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| The e-Servicer |
Monthly communication from United Servicers Association |
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Greetings! ,
October is Fire Prevention Month. The history of National Fire Prevention Week has its roots in the Great Chicago Fire, which occurred on October 9, 1871. Fire prevention is not only a concern for us, but our customers as well. It's also a great topic to include in your own company communications to your customers.
There are many things that people can do to improve their safety at home, school, or work from a FIRE! Here are just 5:
- The Fire Department recommends installing smoke detectors in all hallways and bedrooms in your home and business. Smoke detector devices should bear the Underwriters Laboratories seal and should be checked regularly. Replace the batteries every year whether they need it or not.
- Create a Fire Safety Map or Plan. Have an escape plan that includes:
- Two different ways out.
- Someone assigned to help those that need help getting out.
- Someone assigned to call 911.
- A meeting place for everyone once they get out.
- Never leave flammable liquids open in your shop or garage and keep them out of reach of small children.
- Don't smoke in bed.
- Clean your dryer vent of lint on a regular basis. This is a great service to offer your customers as an ad on up-sell service. Every customer with a dryer can take advantage of this service. If you don't want your techs performing this service refer them to Dyer Vent Wizard (866-498-SAFE) and earn referral income. Also, be sure not to miss the Mr. Appliance newsletter article this month about dryer fires.
Think Fire Safety!
eServicer Newsletter Team
United Servicers Association
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The Original Blue Book is Available Now!
Order your copy at www.unitedservicers.com
You can still order the traditional technician pocket version of the printed Blue Book from USA
Place your order today at www.unitedservicers.com
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2012 ASTI REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE $100!
Appliance Service Training Institute
February 15 -18 in San Antonio, TX
Visit the ASTI website www.asti.us
Register before November 8 and SAVE $100
Only $399 for four days - over 187 hours of service training.
Visit www.asti.us for the latest details and full descriptions of the training sessions offered.
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Register Today for USA Fall Regional Service Meetings
RSM Series a Resounding Success! Last 2 Cities are Scheduled in November!
 USA's Fall Regional Service Meetings have been an overwhelming success. Here's what attendees are saying: "Dean, just wanted to let you know I thought your Business class was outstanding"... USA is parterning with Mega Group USA, Mr. Appliance, NEW and a local parts distributor to bring technical and business management training. There's still time to register for one of the remaining two RSM's. We've taken the format of the successful national four-day ASTI program and condensed it into a comprehensive Friday and Saturday program. Each event will have up to four OEM training sessions, one business management session and include an open roundtable discussion on current challenges. Registrants will be able to attend all 6 sessions. Event registration is only $99 per person and includes 4 meals, course materials and a first year membership in USA. RSM's require a shorter time commitment and are easy to travel to. Click on one of the cities below to register
Albany, NY - November 4 & 5
Atlanta, GA - November 4 & 5
RSM National Sponosrs
  
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To Service or Not to Service: A Puzzling Question for the Self-Servicing Appliance Dealer
By Donald Harris, Dependable Services
There has been a lot of discussion lately on the USA (United Servicers Association) website on the merits of being a Self Servicing Appliance Dealer whereby you provide warranty service for a manufacturer only on the products you sell versus being an All Servicing Appliance Dealer and Servicer whereby you service any and all requests for warranty service from a manufacturer, regardless of who sold it.
There have been a lot of good responses, most of them in favor of being an All Servicing Dealer and I completely agree with that side of the equation. However, I thought I would break it down here and get to the real root of the problem, the mindset of the Appliance Dealer and Business owner.
The real answer to this comes from your own business strategy and whether or not you want to grow your own service department, and potentially your own sales volume as a result of that service. If you, as a business owner are truly wanting to grow your service department, then turning down "Free" referrals (and I use that term very loosely because they are really not free) could be detrimental to the growth of your business. Let me elaborate on this. The key here is how you handle the warranty call and what you do with the information after you make the call.
