Marty taught me to drive in a field full of ruts and weeds. It was an old jeep, standard transmission, no muffler. I knew nothing about driving let alone clutches and gear shifts. When you’re 15 you figure you can do anything. He sat in the passenger seat shouting instructions at me over the roar. I looked at the instrument panel and all I could see was a huge BRAKE FAILURE light. It was horrifying. I couldn’t concentrate enough to follow any instructions.
How do you help when you’re in the passenger seat? Are you “shouting instructions over the roar” when you can’t see the BRAKE FAILURE light the driver is looking at? True service happens when you see things as others do. Your instructions might remain the same, but your perspective changes. Start with listening and observing what the customer is seeing to find out what the real issue is. Address that to build confidence and competence and relationships.
My driving “lesson?” I managed to shift and release the clutch and careen around the field a few times while Marty laughed and yelled more instructions. Until we landed in a ditch, and I was banished to the tractor.
I think it was probably our old International Scout. Aficionados wouldn’t want the Jeep and the Scout mistaken for each other. Are you calling me a shouter? Don’t you recall how sensitive I am?
And remind me, did it go any better with the tractor? I know there’s no brake failure light on the tractor. You just had to know the brakes were no good!