-face interaction. And it's not just our customers. It could be our vendors. It could be, you know, whatever else. But I think we recognize in order for us to scale, that's got to happen. Well, that's going to come from us and kind of the culture, the training, the attitude that we have. And it be if one of our sales people as an example is having a rough day maybe they shouldn't be on the floor for a while or you know give them give them a day whatever because we just we we pay a price when when people bring a bad attitude and they bring yesterday's attitude into today's customer and uh so I just think it's it's avoidable yeah and it's something that uh you know we we can we can do better and I think we we just recognize that we've got to first just try to treat every customer with the same and that thing that I talk about where This customer is going to be with us for ten, twenty, thirty years. Every customer I meet, if I expect this customer is going to be with me ten, twenty, thirty years, then whatever their situation is today, I may be able to overcome it if I just bring that attitude. Yes. And just so you know, those of you that, you know, I I will I love Costco. I will continue to go to Costco. This is the first experience I've ever had like this. If it continues, I will have to rethink that. But it's his first experience and so you know, for me, my call to action today is to find out if I can talk to someone there and say, I had a thing happen yesterday and I just want you to be aware. Um, because it, it's, and yeah, just, just like you do, you leave feedback and it's not like, what are you going to do about it? I'm not going to bring that kind of energy. I'm going to have the grace to say, Hey, there's a thing you might want to be aware of. Um, cause I don't think it's never been something I've experienced before, but I did today. And so, you know, and it wasn't even like crazy busy. Right. So, cause I can see Christmas time is just awful there. But, um, and I mean, I give like my, my grace is, bucket is just, I keep it so full at Christmas time because it's just awful. So that's like another moral bit. There's just a lot of really good humaning, peopling wisdom in some of these experiences that we had yesterday and the day before. So hopefully you can glean something that's helpful out of it. What else? I I think that's it all right there's more but we'll save it for another missed today uh it is wednesday it's we know you're busy and you uh get taken the time to make us part of your day thank you thank you thank you don't forget to find us and follow us over on youtube visuals can't get those on uh on the regular syndicated podcast station all right we'll be back on friday I think we've already chosen a subject for friday we talked about it But we will see you guys on Friday. Otherwise, enjoy the last Wednesday of March. Well, have a great day, everybody.
