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Calling yourself a "specialist" isn't enough these days. There are major retailers touting themselves as specialists while working under a canopy in a car-park. The majority of consumers aren't that gullible, and those that are presume it really must be an easy job and so will try it themselves. Either way the word specialist has become devalued. Years of "free fitting" has likewise devalued the biggest single benefit of visiting a true ICE specialist.
There's also a lack of consumer education. The average person has little idea what makes a dealer a "specialist" as opposed to simply a retailer. Consumers need to see hard proof in a form they can trust, because above all it comes down to trusting someone's knowledge and skill. With so much marketing hype, it's very difficult for consumers to "cut through the crap", so being able to trust a company and the advice of its employees is something most people willingly pay extra for.
We're all consumers and so we all go through the same thought processes at some point. With me most recently it was for a new washing machine. We've had the same independent service engineer see to our machine for years, and after the last call he warned us it would be the last time our current Hotpoint would be worth servicing. True to his word, just before the end of January, the thing failed big time.
Prior to the "big crash", I had asked our service chap what he recommended. He simply pointed to our Bosch dishwasher and said "one of those, nothing else", going on to say how Hotpoint wasn't the Hotpoint of old.
I trust this guy because he's worked on our machines for years. He doesn't sell them and so has nothing to gain from recommending a brand, except perhaps the knowledge that he'll have less hassle from disgruntled customers wanting to know why their machine keeps going wrong and effectively blaming him for the shortcuts in the original manufacture.
My wife and I duly went to the local supplier (an independent, I hasten to add), and although they didn't have the Bosch model we wanted in stock and it was £100 more than the competition, I simply wouldn't be swayed. I couldn't have faced our chap coming in to service our new machine and seeing it was a make he didn't rate, not that he'd have said anything. Plus, I trust him to recommend a machine that will be well worth the extra £100 in the long run.
In our own business, as dealers you have to build the consumer's trust in you as a real expert in what you do, and be able to demonstrate it. To be able to do that you first need to connect with the consumer and get them into your store. And as suppliers you need to build and market your products as a cut above the standard Chinese tat, and you don't do that by coming down to their level. [KOB]
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