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Troubleshooting the "E3" Error Code in Maytag Washers: MAH6700, MAH8700 and MAH9700
By Scott Brown, Samurai Appliance Repair Man, www.Fixitnow.com 
These codes in your (made-by-Samsung) Maytag washer might pop up during the rinse/spin cycle with the motor sounding like it wants to spin but it ain't. In fact, the E3 error code means that the Machine Control wants to make the motor spin but won't do it because it's getting a weird reading from the tachometer. This could be because there's a piece of clothing stuck between the basket and outer drum- open the door and spin the basket by hand to make sure it moves freely. If it doesn't, then there's either a jammed piece of clothing or, worst case, a burnt out drum bearing- and we'll deal with these problems at the Samurai Appliance Repair Forums, www.Appliantology.org.
If the drum spins by hand, the problem may just be a bad wire connection. Turns out the motor harness connector has been a bit of a troublemaker in some vintages of these machines at the washing machine farm in Korea.
Unplug the motor harness connector and pull on each wire. If a wire connector comes loose from the plug, use a small straight slot screw driver and bend the locking tab on the terminal up a tad to help it make a tighter connection.
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How Can You Compete in Today's Marketing Game?
By Mark Maupin, Right Now Marketing
If you are in the appliance repair business, there is nothing to talk about; it is a must that you are listing your business with Google Places. About 6 months ago, Google mixed their Google Places in with the organic searches. Google Places draws attention to your business. The Internet game has changed by putting Google Places in the organic search results. Google Place Listings show up in two ways. First, they can be found on the standard Google Web Search; secondly, they show up on the Google Map Search. You get double exposure for your dollars spent.
So what does that mean? If you list your business with Google Places and follow certain rules, your odds of moving to the top of the page in a Google search increases by 100%. Plus, 73% of the searches which are being done on the internet are Google searches! When you do a search like "Appliance Repair Detroit Mi", you will notice that Google is going to have a Google Place location come up on top of the page most of time. Over 60 % of the internet traffic will go to the top three spots on the page.
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8 Things You Should Never Say to a Customer
By Jeff Hayden, bnet.com
Great customer relationships: Hard to establish, easy to ruin - especially when you say the wrong things.
Here are eight things you should never say to customers (even if you would secretly love to):
- "No." A boss once told me, "Never tell a customer no. Always say, 'Yes, we can. Here's what that will cost.'" If you absolutely can't provide a certain product or service, you can't, but often you can't simply because you don't want to. (In the example above I didn't want to. What the customer had asked for was certainly possible but would have been a real pain to pull off.) Price unusual requests accordingly: If you can make a decent profit, why not? Making a profit is why you're in business.
- "Are you sure?" Customers are often wrong. Too bad. Never directly doubt their statements or their feelings; all you'll do is make an already bad situation a lot worse. Instead ask questions or seek to better understand. Saying something like, "Can you walk me through that one more time so I can make sure I can take care of what went wrong?" validates the customer's position while helping you keep the conversation objective and solution-focused.
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Trade Partner Updates: GE, Haier, LG, and Whirlpool
GE Expands Appliance Recycling for Consumers and Retailers
GE is expanding appliance recycling options for consumers and retailers through its relationship with Appliance Recycling Centers of America, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCI), which has doubled its service offerings to 12 states in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S.
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Appliance Recycling for Consumers and Retailers 
Lawrenceville, Ga., September 27, 2011 - Encompass Group Affiliates, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ECGA), a top provider of replacement parts and reverse logistics services for a wide range of electronics products, today announced its subsidiary Encompass Parts Distribution, Inc. has finalized an agreement with Haier, a world-leading manufacturer of home appliances and consumer electronics, to manage the company's end-to-end parts supply chain.
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LG Debuts Laundry Lounge 
LG, along with Coinmach Service Corp., debuted the first of what it expects will be a series of "Laundry Lounge" laundromats, featuring Internet access, HDTVs and state-of-the-art LG laundry products. The first Laundry Lounge is located on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
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Whirlpool Plans Training Tour
Whirlpool said Thursday that it will soon launch the second annual Great American Road Trip, a 50-city nationwide tour in which the company will provide store employees with face-to-face training. The employees will be trained on the Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid brands, and the tour will continue through November.
