Y
our customers loathe downtime.
Every minute their trucks sit costs
them in lost revenue and mainte-
nance expenses.
Which is why when you quote them
three hours on a repair, they aren't
thrilled to fi nd out it's going to take six.
While no repairs are exactly the same
every time, your prices can be. Through
labor rate standardization, you can offer
customers consistent labor prices and en-
sure them that no matter what obstacles
occur while a truck is in your bay, their
costs will be the same.
While that doesn't eliminate their an-
guish over a six-hour repair, it defi nitely
can help alleviate it.
And by putting a positive spin on a
negative situation, it can increase a cus-
tomer's likelihood of coming back again.
"For us, [standardization] is really
about doing something for our custom-
ers and in their best interests," says Mike
Delaney, president and CEO at Wheel-
Time. "It allows us to offer them reassur-
ance that they know what to expect from
our members when they come to us."
Delaney says labor standardization
was one of the main reasons WheelTime
was established more than a decade ago.
The 18 founding members saw value in
service consistency and stability when ac-
quiring and maintaining customers, and
wanted to be able to offer those benefi ts
on a larger scale.
"Our members wanted to share
best practices and work on common
21
W W W . T R U C K P A R T S A N D S E R V I C E . C O M A p r i l 2 0 1 5 | T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E
Strengthening your
customer service
through labor rate
standardization
Consistency
breeds
success
By Lucas Deal, Editor
lucasdeal@randallreilly.com
Service Bay
For us, [standardization] is really
about doing something for our customers
and in their best interests.
– Mike Delaney, president and CEO at WheelTime
