First thing you have to realise is the Customer is always right. They may not live and breathe Cycling and hang out on the internet reading forums, but despite all of this; they are always right. The reason they are always right is because they are giving you their money and with you needing to pay rent and eat, their money comes in handy.
Reason number one why the Customer doesn’t like you (bike mechanic) – You act like you seem to know everything. What’s up with that? It’s not like you have any formal training or qualifications.
Reason two- You are being patronizing. They brought their bike in for you to look at the brakes and you’re now going on about hydraulic fluid. What are you on about? They are pretty sure that disc brakes don’t run on water.
Reason three- You are now explaining how hydraulic disc brakes work. They are an Engineer. They have studied hydraulics at University for four years. Not only do they understand how it works, they could make one from scratch. They are starting to think they should tell you…… Who am I kidding, they have already told you, it was one of the first things that came out of their mouths as they walked through the door and you are now explaining it….. because it’s funny.
Reason four- You ring the customer mid-afternoon on a Friday and tell them that you need some parts to finish their bike, and it won’t be ready till next Tuesday. But you had it since Monday, what have you been doing with it? It’s not like they could have helped you out and ordered their parts online……
Reason five- You are being ungrateful. After doing a good job, you receive Baked Goods (or Tim Tams) and you then explain that you are training and that you can’t really eat high sugary food, and that beer and coffee is the standard.
Reason six- You smirked when they described their bike as blue.
And reason number seven why your customer doesn’t like you (bike mechanic) – You then let out a little laugh when they describe their bike as a Giant (or Merida, Specialized, GT ETC….) Just because you have Seventeen bikes and have given each one their own name, could list every part on them in alphabetical order and are thinking about your new bike for the coming Summer, doesn’t mean they are. They barely know what car they drive, let alone bike; you weirdo.
But don’t worry here are some tips to Woo your customer
The easiest way to woo a customer when they come to pick up their bike once they have had it repaired, is to call them by their name as they walk through the door and hand them a beer. (Why do they have to buy the beers all the time? They are paying you for the job.) If you can get two or three beers into them before the bill comes out, its way easier to take advantage of them and they are a little more likely to buy something new and bling. The best bit is once the credit card has been swiped it’s hard to reverse a payment.
If you didn’t read the first story, check it out here Seven Reasons why your Bike Mechanic doesn’t like you
The customer is not always right, but they do have the right to an opinion.
Sure they do ,and they can feel free to grab a set of tools and fix their own bikes.We don’ t tell them how to do their jobs.
preach!
That is GOLD .Had a great chuckle.My personal fave is after explaining at the time of purchase that things like WD 40 shouldn’t be any where near your bike as it will trash your brake pads – good old Engineer customer screamed at us that his brakes are not trashed from a liberal application of WD 40 – he used INOX .
Love the Tim-Tam reference. A doff of the cap to Mr Ocelot.