In search of customer service

Over the last weekend, I found myself at my authorized Perodua car service center due for my regular service. As it may, the service bill came up to RM 220 (roughly USD 70). As my car was in desperate need of a cleaning, my fiance urged me to ask them if they had a car wash service as well. As it turns out; they did, for a cost of RM 10 (USD 3).

Now, let me ask you this, would it be un-reasonable for them after spending RM 220 at their service center to throw in a free car wash? Now, the car wash if given away free would only work up to be a 5% discount off my bill.

The point is this, do you remember when we were kids and used to choose our cereal brands based on what free toys / gifts came with it? If cereal makers can think of such ideas to entice customers (i.e. kids) to tell their parents to choose a specific brand of cereal, why not car service centers?

The key objective here I believe is to instill customer loyalty. The reason is if I do not send my car to the authorized service center I can also send it to a private car service center whom I trust and there are plenty of those kinds of service centers.

As businesses today become more and more competitive, keeping customers loyal should be our primary objective no matter the type of business. As they always say, its easier to retain a customer than it is to find a new one. So giving out free car washes or maybe incentive discounts to keep customers coming back to you is a sure way to let customers know that you value their business.

By and large the same problem exists in many businesses throughout Malaysia. In this country, businesses still operate on the concept that success is measured by the number new customers, but the reality of the issue is that we should be spending that same amount of effort (i.e. time & marketing funds) in not getting newer clients but to maintain existing ones and hopefully get referrals to new clients. Wouldn't that be a better way to use your marketing budget? Perhaps something for Perodua and many of us to think about?