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Strategies
The way auto repair shops conduct business is changing because of a
dramatically changing marketplace. You can’t take business for granted anymore;
there are far too many competitors for the same dollar!
M
arketing—defined as competition, expand your service capabili-
the process of buy- ties, strengthen customer relationships
ing and selling in a and minimize sales volume fluctuations. It
market—includes al- will also help eliminate unproductive pro-
most every aspect of motions and enable you to create and con-
your business, from trol the specific image you want to project.
how your facility looks to the customer to To start formulating a marketing plan,
the appearance of your final invoice. Your you and your staff must resolve to discard
survival and prosperity depend on your old ways of doing business. This can be
customers’ overall perception of how it accomplished through strong commit-
was to do business with you. Unfortunate- ment, along with an investment in any
ly, being the best is not as important as necessary training. Beyond that, every as-
being perceived to be the best. pect of the business will need complete
Today, marketing should be at the top scrutiny and perhaps total redevelopment.
of a repair shop owner’s to-do list. A pro- A formal marketing plan will take time
gressive shop owner must realize that cus- to formulate and involve a significant num-
tomers expect technical competence, and ber of processes. Following are eight high-
that superior technical knowledge and ly effective strategies to get you started:
skills won’t necessarily guarantee business
BY BOB O’CONNOR
success. In a nutshell, you have to provide
customers with more than they expect.
A well-thought-out marketing plan can
1 Create a company vision. Customers
come to your shop based on their per-
ceptions of your facility, your staff, the
www.rloconnor.com give you the ability to exploit your com- products and services you offer and a host
800-755-0988 petitors’ weaknesses, adjust to any new of other considerations. Get together with
March 2000 71
your staff to try to answer the ques- hours are convenient, as well? pair would be an improvement. It
tion, How do I want my shop to be Organize these various elements into would be distinctive and describe what
perceived by my customers? some sort of cohesive vision, or state- Fred’s business is all about—repairing
Surely you want your mechanics to ment of purpose, and put it into writing. autos. Now, if Fred’s Auto Repair was
be technically competent, but how Display it prominently so it can be con- located downtown, it could be named
would you price your services—bar- stantly viewed by you and your staff. Fred’s Downtown Auto Repair. Not
72 March 2000
shop vehicle, and how it will look on lio of samples of their work. Also, ask Since some of your customers will
business cards, lube stickers, state- for references and check them out! likely spend a fair amount of time on
ments and invoices, in the telephone the premises when they bring their
book and any other place you may
choose to use it. When you choose the
style of lettering, go for readability.
3 Examine the appearance of the
exterior and interior of your fa-
cility. Take a hard look at the appear-
cars in for service, make sure the re-
ception and waiting areas are cus-
tomer-friendly. Use a checklist like
T
he example below demonstrates establishing a budget in the seventh month of the year. If to-
tal year-to-date sales were $330,000, then average monthly sales volume is $47,143 (line 1). To
annualize the sales, multiply the average monthly sales figure by 12, which in this example
comes to $565,716 (line 2).
Once you have established the annual sales estimate based on current performance, multiply that
figure by the budget allocation, in a percentage—3% in this example (line 3). The resulting figure—
$16,971—represents the estimated full-year advertising budget. To determine the monthly ad bud-
get, simply divide the full-year total by 12 (months). In this example, the monthly budget becomes
$1414 (line 4).
Now let’s assume that this shop has spent $6231 on advertising during the first seven months of
the year. To determine the percentage of sales spent, divide $6231 by the seven-month sales of
$330,000 (line 5). Here, the percentage spent year-to-date is 1.89%, or slightly over half of what
should be budgeted.
Also, select appropriate sizes for use ance of your building—both inside the one shown on the opposite page
on various printed materials and signs. and out. Look at the arrangement of as a starting point.
The most successful way to develop vehicles on the lot, the cleanliness of
a logo is to engage a graphic artist.
Quite often you can source a student
enrolled in a graphics program at your
the grounds and building, signage,
colors, landscaping, fencing and com-
pany vehicles.
4 Evaluate your customer data-
base. Your customer database is
one of your most valuable assets. If
local community college to create a lo- Checklists can help organize your the customer and vehicle information
go for you as a project for credit. In thoughts in this area. Visit MOTOR’s has been accumulated and entered
these instances, you usually have to website at www.motor.com and pe- correctly, your database should yield
pay only for the materials. If you go ruse the checklists on “Facility Exte- valuable information regarding your
with an established graphics company rior & Lot” and “Work Areas, Com- customers’ driving habits and their
to create your logo, ask to see a portfo- pany Vehicle & Staff” for some ideas. vehicles, plus other useful informa-
March 2000 73
tion. Properly evaluated, it should
provide you with answers to the fol-
lowing important questions:
6 Creating an advertising bud-
get. Because it’s easy to spend a
fortune in a very short period of time,
listing; create Hold and after-hours
messages.
•Radio—get booked on local talk
•How many customers—active and you must decide on a predetermined shows.
inactive—do I have? spending limit for your advertising •Specialty advertising—buy space
•How many vehicles per year does campaign. The general rule is 3% to on billboards; create an Internet web-
each customer bring in, on average? 6% of your annual gross sales, not in- site; get your name on bus shelters
•How many visits to the shop does cluding available co-op funds. and in sports arenas.
each customer make per year, on av- The example on page 73 shows one •Specialty items—start a giveaway
erage? method of calculating your advertis- program, with license plate frames,
•How much money does each cus- ing budget in dollars and as a per- roadside emergency kits, pens, hats,
tomer spend each visit and annually, centage of total sales. coffee mugs, T-shirts, key chains, etc.
on average? •Television—create a local cable
•What zip codes are my existing
customers coming from? What about 7 Choose advertising methods/
media carefully. Select those
TV spot.
new customers?
•Which are my busiest months?
•What is the distribution of vehicle
you feel will provide you with the
greatest return on your investment.
Conventional wisdom holds that you
8 Track the results of all your
marketing efforts. There’s a
saying that if you don’t measure it,
makes of my customers? advertise heavily to your existing you can’t manage it. Therefore, it’s
•Which types of vehicles (cars, database before doing bulk mailings imperative that you create scorecards
pickups, SUVs, etc.) am I servicing? to secure new customers. for each of the measurable marketing
What is the percentage of each? There are a fairly large number of efforts you implement. Once you ob-
Having the answers to these ques- advertising avenues that might work tain the results, match them with
tions will give you enough informa- for you, for example: your objectives to determine which
tion to move forward with setting ob- •Car care clinics—target women efforts are working and which aren’t.
jectives for your advertising cam- with a “Powder Puff” session, or new Once you’ve implemented these
paigns. drivers; speak to drivers’ ed classes. eight marketing strategies, you’ll have
•Direct mail—send out monthly a better understanding of your busi-
74 March 2000