It took more than 3,000 miles, a trip to urgent care for asthma, altitude sickness treatments, a bloody nose that made a hotel room a crime scene, a hail storm, severe weather while fighting traffic during Stanley Cup celebrations and … well, anyway, we’re home from a trip to the Rocky Mountains.
I bought new tires. I want to tell you why.
We discovered the first leaky tire when we reached Colorado Springs.
Calling around for an emergency repair, I talked to Ryan at Discount Tire. When I arrived, he checked me in. He displayed a calm, confident manner that demonstrated he knew the process and how to help me.
After getting my permission, he sent a link that allowed me to track the progress of my vehicle. Fixed in 45 minutes–and free (“It’s a service we offer”).
That experience is why, once I was on the other side of a mountain, heading home, I called another Discount Tire location for my second flat of the vacation.
Yes, flat again, on a different tire.
I guess some would say this location wasn’t in the best neighborhood.
All I know is this: My experience was just as good as at the other location.
Cody and Edgar took care of us–empathizing with our flat far from home, showing us tread depth, texting status updates, etc.
This one couldn’t be repaired. We bought four tires.
Notice that even the checkout counters are set up for transparency, with monitors the customer can see.
When they were done, I had to ask: How do you all train?
I learned two things:
- Everyone starts as a tech. So they all know the business once they are customer-facing.
- There are videos and so on that they train on. But everybody has a coach.
I’ve said on here before, “Training without coaching is a waste of time.” If you are going to recruit a great hire … onboard them to your values … train them to confidently follow your processes … that’s a lot of investment.
Protect your investment by coaching them. Give them a chance to soak in what you have offered, figure out how to implement it and level up.
That’s how you get employees who not only deliver on what the customer needs … but anticipate how they can bring value.
And that’s why we had some PHENOMENAL Mexican food across the street.
Make sure you invest in your people with coaching.
For the curious, here are some photos of our trip.
