Customers remember the last ten minutes

People forget the waiting room. They forget the brochure. They remember the last ten minutes: the handoff, the walk to the car, whether they were still a person in the building or already finished business.

Delivery is the first time they are alone with a car they already paid for. Service checkout is the verdict on whether the store respected their day. Both are short. Both get rushed, because that is when the day is catching up. The customer gets a wave and a clipboard from someone already looking at the next ticket. The rest of the visit might have been fine. They will remember the ending.

Someone has to own that last stretch. Walk them out. Tell them what was done without making them ask. Look at the car the way they will in the driveway. If that only works when you are not busy, it does not work.

The first ten minutes get them in. The last ten minutes decide if they come back, and what they say when a neighbor asks where they go.