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Questions to Ask Your Customers When You Arrive.

This is the old Locksmith business info area and will be broken down to fill in the new sections below.

Questions to Ask Your Customers When You Arrive.

Postby Raccoon » 20 Sep 2006 0:10

I would like to compile a list of questions Locksmiths ask their customers when they arrive on a lockout call.

As I've stated in a several threads, you should collect a lot of information from your customer to include in your records. The standard items I garnish are: Vehicle Description (Year/Make/Model/Color), Plates and VIN, Location Description and Address, Drivers License (Name, Home Address, License #, DOB, Sex/Height/Weight/Eye/Hair color) and their Phone Number.

All of these items are important and come in handy should problems arise-- such as the customer fails to pay or must mail you payment, if the customer claims you damaged their vehicle (you have a record of exactly which vehicle you worked on), or if the vehicle is later reported stolen.

In addition to collecting the above information, I also like to ask a couple of questions. The most important question I ask is: "Have you attempted to open the vehicle yourself, with a coat hanger or slimjim or other such implement?" The reason I ask this, is because 30% to 40% of my customers have infact tried to open their vehicle with coat hangers and slimjims or worse. They scratch the hell out of their paint, dent up their door frame, tear their weather stripping to shreds, or damage their linkage.

You want to ask them this question, and also note any damage you find (whether they answered yes or no) and ask the customer to write their initials next to these remarks on your invoice. This covers your butt and prevents the customer from later claiming that you caused the damage. I have seen some serious damage, and if every customer had sued me for their mistakes, I'd be out $100 grand. Limit your liability as MUCH as humanly possible.

Other questions I ask are of a casual nature to appear friendly and to ease the tension. I find that most of my customers are upset that they had to call me, but quickly feel at ease when I open a dialogue with them. Asking a bunch of liability questions at the beginning sets you up to sound professional and make you look like you know what you're doing. Asking what brings them to town (out of town’ers) or how much they paid for their "very nice" vehicle, makes them feel comfortable paying you the large sum of money for your time. You want to be a Professional Human.

What other questions or dialogue do you have with your customers?


PS. Always carry a camera with you. If you encounter a vehicle with significant damage, politely ask for permission to take photographs for your records. "It's standard procedure."
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Postby Shrub » 20 Sep 2006 9:45

Is this meant to be vehicle specific?
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Postby Raccoon » 20 Sep 2006 14:20

Really, Lock-out specific. I don't see any real dialogue needed for most service calls, unless you can think of any. (I'm not talking about hashing out the needs of the client regarding master key systems or hardware orders.)
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Postby Double_Chin » 20 Sep 2006 19:12

I usually ask if it's their car.
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Postby Raccoon » 20 Sep 2006 19:23

Double_Chin wrote:I usually ask if it's their car.


Do you seriously? What types of responses do you get to this question, and how do you act differently if they answer no; its their parent's, or their boyfriend's, or their neighbors? Do you attempt to contact the owner? Do you make note of their response in your records?
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Postby Double_Chin » 20 Sep 2006 20:38

I don't actually. It was a joke. I'm not an employed lock smith, just a hobbiest. But I mean I would....
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Postby Romstar » 20 Sep 2006 21:23

Well I DOask if it is their car. You would be amazed at just how many people are not driving their own vehicle when they lock the keys in it or break them or something else similar.

Frequently its a parents car, or a brother or sister. On occasion its a friends vehicle and I have on occasion made a phone call to the actual owner of the car to verify that the driver can authorize work on the vehicle.

I have a nice invoice/authorization form that I use.

Image

This should pretty much cover you except for the really serious guys who want to waste money making your life miserible.

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