Here at Quirk’s, part of my job is being the aggregator of the Survey Monitor department in our monthly magazine. Aside from blogging, of course, it’s one of my favorite tasks! I like following the current trends and seeing how I fit into the mix. If you take a look at the entries over the past few years, you’ll see several that focus on convenience, buying local, saving money, generating positive word-of-mouth and posting/relying on online reviews.
Earlier this week my husband and I were scouring the computer pages to find a reputable car service shop to take a look at our daily driver’s lack of air conditioning. (Believe it or not, here in Minnesota we’re only beginning to need things like air conditioning. Hello, summer!) Aside from one location my co-workers helped me rule out based on their own past disasters, all the options seemed pretty much the same: a gamble.
The way we proceeded to narrow down the list made me realize a lot about myself: I’ve subscribed to the go-local trend beyond buying Bushel Boy tomatoes at the store instead of Dole; I’m a sucker for online reviews; and I’m out to save a buck – but not at the cost of convenience. How typical of a college-educated, employed, mid-20s, married-with-no-kids female!
In Wisconsin my uncle “knows a guy” who could help us for next-to-nothing but the extra time and gas this would require didn’t make sense for us. Out of the car service shops in our area, we selected one mom-and-pop garage just 10 minutes away from our house. There was another national service chain in the same commercial development but, given the choice, we do try to support local businesses whenever possible, provided the cost of doing so is not prohibitive. In this case, even when I considered the $25-off coupon we had from the national chain, the local shop still came out to be over $40 less!
The location was perfect and the price was right but many people question if they can get the same quality assurance from a local shop as from a national chain. Overall, I really can’t say one way or the other. Maybe it says something for local businesses that survive despite the proliferation of major chains. But some potential customers are uncomfortable with the idea that there are no higher-ups holding the all-in-one receptionist/mechanic/owner accountable.
This is where Google’s online reviews came in handy. We found SEVEN solidly-positive reviews lauding the owner’s honesty, fair pricing and quality of service. For us, this really sealed the deal. How often can you find seven different people willing to vouch for one tiny little garage and not a single disgruntled customer informing the world of a great injustice? Service is key for local businesses when big marketing budgets are out of the question and corporate isn’t there to bail them out when things turn sour.
The night we dropped off our little car we shook the hand of the person who would personally be doing the work and we felt good about it. I’m pleased to report the repair was done well – for the price that was quoted – and we were happy to give a local company our business. We also took a few of their cards to share with friends in the area … and left an eighth positive review online.
When it comes to choosing service providers, how do you decide? How do cost, convenience and third-party opinions factor in? Are you part of the penny-pinching and go-local trends or are you an outlier?