Most love stories don’t involve a lot of car wax, but in the late 1970’s, college sweethearts Joye and David Griffin fell in love among wet squeegees and the hum of a car vacuum.
Little did these lovebirds know, their after-school car-detailing business would eventually turn into Griffin Fast Lube, an empire of over 60 car maintenance shops. But the secret to their multi-million-dollar success had one little hitch.
Collecting Feedback the Cumbersome Way
“We always pride ourselves in customer service,” said Bryce, Griffin Fast Lube’s marketing Vice President. “And we [used to base] our Customer Service score off of a phone survey that would call random customers from the previous week.”
This survey provided the Griffins with customer feedback, a competitive advantage in a world of impersonal or inattentive car shops. But it also came at a price. The cumbersome process included collecting phone numbers, calling customers, asking questions, and then evaluating the data. The biggest issue was trying to fix problems that happened over a week ago, a problem that could have cost us hundreds of customers.
A Better Way to Communicate
“We needed to figure out a better way to communicate with our customer, because that’s where we really struggled,” Bryce said. “We get them when they come in- we can talk to them, but when they leave, we don’t really know.”
Fortunately, that’s when they stumbled upon Podium. By adding the ability to text their customers and streamline the customer review process, Griffin Fast Lube’s feedback skyrocketed.
Podium also helped Griffin Fast Lube retain customers. “Seventy percent of our business is repeat customers, and we started to see a decline in the previous year,” Bryce said. “As soon as we started using Podium, we went up to almost 7% in repeat customer increase.”
Becoming a Customer for Life
“I can give you an example of this,” Bryce continued. “We had a customer contact us very upset; while one of our employee’s was vacuuming her car, during the oil change service, one of the doors of the vehicle didn’t get closed all of the way. Because she had an easy way to contact us through Podium, we were able to salvage that relationship and fix the problem. She’s was like ‘I wasn’t going to come back, but because you responded so quickly, I’ll be your customer for life now.’” Most of the complaints we receive have nothing to do with the “Oil Change” itself, but rather, the way you make the customer feel; that is what they remember. Podium has allowed us to get more insight on the way we make our customers feel, and use that to improve our customer service.
From their humble beginnings as college students detailing cars, to over 60 stores spanning three states, customer feedback has made Griffin Fast Lube the company it is today.
At Podium, we’re proud to partner with such a customer-centric company and be part of their happily ever after.
