A Service Manager

The following happened at my own chapter some time ago, but I recently told the story as a mini-education slot and it occurred to me that the lesson would make a great blog.

For nine weeks in a row one of our members asked for an introduction to a service manager at a garage. He changed around what he said each week but at the end he always asked for the same thing: a service manager at a garage. I would write this on our ‘Referral to look for’ sheet, racking my brain for a Service Manager, while making sure I didn’t miss the start of the next 60 Seconds. No one ever came to mind.

Between meetings nine and ten the member went to a Referral Skills workshop. At the next meeting once again he did pretty much the same 60 Seconds but at the end he changed it. He asked for the Service Manager at Vauxhall in Chiswick. He was very specific. This time I instantly thought "I don’t know that person" (it was easy) but, my next thought was, I did know the Service Manager at my local Alfa garage. Because that’s the make of car I drove at the time.

After the meeting I spoke to the member and asked if this contact would help him. And of course it would; he said he had been asking for just such a contact for 10 weeks. Obviously I contacted the service manager and was able to pass the referral later that same week.

Now you might be thinking I’m a little, or maybe rather, stupid, and that might be so, but by being specific the member made it easy for me, and it led to a referral.

So my message is to be as specific as you can be. Don't think by trying to cover everyone it will give you a better chance of getting someone. If you can make connections easy for people you will get more referrals.