Central Collision Center Named Autochex Premier Achiever For Excellence In Customer Service

Central Collision Center of Oak Forest, located at 15232 S. Oak Park Avenue, has been recognized as a winner of the 2012 AutocheX Premier Achiever for outstanding customer service and satisfaction.

Now in its 11^th year, the annual Premier Achiever Awards honor auto body shops that consistently achieve extremely high customer satisfaction scores as measured by AutocheX either independently or as part of an insurance-sponsored repair program. In 2012, participating insurance programs included seven of the top 25 carriers in North America.

“For the 11^th year in a row, we are delighted to sponsor the Premier Achiever Awards and to recognize the tremendous accomplishments of Central Collision and all the 2012 winners,” said Jim O’Leary, Vice President of Mitchell Repair Solutions. “The high satisfaction scores of these elite collision repair facilities in North America clearly demonstrate their ongoing commitment to their customers, and set the bar very high for customer experience management in our industry.”

In an industry of nearly 50,000 shops in North America, Central Collision is one of only 400 Premier Achiever Award winners in 2012 — placing the shop in highly exclusive company.

“Receiving this honor reflects our company’s core values of outstanding customer service and repair quality above all else,” said Michael A. Caruso, facility manager of Central Collision Center of Oak Forest. “We are proud to be considered among the elite in this category and we will continue to improve our processes in order to remain an industry leader.”

AutocheX, Mitchell International’s customer experience management group, is a leading provider of customer satisfaction measurement and customer experience management solutions to the collision repair industry. AutocheX and the participating insurance companies present the Premier Achiever Awards each year as a way of honoring collision repair facilities that have proven their devotion to quality, service, and customer satisfaction.

For more information about Central Collision Center, visit www.centralcollision.com.

Encouraging Exceptional Customer Service

Exceptional customer service is going above and beyond for a customer, which we call “WOW-ing” the customer at Central Collision Center. We know your vehicle is an investment and leaving it with someone takes trust. Earning that trust through exceptional service is how our team maintains our customers.

My job as the customer service representative  (CSR) manager is to ensure that each Central team member provides exceptional customer service to every customer who visits or contacts any one of our six facilities. I do this through:  

• In-depth customer service training
• Weekly visits to each of our six locations 
• Monthly group meetings with our customer service representatives and office managers

Each month, our CSRs and office managers have a morning meeting to discuss
best practices and troubleshoot. April's meeting included SOP review, time card
calculation and a dress for success seminar.

The first step in encouraging exceptional customer service is training. Generally, a collision repair facility is not somewhere a person wants to visit, which makes customer service that much more important. It is our job to turn around a customer immediately after having damage to his/her car and assure him/her that everything is going to be ok. I do this by training our team on EEE – energy, effort and enthusiasm -- along with honesty and sincerity. Exceeding a customer’s expectations can be as simple as providing prompt solutions or answering with a caring voice in their time of need.

I follow-up on this training by making frequent visits to each of our six locations, normally visiting at least two locations a day. Each Central Collision location’s goal is to leave its customers pleased and satisfied with where they have chosen to have repairs done. During my visits, I answer any staff questions and help them troubleshoot any potential problems.

Our process map breaks down each team member's
responsibility through the customer service process.

We hold CSR meetings monthly to discuss great customer experiences and new ways to help each and every person that walks through our doors. Each customer service representative and office manager attends this meeting, which serves as a place for us to share best practices. Throughout the month, I gather any questions or concerns our staff may have and then provide answers to the group. We also revisit our LEAN process map at every meeting to ensure we are serving our customers in the most efficient way possible.

The testimonials, online reviews and thank you cards we receive from our customers make providing exceptional customer service extremely worthwhile and rewarding. Just yesterday, we were recognized as an 2012 Autochex Premier Achiever for Customer Service. As a premier achiever, Central Collision is one of the companies that rated highest in consistently delivering outstanding customer service.