tech/dealership relations

[John Lillico, RPT]

>Et Al;
>
> I just talked to a newer tech who is faced with the following circumstance:
>
>  Recently the tech has received a memo from the dealership stating that it 
>will be the practice of the dealership to:
>1. Take all customer calls for service.
>2. Take all needful information from the customer.
>3. Give/relay all the calls to this tech.
>4. After waiting a week or so the dealership will call the customer to see if 
>the service had been scheduled.
>5. The dealership will charge the tech $10 for each, I suppose, completed 
>service call.
>
>  Given the past very amicable relationship the tech in question is slightly 
>bemused....... and is considering saying 'well OK but in return I will, 
>charge the "National Average" for floor work on my weekly visits to the floor 
>of the dealership'. (paraphrased)
>
> My take is that the tech and dealership are each gaining from the other and 
>that whatever future realtionship can be worked out should strictly depend on 
>value received by 'each' party and not on an arbitrary figure of $10 or 
>"National Average". I hold that all relationships of this nature are 
>negotiable according to all the variables in each. 

>Thanks for your responses. 
>Jim Bryant (FL)

Jim,

It seems to this point that the tech has been devoting 20 per cent of his time to the dealer as you say..... at what the tech considers "very reasonable and much reduced prices". Could it be that the prices charged to the dealer are too low, causing the dealer to place a lesser value on the services rendered? I think the dealer sees the tech as doing "pretty good" and wants a piece of the action.

Perhaps the tech should increase his dealer charges considerably and rebate a goodly percentage of his charge (perhaps 20 per cent) to those first time dealer referrals. This way, the dealer gets more than a $10. per referral value, the tech continues to build his own clientele and the dealer ends up with a greater appreciation of the techs work by being invoiced for the one day's work at closer to market value, yet not paying too much more than in the past on account of the rebates.

John Lillico, RPT
Oakville, Ontario