This is what actually grows your business
There are moments in business where a conversation isn’t landing the way you thought it would. You’ve explained it, you’ve walked the customer through it, and for whatever reason, it’s not fully connecting, and instead of pushing harder or trying to force the sale, the better move is to step back and ask a different question, which is: who is the right person to be having this conversation?
Because sometimes it’s not about saying it better, it’s about who is saying it.
Who already has the relationship?
Who does the customer already trust?
Trust, Not Sales Tactics, Closes a Deal
We had a situation like this recently where a customer’s son brought a car in, and before anything moved forward, he asked, “Did Charlie say it was okay?” and then followed that up by asking if I could give his dad a call, which right there tells you everything you need to know about where the real decision is being made.
So I made the call.
And what stood out to me, and to the people standing there listening, is that we never actually talked about the car. The entire conversation was about family, about how the kids are getting older, how they’re driving now, how one is heading off to college, and all of these normal, everyday things that have nothing to do with parts or labor but have everything to do with connection.
By the time that conversation ended, all that needed to be said was, “Take care of everything, and when you’re ready, come pick it up,” and that was enough, because the decision had already been made inside the relationship, not inside the transaction.
And that’s really the point here, because people don’t buy parts and labor, no matter what business you’re in — they buy trust, they buy familiarity, and they buy the feeling that they’re dealing with someone who understands them and is going to take care of them.
How Relationship-Based Businesses Grow Over Time
This is something we talk about every single day, because if you really pay attention to how a business grows over time, it almost never happens the way people think it does. In the beginning, yes, it’s transactional — you advertise, the phone rings, you answer the call, you bring the car in — but if you stay in that mode, you end up working harder and harder for every single job without ever really building anything that lasts.
What changes everything is when those individual transactions start to turn into relationships, because once that shift happens, the nature of the business becomes completely different.
Now you’re not just seeing a car, you’re seeing a person you know.
You’re not just handling a one-time job, you’re taking care of someone who is going to come back, who is going to bring their family, whose kids are eventually going to become customers as well, and over time, that one relationship naturally expands without you having to chase it.
At the same time, you’re still bringing new people in, you’re still advertising, you’re still answering the phone, so as the years go by, whether it’s five years or ten years, what you’re really building is not just volume, but depth, and that depth is what creates stability, consistency, and real growth.
Fast Response Times Build Customer Trust
Another piece of this that often gets overlooked is responsiveness.
When a customer leaves a message or sends an email, that moment matters more than most people realize, because from their perspective, they’re deciding whether or not they can rely on you, and if your response is delayed or inconsistent, that uncertainty starts to creep in, even if the work itself is good.
That’s why we make it a priority to respond right away whenever we can, because it reinforces the relationship in real time and shows the customer that they matter, not just when they’re standing in front of you, but from the very first point of contact.
This Applies to Every Service-Based Business
And this isn’t specific to auto repair, even though that’s the example we’re using here, because the same principle applies no matter what kind of business you’re in.
If you own a restaurant, a pizza shop, a plumbing company, or anything else, the dynamic is exactly the same, because when someone needs help, especially in a moment that feels urgent or important to them, they are not thinking in terms of transactions, they are thinking in terms of trust.
If you have an emergency at your house and you need a plumber, you are not sitting there comparing line items or trying to break down the cost of individual parts, you are calling the person you believe is going to pick up the phone, show up, and take care of the problem without adding more stress to the situation.
The Shift From Transactional to Relationship-Based Business
And when your business reaches that point, where people associate you with that level of trust, everything becomes easier in a way that has nothing to do with working harder and everything to do with working from a stronger foundation.
So the takeaway here is not about selling better or explaining things more clearly, even though those things have their place, it’s about understanding that the real work is happening underneath all of that, in the relationships you build, the way you show up, and the consistency you bring to every interaction over time.
Because when you focus on that, when you truly commit to knowing your customers, responding to them, and building something that goes beyond a single transaction, you’re no longer chasing business in the same way.
You’re creating a business that people return to, rely on, and grow with, and that is what ultimately makes everything else fall into place.
If you’re trying to build a shop that stands the test of time, it starts with the people on your team.
At Auto Shop Answers, we help shop owners find and hire the kind of people who don’t just do the work, but know how to take care of customers the right way — because that’s what actually grows a business over time.