Can you smell something?

This week I blogged on my website about the fact that my driving school has been established now for ten years.  It is a proud milestone to celebrate as with the longevity I can also say that there has not been one single accident in all that time either.  When you consider my customers drive something like 30,000 miles per year, I think I have every right to feel proud.

I think it does not harm to consider what benefit experience brings to a business, particularly relevant to any readers who are training to qualify as a driving instructor. 

Over time, a prudent business person will listen carefully to customer feedback and adapt the business model accordingly.  That way, there is this frequent sharpening up of the benefits provided to customers.

It is just as important however to consider the quality of the service being provided by the people within the organisation; everyone plays an important role and can add value. 

Don't get all woke on me now dear reader, but I can give you an example of this point using a situation that occurred to me only yesterday.  Yes, I am white, 50 years old and male; let's put that out there for starters to ensure some transparency.

I have some foam backed click vinyl flooring that needs laying in an en-suite. Usually, I would be thinking of preparing it by adding a sheet of plywood to the base beforehand, but the instructions that accompany this new flooring advise against it. Really?

 

I go down to my local building supplies store and relay my question about the need for any additional base to a young looking employee (certainly no more than 20 years old), who happens to be female.  There are a few things that went wrong, really quite quickly.  It was apparent within about 10 seconds that the precise question I was asking was not in her immediate knowledge base.  But rather than ping me off to another member of staff (there were many around), she walks me over to an aisle and starts to "sell" me a pre-formed resin based product which is a substitute for plywood but also requires priming.  So look at this from my point of view.  I'm not getting my specific question answered, but shown a new, unfamiliar product that will cost more than plywood and involves more work due to the primer that has to be applied.

To conclude my customer interface we came to a caveat, that I should read up the instructions for this new product she has introduced, and also "look online".  So she is now giving me extra research work to do before I even make a purchase.  Now, as I say, I'm getting on in life.  I'm getting on so much in life in fact, that even with her pretty smiling face and confident demeanour, I know when I'm being given the brush off. 

 

And this matters folks.  I will not go to a store that gives me the brush off; there are too many choices available to me for businesses to get away with this lack of customer care.  I will not go into that store again.

And this is how businesses die.  The reason why I took the trouble to go out and speak face to face with someone, was because I wanted to pull on their knowledge, make the right choice and return home all in one go.  But instead, I came out the other end of this experience, loaded with additional work, and crucially, not having my question answered; my head felt more burdened as I left the premises than it did when I walked in.  Not good.

As for driving instructors, I would suggest that we take heed of this anecdote.  If you are struggling to retain pupils, then it may well be related to how their head feels when they leave your driving school car compared to when they got into it.