When did good customer service die?

I have not Blogged in a while, but a recent experience has prompted me to ask a simple question. Since when did people stop giving good customer service.  Good customer service means going above and beyond to help either a customer or a potential customer.  This should also be the “Norm” not the Exception.

Now it seems as though people are only interested in helping a customer if they are making a big purchase.  The only problem is that most sales do come from small purchases and long time customers.  Over time a happy customer (even the small ones) will purchase more often, not ask about discounts, and most importantly will tell all their friends about your company and increase sales.

I would like to finish this blog with a question.  What do you think has lead to the decline in the quality of customer service?

TPMS Basics

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems are required by Law to be put on all passenger cars (under Gvwr 10,000) that were built after September 2007.  The Law that governs it is the TREAD Act.  The TREAD Act was brought up due to the Firestone Recall that happened in the late 1990s.

There are two main types of TPMS systems, direct and in-direct systems.  Direct systems use physical sensors that are place in each tire that send electronic signals to a computer inside the car that let you know when one of your tires drops below a certain pressure.  Most systems let you know when a tire drops below 25% of the recommended pressure.  Battery life for most TPMS sensors is around 7-10 years, while the expected life of most cars is 13 years.  This requires the owner of the car to buy new sensors when the batteries die.

In-direct systems do not rely on actual tire pressure to inform you of a low tire.  There is no sensor inside the tire.  The in-direct system relies on rotational speeds.  If one tire is lower in pressure then the other three then the difference in rotational speed triggers a warning to the driver.  Most in-direct systems require that the owner push a reset button after checking the tire pressure to ensure the computer has correct speed ratings for the tires.

For more information on your TPMS systems, contact your local tire store or email me with direct questions.

Flat Tire repair vs. Tire replacement

Sometimes it is hard to tell when looking at a flat tire to see if it is replaceable.  It’s best to never try to repair a tire on your own, and to take the tire to your local tire store for repairs.  Never let anyone repair a tire without taking it off the rim.  A small nail hole on the outside may have caused extensive damage to the inside of the tire.

Most holes that are ¼” or less and that are on the tread face are repairable; however always check out the whole tire when deciding on whether or not to make the repair.  Any damage to the sidewall should not under any circumstances be fixed.  The stress applied to tire sidewalls can cause the tire to blow out.  If a tire has been driven on while at low pressure for any amount of time, it should not be repaired as there could be extensive damage to the sidewall of the tire.

One thing to keep in mind is the amount of tread left on the tires.  Tires with less than 2/32nds left of tread should not be repaired, and should instead be replaced.  Always check the age of the tires when determining whether or not to repair or replace.

When to replace your current tires

Before taking a summer trip, and when thinking about winter driving, you should always look to your tires.  Do you have the minimal amount of tread that is required by law?  Tires are molded with a “wear bar indicator” that shows you how low you can legally go on your tires.  The legal limit for tires is 2/32nds of an inch.

The best way to properly check the tread depth is with a tread depth gauge.  You can purchase a tread depth gauge at most auto parts stores or at most tire stores.  If you don’t want to purchase a tread depth gauge, you can use a U.S. Penny.  Face the penny to where you can see Lincolns head upside down.  Place the penny in the Inter-most tread groove.  If the top of Lincolns head is under the tread, then your tires are ok.  If you can see the top of Lincolns head, it’s time to replace your tires.

For a Link of where to buy a tread depth gauge.  http://tinyurl.com/2g5refr

*Images are borrowed from www.eHow.com

Tire Rotation

When it comes to long tire life, the topic of tire rotation comes up frequently.  One of the best ways to increase the life of your tires is to rotate your tires every 3,000 to 5,000 miles or at every oil change.  Rotating your tires allows tires to serve in as many positions on your car as possible.  A tire on the front of a car is required to do many things that a tire on the rear may not.  The act of turning and driving add more stress to the outside shoulders of a tire.

There are a few things that you should check while rotating your tires.  Always check your air pressure.  Some cars require different air pressure in the front tires then the rear tires.  It’s also a good practice to check your tires for punctures.  You can go through the tires and remove the stones and other debris from the tread surface.  It is also a good time to balance the tires if you are getting a tire based vibration problem.  Check your tread depth and check for uneven tire wear.  If you are getting more wear on only one side of the tire you may want to think about getting your alignment checked.

The pattern of rotating that I recommend doing is the straight rotate.  You take the front tires and move them to the back, and more the rear tires to the front.   This pattern promotes even tire wear across all 4 tires.

Keeping your tires all around the same tread depth keeps the vehicles performance equal and performing as it should from the factory.  If your tires on the front have a significant amount of tread more than the rears, then your car could go into an over steer situation while driving in wet weather.  It also allows you to purchase all four tires at once.  By buying four tires at one time you can take advantage of today’s newest tire technology instead of trying to match yesterdays technology.

**One note is that most All-Wheel drive cars require the same tire to be within 2-3/32nds of tread depth as the others.  If you do not rotate your tires regularly your tires may fall out of spec from each other and you may be required to buy 4 new tires to not destroy your running gear.

Siping

Siping

While shopping around for new tires, you may be asked if you want your tires siped.  There are multiple benefits that siping can give you, however it is not for everyone.  If you spend a significant amount of time on gravel roads, or even on dirt roads the siping can cause your tires to chunk out.  If you do a lot of wet weather driving, or you’re in an area that sees a significant amount of heat and you do most of your driving on pavement, then siping is for you.

What siping does is it adds micro cuts into the tread that are perpendicular with the road surface.  The siping process does not remove any rubber from the tread surface.  What they do is increase the amount of tread blocks in your tread surface.  By having a more pliable tread surface, you can increase the ride performance, increase wet weather traction, decrease tire temperature, and can improve your braking distance.

With the tread surface being more pliable, your tire is able to conform better to the uneven road surface increasing the ride as well as increasing your tires footprint on the ground.  With an increase in the amount of rubber touching the ground at all times your braking distance can improve.  When braking it is often that the only thing holding you back from having short braking distances is loss of traction. The increase in traction can lower this distance.

With more tread blocks, during wet weather traction, more water can me moved out of the tire and there is more traction on the actual pavement.  There is also a decrease in the operating temperature as the cuts fan out and let more air flow in between the tread blocks.  A tire that can operate at lower temperatures can also see improvements in tread live and overall tire mileage.

The siping process does not harm the tires performance in any way.  The process does leave some “tie bars” that allow the tread surface to stay strong.

For more information visit the Les Schwab website here:  http://www.lesschwab.com/siping.asp

The Cost of Discounting

In these hard economic times, everyone is looking for the best deal, and when they don’t find it, most people want a discount.  While discounting your price can help in some situations, it should not be done all the time.  In order to model this, I am going to use the model supplied by Les Schwab in his book Pride in Performance.  The model is called the “Poor George” story.

If your company has sales of $100,000 with a cost of $60,000, then you have a Gross of $40,000.  If it also costs $25,000 for your operating cost, then your net is $15,000 or 15% of your sales.

Now if we look at a discount of 5% then our company sales would be $95,000.  With the same cost of $60,000, our new gross would be $35,000.  Our operating cost would not change so it will also be $25,000 at 26.32% of sales.  Our net drops to $10,000 which is now 10.5% of sales.  When you discount you are lowering your net% and net dollars.  In order to net the same amount of dollars ($15,000), you would have to sell $42,857 more worth of product.

While discounting can help in some situations, it should not be used as a normal procedure when doing business.  The way to not have to discount is to sell your service and extras.  People should come to do business with you because they trust you and like your service, and not only because you have the lowest price out there.