Pop the Hood

I bought a Toyota Tercel many years ago. Like every car that I bought the car salesman popped the hood and let me see what was under there. With old cars you look for signs of good maintenance.

After I bought the car I was invited back to the dealership for a training session in their service department. They had pizza and drinks for us. They walked us around and then had us take a seat as they went through some basic things that will help us get the best performance from our cars.

They had an engine setup to run in front of us where they dropped the oil pan. Most engines would seize up under this experiment, but they wanted to show the type of oil they use on our vehicles help them perform.

Years later when I wanted to upgrade to a bigger and newer car I was a raving fan of the Toyota and that dealership.

Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, is encouraging all of his operators to pop their hood. Customers are now being taken on backstage tours of the kitchen. They get to see how fresh the food is and what top brands of food they use. You will see fresh chicken, Dole Pineapples, Hershey Chocolate, Oreo Cookies and more when you tour their kitchens.

They have been doing this for about a year and some of their operators are excited about the results. They have noticed that these backstage kitchen tours create Raving Fans faster than anything they have done before. Why? If you ever worked in a fast food place you would understand why.

What is it we can take away from these examples? First of all people do notice the difference between good and bad and being sure your product is the best that you can deliver will help separate you from your competition.

Second you need to do like the Toyota dealership, reach out to your customers and help them enjoy your product even more.

If you do everything I suggested you are up their with the greatest of the used car dealers. They pop the hood and they want you to come back and will give you good even great service.

What is the indication you have given the top service. Your customers think of you as their family. This is when you are no longer seeing your customers as your meal ticket. You see them not as people who help you meet your bills.

The key to making this happen is popping your hood. Learning to be more transparent with folks is the best way to make lifelong friends. This is when your intentions are not hidden. It is when you are really thinking about how to make their day better.

When your customers look under your hood will they find a heart?