Customers do not walk into your shop with a clean slate. They bring stress from the economy, the news, their jobs, and their families. Mary Kelly has a talent for turning complex issues into simple ideas, and in her second Maximum Octane appearance, she explains how businesses can deliver service that helps customers forget, at least for a while, that the world feels like it is on fire.
Mary is an author, Hall of Fame economic leadership speaker, and retired Navy Commander. In episode 46, she and Kim Hickey talk about the customer’s state of mind, building partnerships instead of transactions, avoiding complacency, the power of a small gift, and the courage it takes to lead as a CEO.
What You Will Learn
- What is going through a customer’s mind when they enter our business
- The importance of creating partnerships with our customers
- Why some business owners turned complacent and lazy in customer service and how to avoid it
- The massive difference a simple gift card can make
- Making sure our issues don’t turn into our customer’s issues
- About the courage needed to step up in the role of being our businesses’ CEOs
What Customers Are Thinking When They Walk In
Around the 7 minute mark, Mary describes what goes through a customer’s mind when they enter a business. Many are anxious about cost, worried about time, and dealing with pressures outside your control. A car problem adds to all of it. Recognizing that state of mind helps advisors respond with empathy, patience, and clarity.
ATI’s How Do Our Customers Know We Care? offers practical ways to show customers you understand.
Customers often arrive with a mix of emotions: worry about cost, uncertainty about what is wrong, frustration at the disruption to their day, and sometimes distrust from past experiences. Some are worried about safety, especially if a warning light came on while driving with children. Advisors who recognize these emotions can start the conversation by acknowledging them, which immediately lowers tension. A simple “I know car trouble is never convenient, let’s figure out what’s going on and get you back on the road” sets a supportive tone.
Understanding the customer’s broader situation also helps advisors make better recommendations. A customer planning a long trip has different priorities from one who needs to stretch a tight budget until next month.
Partnerships, Not Transactions
Mary stresses the importance of building partnerships with customers instead of purely transactional relationships. A transaction ends when the invoice is paid. A partnership continues. In auto repair, that means helping customers plan maintenance, budget for future repairs, and make decisions that keep their vehicles safe and reliable over time.
Shops that act as partners earn loyalty that is hard for competitors to break. Roy Niemi’s later episode, Build Trust Before You Build Dollars and Money Will Follow, explores the same idea.
A partnership approach might include creating a maintenance plan for each customer’s vehicle, explaining what will likely be needed over the next year, and helping them budget for it. It means remembering their history, respecting their priorities, and giving honest advice even when it means less revenue today. Customers who feel like partners are far more likely to return, follow recommendations, and refer friends and family.
Partnership also means honesty about trade-offs. When a vehicle is nearing the end of its useful life, a trusted partner helps the customer weigh repair costs against replacement, even if that means losing a future repair.
Avoiding Complacency
Around the 16 minute mark, Mary explains why some business owners become complacent and lazy about customer service, and how to avoid it. When business is strong, it is easy to stop trying as hard. Customers notice. Staying excellent requires deliberate effort, regular review of the customer experience, and listening to feedback.
Complacency often creeps in during busy periods. When the schedule is full, it is tempting to rush interactions, skip follow-up calls, and focus only on getting cars out the door. Customers notice the change. Building service standards into processes, rather than relying on individual effort, helps maintain quality during busy times. Regular review of customer feedback, mystery shopping, and team discussions about the customer experience also keep complacency in check.
A simple safeguard is to experience your own shop as a customer from time to time. Call during a busy hour, book an appointment online, or ask a friend to bring in a car and share honest feedback. Fresh eyes often catch the small slips that a busy team stops noticing.
The Difference a Simple Gift Card Can Make
Mary shares how something as simple as a gift card can make a massive difference. Small, unexpected gestures, such as a coffee card for a customer whose repair ran long, or a thank you gift for a loyal client, show appreciation in a tangible way. They cost little and are remembered for a long time.
Small gestures work because they are unexpected. Customers do not anticipate a gift card when their repair takes longer than planned, so receiving one creates a positive surprise that can outweigh the frustration. These gestures also communicate that the business values the customer’s time and loyalty. Keeping a small budget for these moments, and empowering advisors to use it, makes them easy to deliver.
Do Not Let Your Problems Become Your Customer’s Problems
Around the 36 minute mark, Mary talks about making sure the business’s issues do not become the customer’s issues. Staffing shortages, parts delays, and internal disagreements are real, but customers should not feel them. Kim covers a related idea in her solo episode, Everything Speaks: The True Meaning of Being at Service.
Shielding customers from internal problems requires preparation. Cross-training employees helps cover absences. Building relationships with multiple parts suppliers reduces delays. Clear processes help new staff deliver consistent service. When problems do affect customers, honest and proactive communication, with a plan to make things right, preserves trust.
The War for Talent and Your Legacy
Mary also shares her thoughts on “the war for talent” and on using the workplace as a way to build a legacy. The way you treat employees and customers today becomes the story people tell about your business long after you are gone.
