September 27, 2010
Lesson learned: courteous service never goes out of style
By: Mike Manges
During the late 1950s, Modern Tire Dealer published a monthly column called "The sale that taught me the most," in which independent tire dealers recounted their most profound sales experiences.
Over the last week or so, I've read several of these columns, and I must admit, some of them are real gems. I thought this one, written by Pete Kaczorowski of Pete's Tire Co. in East Brunswick, N.J., was especially interesting. (It appeared in the December 1959 issue of MTD.) Maybe you can relate to it?
"If I live to be 102, I'll never forget the lesson I learned one broiling hot summer night about 25 years ago. But now when I look back on it, I guess all the credit should go to my father.
"I was a youngster at the time, still in my teens. After school, Saturdays and vacations I helped him in his tire business. This particular day I have in mind had been a tiring one. The two boys who worked for my father had left for home a few minutes earlier and I was eagerly looking forward to putting the key in the lock and calling it a day.
"And what an uncomfortable day it had been! The temperature had been flirting with the 100-degree mark since shortly after dawn. When closing time came, I locked the register and reached for my lunch box. Just then the bell over the door tinkled and an elderly man walked in.
"After a few minutes of discussion about the weather, he got around to telling me that after 37 years on the same job he had retired. Now that his children were all grown and married, he and his wife wee going to live in Florida. He was a likeable old gent, but I couldn't help think that somebody had wound him up just before he came in.
"Eventually, however, he made it known that he was interested in looking at some tires, and would I show him what we had in stock?
"I gave him the grand tour and for the better part of an hour we discussed tires and prices. Fo the time being I had forgotten all about the depressing heat and my desire to get home, and I concentrated on closing the sale.
"The old man left, however, saying that I could look forward to seeing him in the morning.
"He was as good as his word. I was still arranging my outdoor displays the following moring when he chugged into our drive way in his 1933 roadster. He told me to go ahead and 'reshoe my buggy.' When the job was finished, he started to count out what he owed me for the four new tires. He paused and gave me a big grin.
"It wasn't just by chance that he had decided to buy tires from me, he said. He'd been to three or four other places shopping around and in one of them he had even been offered a better price.
"The sales clincher, he said, was the courtesy I showed him and the patience I took even though he was 'just looking.'
"For my money, it proved just one thing -- something that my father advised when I first entered the family business: 'Courteous service will always win friends and satisfy customers.'
"Although it happened 25 years ago, I might say that the credit for my success today should go to my father and the old gentleman who came in to 'just look' at tires."
I bet many of you have similar stories! (If you'd like to share one, send it my way.)
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