AASP/NJ Members Get Customer Experience “Collision Advice” from Sheryl Driggers

by Alana Quartuccio

There is seriously no time to waste when it comes to making a first impression. 

In fact, psychologists say it only takes seven seconds for someone to form their opinion on you – whether it’s good or bad. Therefore, it’s crucial for that first point of contact to matter, according to Sheryl Driggers of Collision Advice.

Driggers, a former shop owner turned customer experience consultant, shared her passion with AASP/NJ members about elevating customer experience during “The First Call Matters,” held via Zoom. 

“It only takes seven seconds for people to form their opinion, so we want to make sure everyone on our team sets out to make an extraordinary first impression when they call or enter the shop,” advised Driggers. 

Building trust with customers starts the moment that employees make contact with them; therefore, interaction between a shop’s employees and customers goes hand in hand. 

Driggers performs “mystery calls” to random body shops to get a feel for effective and ineffective forms of communication upon first contact. She played two recordings of these “mystery calls” for the audience – one where the person who answered the phone focused predominantly on insurance questions while the other showed empathy and interest in the caller’s situation. 

“The first person who answered was very transactional. She talked to the caller about obtaining their ‘State Farm assignment,’ and customers don’t know what that means. A lot of times, we don’t realize how we come across over the phone, so we have to think about how we can change these conversations when customers call us in order to start building a relationship to show the caller that we are competent. 

“In the second example, the person was concerned and asked the caller if the driver was ok and how things were with the car,” Driggers continued. The empathetic CSR also showed proactivity by asking for her call back number. “Maybe I don’t show up; now she has my number to follow up with.” 

Driggers stressed that it is “very important for the customer service team to be able to diffuse negative emotions. No one wakes up and asks to get into a car accident so they can go to a body shop.

“Have you ever called a business and you felt like you were bothering them?” she asked. “You want to make sure you make a good impression to start building a relationship so they take their car to be repaired at your shop.”

She suggests, “Always lead with empathy and be kind. Make sure to build on our competency. They are going to ask themselves if they can trust us with their vehicles, so we want to make sure we lead them in that direction. They called you to determine if you can fix their car.” 

It’s also important to deliver the information needed and to not overload them. 

“If you confuse, you lose,” she emphasized. “You don’t want to confuse them. Provide clarity and guidance on what the next steps are.” 

Being transactional when a customer calls in is “really just checking a list.” There’s no connection made with the customer. 

Driggers pointed to various forms of “social proof” a business can use to articulate their value proposition such as Google Business listing, Carwise, social media posts and even OEM certifications. 

Whether a shop is certified in a particular brand or not, they should be mindful to highlight their training, equipment and use of genuine parts “in order to build trust and show we are the personalized solution for your problem. We want to guide them. We call it a road map to repair.” She reminded attendees to avoid overwhelming customers and instead focus on supplying resources to transition them toward getting the car repaired. 

It all comes down to what do customers want most: they want the shop to know them before they know their car. Customers also want it to be “radically easy” to do business with the shop, according to Driggers.

She pointed to various tools available to body shops that allow customers to reach out to them even during non-business hours. CCC users can make use of their online booking tool via Carwise. Google Business listings allow for up to 10 external links to be added, “so when you are closed, there is a way they can reach out to you. It does not mean that you have to respond right then, but you can set up something that automatically gives them a response.”

AASP/NJ Board Member Dennis Cataldo, Jr. (D&M Auto Body; Old Bridge) said Driggers’ insight inspired him to give new consideration to how he shares information with callers, especially if they have never been through the process before. “Sheryl got me to rethink how I answer the phone and deal with customers who call in with questions. We can’t assume that people know everything.”

“The First Call Matters” is available on-demand in the Members Only section of aaspnj.org.

Want more? Check out the July 2025 issue of New Jersey Automotive!