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3 FREE Ways to Amp Up Your Customer Service
By Michael Hess, bnet.com
 Many business owners think that the tools needed to provide exceptional customer service are out of their reach. But even the smallest company has access to everything it needs to serve and delight. It's not about voice-recognition or other NASA-level tech systems - in fact, those are usually the tools of customer abuse. I'm talking about incredibly simple but effective ideas that cost little or nothing, and can be implemented before you leave the office today. Of course, the No. 1 determinant of the quality of service you provide is people. Without the right people, there isn't a tool, technique, or training manual in the world that can make your company a service superstar. So unless your people are happy, enthusiastic, supported, informed, genuinely motivated, enabled and empowered to make others happy, and free of unnecessary constraints and obstacles to doing so, don't bother reading this. You must have GREAT people first. Humanity check completed and passed? If not, stop here and get your people house in order. OK, now here are three ridiculously simple tools and practices you can put into place right now, to help make those great employees even better and your service even more polished: ___________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Are You Safe From a Dryer Fire?
By Mr. Appliance
 Everyday you take precautions to keep your family safe. You keep flammable materials in a safe environment, make sure all smoke alarms are working properly and teach your kids what to do in case of a fire, but what about the potential fire hazard lurking in your laundry room? Take a proactive step this month in honor of National Fire Prevention week (Oct. 9-Oct. 15, 2011) by looking beyond the chimney and into your dryer system to keep your family safe. Mr. Appliance® recommends these tips to keep your dryer operating properly: - Keep the dryer as lint-free as possible by cleaning the lint screen or filter before or after each load of clothes. Hire a licensed appliance professional to clean the interior of the dryer chassis and inspect the rollers, belt, motor and heating system every one or two years.
- Keep the exhaust duct in good condition by disconnecting, cleaning and inspecting the duct on a regular basis. If the exhaust duct opening outside the house is low to the ground, make sure to check it monthly for leaves, birds' nests and other debris. If needed, have your licensed appliance expert to check it out for you and remove any potential fire hazard.
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Webinar Rewinds Available Now!
USA's recent webinars on "Background Screening and Drug Testing" and the "Chemistry of Cleaning" got rave reviews from their audiences. Both webinars are now available for viewing and to download at your leisure.
Just go to www.unitedservicers.com under the Resources tab and choose which webinar you wish to view.
Another continuing education series brought to you by your trade association!
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Online Sales Tax Bill Introduced in Congress
By Dealerscope.com
Following the enactment by several states this year of online sales taxes, a bill has been introduced to establish one at the federal level.
The bipartisan bill, introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif., would authorize states to force retailers to collect sales taxes. It differs from a bill introduced in the Senate earlier this year by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
In a statement, Best Buy endorsed the legislation.
"Best Buy believes states should be granted the right to update their laws to reflect 21st century commerce, creating a fair and competitive marketplace for all sellers to succeed and grow jobs," the company said. "Best Buy continues to support and encourage Congress to pass this long overdue reform to a collection system created before e-commerce existed."
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Jennifer's Warranty Tips
Tip #19 Manufacturer Trends...They're Catchy!
"Trends in the Appliance Industry"...I think I've found the next popular trend and this one is probably going to keep spreading (just like the manufacturer warranty change started by Frigidaire in 2006). A few tips ago, I attempted to provide a list of parts and repairs that Frigidaire no longer covers. (I spoke with a representative from the Frigidaire Warranty Dept. that said Frigidaire's rules were never changed; instead they have decided to enforce them.) Next to get on the trend train...Samsung. Samsung has decided that they can no longer pay their factory authorized service centers to perform the following types of "store stock" repairs: |
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About USA
USA's mission is to develop and provide services and programs intended to assist members in building strong businesses in North America's competitive environment.
Among these services are:
- Educational Programs
- Manufacturer Relations
- Management, Marketing and Operational Programs
- Peer Group Formation & Facilitation
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Contact Us
United Servicers Association
3105 North Ashland Avenue, Ste 199
Chicago, IL 60657
1-800-683-2558
FEBRUARY 15-18, 2012
ASTI REGISTRATION
NOW OPEN!!
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