"Testing and Filling Service" is an excellent means of becoming acquainted with car owners. Be as pleasant and courteous to the "Testing and Filling" customer as you are to the man who brings in a battery that needs repairs. For this customer will certainly give you his repair business if you have been pleasant in giving the Testing and Filling Service.
A thoroughly competent battery man should be put in charge of the Testing and Filling Service, since this man must meet the car owners, upon whom the service station depends for its income. Customers are impressed, not by an imposing array of repair shop equipment, but by the manner of the men who meet them. These men will increase the number of your customers, or will drive trade to competitors, depending on the impression they leave in the minds of the car owners.
Every service station owner should persuade all the car owners in the vicinity of the station to come in regularly for the free testing and filling service, and when they do come in they should be given cheerful, courteous service. Each "testing" and "filling" customer is a prospective paying customer, for it is entirely natural that a car owner will give his repair work to the battery man who has been taking care of the testing and filling work Oil his battery. When a new battery is needed, the "testing" and "filling" customer will certainly buy it from the man who has been relieving him of the work of keeping his batteries in good shape.
Car owners who depend on your competitor for their "testing and filling" service will not come to you when their battery needs repairing, or when they need a new battery. You may be convinced that you handle a better make of battery than your competitor does, but your competitor's word will carry far more weight than yours with the man who has been coming to him for testing and filling. Good testing and filling service is, therefore, the best method of advertising and building up your business. The cost of this service to you is more than offset by the paying business it certainly brings, and by the saving in money spent for advertising. Remember that a boost by a satisfied customer is of considerably greater value to your business than newspaper advertising.
A careful record should be kept of every battery which is brought in regularly for testing and filling service. If a test shows that one or more cells are low in gravity, say about 1.220, this fact should be recorded. If the gravity is still low when the battery comes in again for test, remove the battery and give it a bench charge. The customer should, of course, pay for the bench charge and for the rental battery which is put on the car in the meantime.
Battery manufacturers generally furnish cards to be used in connection with the testing and filling service, such cards being issued to the customers. A punch mark is made every time the battery is brought in, If the owner neglects to come in, this is indicated by the absence of a punch mark, and puts the blame for any trouble caused by this neglect on the owner. if any cell shows low gravity, a notation of that fact may be made opposite the punch mark for the date on which the low gravity was observed. If the low gravity is again found the next time the battery is brought in, the battery should be removed and given a bench charge. If the bench charge puts the battery in good shape, and the subsequent gravity readings are high, no trouble is present. If, however, the low gravity readings begin to drop off again, it is probable that new separators are required, especially if the battery is about a year old.
The logical course of events in the testing and filling service is to keep the battery properly filled (at no cost to the customer), give the battery an occasional bench charge (for which the customer pays), reinsulate the battery when it is about a year old (for which the customer pays), and sell the customer a new battery when the old one is worn out. If some trouble develops during the lifetime of the battery which is not due to lack of proper attention, the customer should pay to have the repairs made. From this the battery man will see how the Testing and Filling Service pays. The way to get business is to have people come to your shop. Become acquainted with them, treat them right, and you need not wonder where the money is to come from.
SERVICE RECORDS
In order to run a repair shop in an orderly, business-like manner, it is necessary to have an efficient system of Service Records. Such a system will protect both the repairman and the customer, and simplify the repairman's bookkeeping. For a small service station a very simple system should be adopted. As the business grows, the service record system must necessarily become more complicated, since each battery will pass through several persons' hands. Battery manufacturers generally furnish service record sheets and cards to their service stations, and the repairman who has a contract with a manufacturer generally adopts them. The manufacturers' service record systems are often somewhat complicated, and require considerable bookkeeping.
For the smaller service station a single sheet or card is most suitable, there being only one for each job, and carbon sheets and copies being unnecessary. Such a service record has three essential parts: (a) The customer's claim check. (b) The battery tag. (c) The record card. Fig. 183 shows a service record card which is suitable for the average repair shop. Part No. I is the customer's claim check, Part No. 2 the battery tag, and part No. 3 the record card, and is 5 inches by 8 inches in size. The overall size of the entire card is 5 inches by 12 inches. Parts I and 2 are torn off along the perforated lines marked (A).