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Hi Mail Shark!

I agree with your comment - well, sort of. 

Like you, I find most shop owners don't want to promote an oil change because it's not a big paying job. No matter what you charge, a typical repair shop can't make money on doing JUST oil changes. I think everyone will agree with that. 

On the other hand, there is NO OTHER AUTO SERVICE that the typical car owner knows they need. Go ahead and advertise alignments, wheel bearings, timing belts - go ahead - if you like to waste your hard earned money. They don't work! Why? Because nobody got out of bed this morning thinking about the alignment on their car, or their timing belt - or any other service. 

On the other hand, remembering to "keep your oil change" is probably something that 'Dad' told them when they got their first car. 

The other point is the "FREE Seasonal Check-up". If it's free - what's it worth? Uh... nothing, right? 
Now, I'm not saying that it has no value - but most people look at FREE as worth nothing. Don't you? 

So that's why when I work with private clients, I set them up to use "Value Offers". What's the difference? First of all, it utilizes a headline. If you know anything about David Ogilvy, advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the "Father of Advertising", David claimed that the headline is the FLAG that waves them down. Really. When you read a newspaper, do you read everything from front to back? I don't think so. On the other hand, you probably scan headlines, right? That way, you read what interests you. 

So then, my question is, what's so appealing about "Oil Change Specials"? (That's your headline, right?)

On the other hand, would it be more appealing to have a headline like "Save $97.00 Today"?

That's the biggest part of the difference. Oil change specials is about YOU (the shop) - whereas "saving" is about the customer. 
How do I know? I see it all the time with my private clients.

How do you do that? Simple. Take all those FREE services and assign a value to them. Therefore, when you list brake inspection, check belts & hoses, check lights, check suspension, check fluid levels, etc. and assign a value to them, you have a total value of your offer of $WHATEVER... and then then sell the oil change at your regular price (if not more - but that's a killer strategy I don't have time to get into here - it's a decoy offer). 

In short - the success of any campaign - direct mail - facebook, newspaper or otherwise - is directly tied to the offer. That's why most say "it's all about your offer!"

Lame "specials" don't attract attention. Save $97, or $67, or $59 or whatever is a headline that attracts attention. It's not the entire solution, but it's not a lame oil change special offer that dies on the paper it's printed on. 

I teach all of this in my Free Course, "How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days" - and do it all without wasting your hard earned dollars on money sucking advertising. The course is over 2 hours and 20 minutes of video training, broken into 16 short videos, delivered over 4 chapters - one every couple of days. 

Hope this helps!

Matthew
"The Car Count Fixer"

P.S.: FREE Course - How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days!
P.P.S.: Car Count Hackers on You Tube
P.P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook

 

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Josh, I'm not questioning results. I can't tell you how many shop owners I talk to that haven't done a thing in years - so getting out there with something is better than nothing. 

With respect to changing the offer as I outlined, using your terms, "you can’t argue with results".

Again, with all due respect, you said...

13 hours ago, Mail Shark said:

I have discussed this with many shop owners that feel this way and I agree.

The problem is that these shop owners FEEL this way. Whether you agree or not is irrelevant. 

The first rule of marketing is "Don't think for your customer!" 

Can't tell you how many times I've seen this (actually had a client where the service advisor, when asked to present a quote, would say things like "I don't think they'll go for it!" - My question - who asked you to think for the customer?) so many business owners say things like "My customers won't go for that!", or "I can't do that - it's not the way I've done it for years!" or things like that. 

Above that, I don't think the shop owners you speak of really looked at the way I explain it in my course. I've seen it - first hand - and then done other offers that actually took a shops regular oil change from $39 to $79 - and when customers are given the choice - always respond with "I want the best one!" (That's more detailed stuff that you'll never get with cheap oil change offers)

But I'm not here to tell you how to run your business. Send out lame offers like everyone else, you will get some results. My approach has always (when I say always, I mean the last 20+ years) has been to cater to what people want. That means there's been a ton of work studying and understanding the psychology of people, how they react, what simple things mean... I know... stupid little details that most won't get into... or don't have the time to study and apply... or THINK they don't matter... and make kick-butt offers that work. 

Hope this helps!

Matthew
"The Car Count Fixer"

P.S.: FREE Course - How to Double Your Car Count in 89 Days!
P.P.S.: Car Count Hackers on You Tube
P.P.P.S.: Like and Follow Car Count Hackers on Facebook

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