Last week a young gentleman knocked on our door and offered us a super special deal to get 3 x standard car maintenance services done for a total of $169 at a local car service and repair shop. We normally get our car serviced by our dealer, and the last time we serviced it, it cost almost $400 so we decided this could be a huge saving and why not give the local guys a shot at servicing our car.

Now we also recognised this was a marketing promotion. I’m an avid fan of Groupon, Cudo and other discount deal sites so this was nothing out of the ordinary for us.

Today we took the car down for it’s first service, and unfortunately were met with the mindset that is killing the global economy. The 3 x std car maintenance & service did not cover parts or fuels. It only covered the cost of labour. Any parts and fuels such as the oil filter and oil would be charged at an additional cost.

Two things to note here;

1. This additional cost was never disclosed in the initial sales offer AND
2. We have since found out our oil and an oil filter will cost almost $100 (that’s a rip off in case you don’t know!)

A final note, we received a phone call to say the air filter also needed to be replaced at a cost of $18 as it was extremely dirty. This was replaced only 6,000km ago, so we are highly dubious that it in fact needs replacing at all!

So the outcome of this experience for us is, we don’t trust the company and we are not likely to do any more business with them after the next 2 services. Sure, the total we will pay overall will still be less than our normal car maintenance repair place, but anyone with a profitable business will tell you

– it’s not about the price.

Price is ALWAYS one of the last components to making a sale, or building a long term relationship with a client.

If the company had used the marketing effort to get us in the door, and then WOW’d us with their service, we most probably would have come back again and again and again… The return on their marketing investment may have been 12 months or even 2 years later, but they could have secured us for 3-5 years AND we have two cars. If we liked them, we would most definitely have bought our 2nd car in for them to service & maintain.

These guys made the fatal mistake a lot of businesses worldwide are still making – get the client in then get everything you can from them. It’s like the mentality is no-one is loyal, everyone’s out to get me, so I better make sure I get them first! It’s a competitive and scarcity model of thinking… AND IT DOESN’T WORK long term.

You only need to look at the results worldwide to see, this old style of doing business is not sustainable. If you want to increase your profits, build better relationships. Be loyal and trustworthy to your clients and they will be loyal and trustworthy back to you.

Come from the attitude of SERVICE. How can you serve them and give them the best experience possible? This is the attitude we need to adopt. This is how we will build a sustainable future and build long-term profitable relationships.

Let me share a quick example of how this can work:

6 months ago I bought a $49 cudo voucher for a facial and overall beauty treatment at a local salon. The facial was well worth over $200, and even though they were run off their feet with people who took up their offer, their service and quality of work was outstanding! I was so impressed, I booked in for another promotion they were running and bought all their products suitable for my skin. I’ve since invested over $1,000 in their salon over the past 6 months. They spent $50 on acquiring me, and received over $1,000 in return… and that’s only to date…

Serve and collaborate rather than take and compete, and I guarantee your profits will soar.