Will Customer Service Ever Make a Comeback

Will Customer Service Ever Make a Comeback

In a world built around clicks, convenience and automation, maybe the biggest opportunity is simply taking care of people.

We live in a click society.

Need groceries Click.

Need something from Amazon Click.

Book a hotel, order dinner, buy clothes, pay a bill a few taps on your phone and it's done.

And don't get me wrong.  I love convenience. Technology has made a lot of things easier, faster and more efficient.

But somewhere along the way, I think we started confusing convenience with customer service.

They are not the same thing.

There are certain purchases where I don't think human interaction will ever stop mattering. Vehicles are one of them. Equipment is another.

These are not $50 purchases that show up on your doorstep tomorrow.  A truck, van, loader, tractor or luxury vehicle can represent tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.  For a business, that piece of equipment might be responsible for generating revenue every single day.

Those decisions deserve more than a button.

They deserve a conversation.

Some Things Still Deserve a Handshake

I have spent more than 30 years in the automotive and equipment business.

I have seen the industry change more times than I can count.  I've watched markets rise and fall, interest rates change, manufacturers come and go, technology transform vehicles and the internet completely change the way people shop.

And through all of it, one thing has not changed:

People want to feel taken care of.

They want somebody to look them in the eye and tell them the truth.  Somebody who will answer the phone when something doesn't make sense.  Somebody willing to explain their options instead of simply pushing them toward whatever happens to make the most money that day.  Most of all they want to know the person sitting across from them actually cares what happens after the deal is done.

That should not sound revolutionary.  Somehow, today it almost does.

The Market Is Complicated Again

Customer service becomes even more important when the market gets difficult.

We've been through a strange few years in the vehicle business.  For a period of time, used-vehicle values were extraordinarily strong.  People became accustomed to getting out of vehicles with equity.  In some cases, vehicles behaved financially in ways I had never seen consistently during my previous decades in the business.

Things are changing again.

Used vehicle values are shifting.  Negative equity is becoming part of the conversation again. Vehicles are expensive.  Interest rates and financing costs matter.  Residual values matter.  How long you're going to keep something matters.

Structuring a deal properly matters.

That's why experience matters too.

The cheapest payment today isn't necessarily the cheapest decision over the next four years.

The vehicle somebody wants isn't necessarily the vehicle they should buy and sometimes the right advice is to tell somebody to keep what they already have.

Technology Should Make Customer Service Better Not Replace It

I'm certainly not against technology.  I use it every day.

Researching vehicles online is easier than it has ever been.  Inventory can be searched across the country in seconds.  Documents can be signed electronically.  Information that once took hours to find can be sitting in front of you almost instantly.

That's progress.

But I believe technology should remove the frustrating parts of doing business so that we have more time to take care of the customer, not less.

People are happy to research online.  They're happy to text.  They're happy to email.  They're happy to complete paperwork electronically.

But when they're about to make an $80,000 decision, sometimes they still want to talk to somebody who knows what they're doing.

I don't think that's going away.

There Is a Reason I Have Stayed With the Same People

I see this in my own life.

I have stayed with my insurance agent for most of my adult life.  I've known him since I was a kid.

Could I shop insurance online of course.  Is there probably somebody somewhere willing to save me a few dollars probably.

But when I call his office they know who I am. They understand my portfolio. They're polite. They answer my questions. They give me the information I need to make an educated decision.

And if something important happens, I know I have his number. I can call him and ask, “What do you think?” and I trust that I am going to get a straight answer.

There is tremendous value in that.

Businesses sometimes spend fortunes trying to manufacture loyalty through apps, reward programs and marketing campaigns.  Maybe loyalty isn't actually that complicated.

Take care of people long enough and they'll remember.

That Is What I Am Trying to Build

That's the philosophy behind both JG Fleet Services and Drive Concierge.

On the fleet side, maybe it's sourcing and delivering a loader, tractor, van or truck directly into a customer's yard.

Maybe it's handling licensing because a fleet customer has purchased a vehicle for a family member and doesn't have the time to deal with it.

Maybe it's looking at an aging fleet and having an honest conversation about which units should stay and which ones are starting to cost more than they are worth.

On the Drive Concierge side, maybe it's finding the right Lincoln, bringing the test drive to someone's home, handling the paperwork at their kitchen table and eventually putting the keys in their hand in their own driveway.

Different customer. Different vehicle. Same philosophy.

Provide value.  Save them time.  Save them money where you can. Use your experience to help them make the right decision and make the whole thing easy.

My favorite reaction is not, “Wow, I cannot believe how much I negotiated off the vehicle.” It is, “That was easy.”

Because behind those three words is everything I want the businesses to represent.  They trusted me.  They understood what they were buying.  They did not waste their time. They did not feel pressured and they felt taken care of.

Customer Service Is Not Free And It Should Not Be

There is another side to this conversation that I think is worth saying.

Yes, I expect to be paid for the service I provide. There is nothing wrong with that.

Thirty plus years of experience has value.  Knowing the market has value.  Knowing how to structure a transaction has value.  Knowing where problems are likely to show up before they happen has value.

The goal is not to provide everything for free.  The goal is that when someone pays you for a service, they understand exactly what they received in return.

Expertise, Time, Convenience, Advocacy and perhaps most importantly, peace of mind.

If I can save somebody hours of frustration, help them avoid an expensive mistake and make a complicated transaction feel simple, I have provided something of value.

That's a business relationship I'm proud to be paid for.

Maybe Customer Service Does Not Need a Comeback

The more I think about the question in the title, the more I'm not sure customer service ever disappeared.  Maybe we just stopped expecting enough of it.

We have gotten so accustomed to automated messages, chat windows, phone menus, unanswered emails and being told to “visit our website” that receiving genuinely good service now feels unusual.

Maybe that's the opportunity.

Answer the phone, return the email, explain the numbers. Tell somebody when you do not think they should buy something, shake their hand, look them in the eye, know their name when they call back and when the transaction is finished, do not disappear.

Technology will continue to change how we buy things.  I'm sure artificial intelligence will change it even more.

That's okay.

Let technology handle the clicks.

I'll keep taking care of the people.