How to Give and Ask for a Review

How to Give and Ask for a Review

How many times have you headed to Google or Facebook to rant about awful service? In this Mechanic Shop Femme post I will address the best way to write a review and write one. I also have a request for you the reader at the end!

Reviews are a critical part of any private mechanic shop, franchise and dealership. In this post I want to tackle two different sides of reviews: How to give a good review as a customer and how to ask a customer for a review as a service writer/mechanic or service manager.

I look at reviews as undisputed record of my incredible customer service. This is a twofold benefit. When I move on to my next place of employment, I can reference my incredible review to my new employer. At my current place of employment when new customers are looking for a shop to bring their car, they will see all my incredible reviews and choose to come to my shop.

Car Owners and Customers: Leaving a review for your service is something that is very important to the person who serviced your car and assisted you. This is a good way to show the person who helped you that you appreciate them.

– Use the person’s name who helped you in the review

– If you have time to leave a review on more than one platform, you can copy and paste. Google Yelp and Facebook are all good places to leave reviews.

– Take a moment and write what you liked about the service. Did your adviser explain things to you in a way you never understood? Did you get some good advice? Was the service adviser gentle when giving you harsh news about your car?

– Use strong descriptors like excellent service, honest, worth the price, my go-to shop, unbiased advise.

– Write in the review what kind of service you did at the shop. Did you change your brakes? Do regular maintenance? Go for a second opinion?

This is more of a guide to leaving incredible reviews. This isn’t set in stone. Use your best judgement. Remember if you got good service rate 5 stars.

Example: Today I got my car serviced at XX shop. Mr. Smith assisted me in explaining what was wrong with my car and why it was making that awful noise. I ended up changing my brakes and rotors because of his excellent and honest advice and impeccable customer service. Because of Mr. Smith’s service today I plan to make XX shop my go to shop for all services. I also love that they provided me with lifetime warranty on the brakes!

When you get bad service or a repair fails: Contact the shop and see what they can fix for you first. I can tell you as a service manager, if I see that you left a bad review and didn’t give me the chance to make it right – I probably won’t help you. If you end up needing to leave a bad review, specify that you contacted the shop and refused to assist you. A well written bad review with some details will get the attention of corporate or dealership top boss. They will likely reach out to you to help. Don’t rant and rave. Be direct and to the point.

Example “I went to XX shop to change my brakes. I changed my brakes and rotors, but now my brakes squeak every time I step on them. I reached out to Mr. Smith, the service manager, and he told me squeaking was normal and he couldn’t do anything to help. I got good service at this shop and am disappointed to no longer want to be a customer. Spending $375 to do my brakes was expensive for me and I expected them not to squeak.”

Service Advisers/ Mechanics and Service Managers:

First of all don’t assume your happy customers will leave a review. More often than not unhappy customers are the only ones that even think of it. Start by only asking the customers you’ve been working with for a long time. These customers will be the easiest to ask and the most likely to actually give you a fabulous review. These customers will help you build up your confidence in asking and teach you the best way to do it for you.

– Ask for the review!

– Ask the customer to include your name in the review. I generally write my name down on the customers invoice.

– Let the customer know on which platform would be most helpful to you. “Mr. X would you mind taking a few minutes and writing me a review on Facebook? https://zudayogaeast.com/ ”

– Ask if the customer could do it while they wait for the repairs to be completed. Offer to help the customer pull up the place to leave the review on their phone. I usually assist the customer and then type my name right into the review box. You are almost guaranteed a customer doing the review if they do it in the waiting room

If a customer promises you a review, check a few days later and see if they left you one. If they didn’t call them! It’s possible that something went wrong with their car and you can avoid losing a customer or getting a bad review that way. Or the customer might have just forgotten and could use the reminder.-

So dear reader, think about how you leave reviews. Do me a favor – for every bad review you leave try to leave two fabulous ones!

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