Before you Invest a dime on advertising...

[Joe Marconi]

Got your attention?  Good! 

Take it from me, a shop owner for 40 years;  before you invest a dime on advertising, get your internal marketing in order....in other words...get your house in order.

No amount of advertising or marketing means more than what you do each and every day. And that is creating an amazing customer experience that gives your customers a compelling reason to return.  

Make sure that each customer contact point creates a positive experience. The phone call, the drive up to your shop, the parking lot, the customer write-up, the upsell, the car delivery and every other point of contact with the customer.  

These things I speak of means more than any money you spend on advertising.  So, before you spend that dime, get your house in order. And remember, everyone in your shop is an important part of your marketing strategy! 

 

 

 

[newport5]

I agree with above: it's not "a sell." (and certainly not an upsell - it either needs it or it doesn't)

The service ADVISOR educates the customer about the needed repair or maintenance. If you built up trust, they will say yes - or reschedule.

How can they say no? You aren't "selling" anything. They can't say not to the idea of repair, because it needs it (you're the expert). And your advice is coming from a trusted friend, you, the advisor. And everyone knows you have to make a profit -- just like their company.

They can say no to doing it now, for several reasons: they don't care enough about maintaining their car, they are cheap, or they really can't afford it now. Oh, the go-to, "I'm selling the car." (That's when I tell them, "OK, don't do that, but do this, this and this, to get more for your car or make it easier to sell.")

Re "trusted" advisor, the trade magazines don't tell you how, they just say do it.

And the same goes for the "amazing customer service" or the "exceed/shatter expectations."  The trade magazine just say do it.  Maybe you're supposed to hire the writer and their company to teach you. (And how do you shatter expectations the next time?)

Future article coming on the "how."

[Transmission Repair]

Do You Use Call Tracking?

Call tracking is one of the best kept marketing management tools around.  It  tells you what advertising works and what doesn't.  Call analytics and conversation analytics give you insight to phone calls.  All calls are also recorded.  You can tell which keywords in  Google AdWords get calls and which ones don't.  It can be used on ANY type of advertising.  I had a phone pool of 100 local phone numbers.  Total cost of phone tracking was $500 including the 100 phone numbers.  Recently I checked and it's down to $3 per phone number.  I could write a novel about it but I won't.  Check it out for yourself at https://www.convirza.com/

[Joe Marconi]

Great comment! Call tracking can literally be a goldmine. Thanks for the post!