Scary Good Customer Service: Don’t Fear Communication!

Welcome to the spookiest season of the year, where scary movies fill our screens, and jump scares lurk around every corner. But did you know some classic horror movie tropes have lessons for your service department? Just like in horror films, bad communication can lead to chaos—which could have been avoided if you followed a few simple rules!

Here are the three top lessons you can learn from your favorite horror movies…and avoid customer nightmares! 

Lesson 1: "Never Split Up"

Remember Scooby-Doo? From its beginnings as a Saturday morning cartoon to it’s reincarnation as a movie in the early 2000s, there’s one trope that never seems to change whenever they enter a haunted house or creepy amusement park.

 The gang splits up, goes in different directions, and, without fail, gets into even more trouble. A mystery that could have been solved by working together becomes much more complicated! It shouldn’t have taken so long to discover that the ghost haunting the roller coaster was a fired employee looking for revenge! 

In your service lane, splitting up can also lead to trouble. Working together is the key to a positive customer experience. If the tech, the service advisor, the service manager, and the customer aren’t in sync, mistakes will happen, and misunderstandings become the rule rather than the exception. The customer arrives to pick up their car and discovers the horror repair that hasn’t been completed! 

If you don’t want your customer to feel ghosted, keep the team together and those communication lines open!

Lesson 2: “Avoid the Jump Scare” 

The jump scare is one of the most common tropes in horror movies: something jumps out at you when you least expect it, and you jump (or fall!) out of your chair. Most horror movies have it in some form - from The Quiet Place to Poltergeist. Other notable films include The Boy, The Scream, and The Shining.

A jump scare is defined by Wikipedia as a technique “intended to scare the viewer by surprising them with an abrupt change in image or event, usually co-occurring with a loud, jarring sound.”

In the service department, you don’t want surprises. A jump scare might be fun in a horror movie, but not in a dealership. Good bi-directional communication from top management to techs to the BDC keeps jump scares at bay.

Lesson 3: “Work as a Team” 

Stephen King’s IT was a bestseller in the 1970s, a miniseries in 1990, and two phenomenally successful movies in the 2010s. Was it popular because of the terrifying clown Pennywise? Partially, but maybe another reason the story resonates is that, at its core, it’s about the incredible power of friendship. As children and then as adults, the “Loser’s Club” learns that they can only defeat evil by sticking together. As much as they try to fight the terror independently, they’re far more powerful as a team. Friendship and trust were the only way they defeated Pennywise and sent him back to the depths. 

In a dealership service center, team spirit can either be a meaningless slogan or a solid plan for moving forward. A unified objective and a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction ensure everyone is on the same page.

Sometimes, it can feel horrifying to face a seemingly insurmountable challenge. But if everyone works as a team, you’ll find the solution…together!

Ready to improve your service communication? Let myKaarma show you how to transform your service lane from a horror movie to a superhero epic!