Positive equation means great results for Terry Wynter Auto Service Center

Terry Wynter Auto Service Center has an equation in place to make sure it meets its customers’ expectations every day.

Confidence plus trust equals loyalty.

And according to Kay Wynter, who along with her husband, Terry, owns the Fort Myers, Fla., shop, adding up that equation starts from the minute someone answers the phone or says hello to a customer walking through the door.

“Because the average customer doesn’t really understand what we do out in the shop, we have to earn their confidence when they come in by the things that they can see and hear,” Kay Wynter explains.

By next earning their trust by meeting time expectations and getting the repair done right, the shop will earn the customer’s loyalty, which is the ultimate goal. That equation adds up to some winning results, placing Terry Wynter Auto Service Center in the top 10 of Motor Age’s fourth annual Top Shops Contest.

Adding to the Equation
The equation has a few other parts to it that many customers don’t see, like the close proximity of parts suppliers. According to the Wynters, online parts ordering combined with the local suppliers make it possible for repairs to be done without carrying extensive stock.

The facility promotes itself as a “dealership alternative,” bolstering the claim by utilizing top technology, such as both aftermarket and factory scan tools with reprogramming capabilities and updated to 2009 where applicable. The shop utilizes ALLDATA, Identifix and Mitchell, including implementing Mitchell’s new ServiceIntelligence program.

Wynter says the program, while still new to the shop in the last year, has helped service advisors show customers where they are in maintenance schedules and understand what items are next on their maintenance checklist.

“It still takes some analysis, and our service advisors are trained in analyzing ServiceIntelligence and explaining to the customer how to help them set their priorities,” she says. “We feel it helps us do a better job…Up until now the only thing that we had was the manufacturers’ maintenance schedules, and quite honestly most people don’t follow those. ServiceIntelligence gives a customized maintenance status that will enable the customer to know where they stand at any point.”

All of this technology would be useless if not for the technicians in the bays, and the Wynters make sure their shop always is fully staffed. They utilize part-time employees to fill in from the shuttles to the office to the bays.

“We tell our customers that they can’t retire. When they retire we hire them,” Kay Wynter jokes. “Being a small business, having the flexibility of part-time people is wonderful.”

That actually is true, as a couple of their drivers are former attorneys or ministers, while a part-time Master Technician also is an insurance adjuster. “It’s worked out well for both of us to bring him in when we need extra staffing,” Wynter says.

This is key in making sure the equation always adds up to the same result: loyalty.

“No matter who is here and who’s not here, the customer experience is always the same,” Wynter states. “And that is so important to us. That’s why we do this to have flexibility, because we never want to have to say, ‘Oh we’re short handed today and we can’t give you a ride.’ Or ‘Our driver called in sick and I can’t give you a ride.’ So that’s the beauty of having these people that are available to come in and work on a part-time basis.”

The technicians, in order to help keep them focused on the customers and jobs at hand, are rewarded for their efficiency on the job. Their pay is based on certification, which can increase through the training opportunities the shop offers both in-house and online via a dedicated training laptop.

“We feel that this is the most fair method of payment. There are all kinds of variables and all kinds of pay structures out there, we feel very strongly that that is the fairest to the customer, to the shop and to the technician,” Wynter says. “And we do believe in training. Of course their ASE certification is the result of training and learning and studying so we think they should be rewarded for that, which is why we’ve created these steps of pay.”

Reaching the Industry and Market
Getting their message out there is important to the Wynters, but also is sharing their experiences. While Terry is active in the Automotive Service Association (ASA), Kay is the first woman to sit on the ACDelco Advisory Council.

“It’s really a give and take thing. We gain so much from the interaction with the other business owners, plus we feel that we have a lot to contribute to the industry and the professionalism of our industry,” Kay Wynter says. “And we’re so proud and excited about where this industry as a whole has gone from where it was a number of years ago and to the levels of professionalism that are there now. And we’re very excited to be a part of that and feel that we have so much to contribute.”

They transfer that message to the marketplace by being a go-to source for local media, just one aspect of an in-depth and evolving market plan. A local talk radio host has been a long-time customer at the shop, and now delivers on-air testimonials for the business.

Also, the Wynters actively use the Internet and search engine optimization to cultivate the right customers through their recently redesigned Web site and online searches. By tying together the marketing, technology and workflow process, Terry Wynter Auto Service Center can successfully add up their customer service equation. And that’s saying a lot given the area of the country they’re operating in.

“All of us around the country have been faced with economic challenges this year and last and especially this year. And our area has been especially hard hit because of the real estate (collapse),” Kay Wynter explains. “But we have chosen to look at this situation as an opportunity and to look at it as we need to embrace it to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty and change and adjust in order to end up on the other side of this economic downturn that we’re in. We’re still in survival and we know that we will, but we have chosen to go into this with a positive attitude and embracing change that we need to make and do.”