Mary’s connection between talent and legacy is worth considering. The way a business treats its people becomes part of its story, told by former employees, current staff, and the community. Owners who build workplaces where people grow and thrive leave a legacy that lasts beyond the business itself. That reputation also makes it easier to attract talent in a competitive market.
The Courage to Be the CEO
Mary closes with the courage needed to step into the role of CEO. Owners have to make tough decisions and accept the consequences, including the bad ones. Stepping up in that role, regardless of how uncomfortable it is, is what allows a business to grow. ATI’s The CEO Commitment looks at what that responsibility involves.
Courage in leadership often means making unpopular decisions, such as raising prices, letting a poor performer go, or investing in a new direction. It also means owning mistakes publicly and learning from them. Leaders who avoid tough decisions to keep everyone happy often end up with bigger problems later. Mary’s message is that stepping up, even when it is uncomfortable, is part of the job.
Economic Pressure and Customer Behavior
As an economist, Mary brings a unique perspective on how economic conditions shape customer behavior. When people feel financial pressure, they may delay maintenance, shop more carefully, or worry more about unexpected costs. Shops that understand these pressures can respond thoughtfully: offering clear prioritization of repairs, explaining the long-term cost of delaying maintenance, and providing financing options when appropriate.
Economic uncertainty also makes trust more valuable. Customers who are worried about money want a shop they can rely on to tell the truth. Shops that build that trust during difficult times often keep those customers for years after conditions improve.
What This Looks Like for Service Advisors
Mary’s ideas come to life at the service counter. An advisor who understands that a customer may be stressed does a few things differently. They slow down the first conversation, listen to the full concern without interrupting, and repeat it back to confirm understanding. They explain what will happen next and when the customer will hear from them. When presenting recommendations, they separate what is urgent for safety from what can wait, so the customer can make decisions that fit their budget without feeling pressured.
Partnership shows up in follow-through. Noting a customer’s upcoming road trip, a teenage driver in the household, or a plan to keep the vehicle for several more years lets the advisor tailor future advice. Calling a few days after a major repair to make sure everything is running well reinforces the relationship. Shops can support advisors by giving them time to have these conversations, a place in the shop management system to record customer notes, and the authority to offer a small gesture when the shop falls short.
Customer Experience Ideas From Mary
- Train advisors to acknowledge the stress customers may be carrying.
- Offer maintenance planning to turn one-time repairs into long-term relationships.
- Keep a small budget for unexpected thank you gestures.
- Review your customer experience every quarter, even when business is good.
Mary’s first appearance, Turning Tiny Habits Into Massive Results, focuses on personal productivity. For another view on memorable service, listen to Charlene Parlett in The Forever WOW Experience Approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a repair shop make stressed customers feel more at ease?
Acknowledge the situation first. A simple statement that car trouble is never convenient shows empathy and lowers tension. Listen to the full concern, explain the process clearly, and give a specific time for the next update. Present findings with photos and plain language, separating urgent needs from items that can wait. Keep promises about timing, and update the customer before they have to call. Small comforts, such as a clean waiting area or a ride, also help customers feel cared for.
What does it mean to build partnerships with customers instead of transactions?
A transaction focuses on the single repair in front of you. A partnership focuses on the customer’s long-term needs. In auto repair, that means helping customers plan maintenance, budget for future work, understand their options, and make decisions that keep their vehicle safe and reliable. It also means giving honest advice even when it reduces today’s sale. Customers who feel the shop is on their side tend to return, follow recommendations, and refer others, which makes the relationship valuable for both sides.
How can a business avoid becoming complacent with customer service?
Build service standards into processes so quality does not depend on how busy the shop is. Review customer feedback and online reviews regularly, and discuss them with the team. Track measures such as on-time completion and follow-up calls. Experience the shop as a customer would, through test calls or a friend’s visit. Celebrate excellent service when it happens. Complacency usually creeps in during good times, so the most important reviews happen when business is strong, not only when it slows down.
Is it worth giving customers gift cards or small thank you gifts?
Often, yes. Small, unexpected gestures, such as a coffee gift card when a repair runs late or a thank you note with a small gift for a loyal customer, cost little but are remembered for a long time. They show appreciation in a tangible way and can turn a frustrating moment into a positive one. Setting aside a modest budget and giving advisors the authority to use it makes these gestures timely and sincere rather than dependent on owner approval.
How do economic conditions affect auto repair customers?
When people feel financial pressure, they may delay maintenance, ask more questions about cost, compare shops more carefully, or try to keep older vehicles running longer. Shops can respond by prioritizing recommendations clearly, explaining the cost of putting off certain repairs, offering financing options when appropriate, and helping customers plan future work. Honest guidance during uncertain times builds trust, and customers who feel supported when money is tight often remain loyal when conditions improve.
Resources and Links From This Episode
- Productive Leaders website
- Productive Leaders Access to Mary’s Vault of Exclusive Content
- Books of Mary Kelly
- Productive Leaders Free-resources
Connect With the Guests
- Mary: LinkedIn
