Working in the automotive repair industry can be a nightmare in terms of time management and work-life balance. At one time or another, we’ve all gone through periods of putting in 80-hour work weeks and barely seeing the light of day, much less our loved ones. Ever walk into your shop on a day off and feel like you can’t get out of there?
While courtesy shuttles once served as a solution, today they no longer offer the same “wow factor” for customers as they once did. Instead, savvy shop owners are beginning to follow the example of luxury car dealerships – offering customers a loaner car to use while their own vehicle is in the shop, especially in the case of overnight repairs.
A Harvard University study found that the amount of time spent on assembling a business plan is directly related to that business’s success. Owners who spend six months or less on the plan ended up with an 80% failure rate, but those who spent a year or more on the plan had an 80% success rate.
Today, before a customer calls, they’ve checked out your website and online reviews. They are half sold on you already. You ruin the sale with your no-quote, “bring it in” attitude. Then, when they don’t make an appointment, you make it their fault and say, “Another price shopper.”
Despite the prevalence of electronic media, most automotive repair facilities, car dealerships, and financial institutions still rely heavily on good old-fashioned direct mail as a key component of their marketing arsenal.
Just like anything else in this industry and in life – building a winning shop culture takes time and effort, in addition to strategy. Good thing no one in the auto repair industry is afraid of a little hard work!
Building customer trust is one of the most important factors in the growth and continued success of any shop. It is defined as “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” When we look at it, communication is at the center of this.
Many people hear the word “marketing” and wonder what the heck it really is and if they should be doing it in their shops. And if they are supposed to do it, where do they begin? The world is changing, and it’s time you sunk your teeth into the power of marketing instead of shying away from it. I’m here to help clear up some of your confusion and set you up for marketing success.
New equipment can be expensive, yet so can downtime and the risk of losing a customer because you can’t deliver speedy service when your equipment is down and needs repair or replacement. Budgeting for future equipment is often cited as a best practice for your business.
The automotive key continues to evolve and is often “smart,” allowing the owner to enter the vehicle by just being in close proximity – without pressing any buttons. A modern car may even be able tell who is entering the vehicle and adjust the seat, mirrors and even your preferred radio channels.
It’s not uncommon to hear business owners talk about Yelp in a way that screams of a love/hate relationship with the widely used review site. Understanding how a review is posted on a business profile, requiring payment to remove competitors from a company’s page, and an inaccessible support team has been enough to make plenty of business owners want to leave an explicit one-star review on Yelp’s own Yelp page (which, conveniently, doesn’t exist).
Roger McManus decodes Google Analytics metrics for measuring traffic to your website.
