Need Help Badly

[ssauto]

If you read the new members area then you saw I am a new auto reapir shop owner. Our company had a great August, decent September, October....not so good. I have been running oil change $18.95 and disc brake $99.00 specials in the local paper. I need new ways to build customers that is fairly quickly. I am thinking of opening late on Tuesdays and Thursdays til atleast 7 pm. Also have a grand opening on a Friday or a Saturday, followed by a Care Care Clinic type of inspection.

Any ideas or bad sides to these?

Edited October 21, 2009 by ssauto

[xrac]

If you read the new members area then you saw I am a new auto reapir shop owner. Our company had a great August, decent September, Octuber....not so good. I have been running oil change $18.95 and disc brake $99.00 specials in the local paper. I need new ways to build customers that is fairly quick... magic wand would work. I am thinking of opening late on Tuesdays and Thursdays til atleast 7 pm. Also have a grand opening on a Friday or a Saturday, followed by a Care Care Clinic type of inspection.

Any ideas or bad sieds to these?

 

Whether it will build traffic fast I can't say but I like to run an oil change with a free tire rotation offer. Not too cheap but cheap enough to be considered a bargain. I think this kind of ad accomplishes two things. First it gives me a chance to get the wheels off the car where I can find brakes, suspension, or tire related problems. We can then tell the customer we NOTICED these in the course of the tire rotation. If I don't get the sale right then I haved planted seeds for future sales and some of this I get back in the weeks and months that follow. Secondly, the person who is interested in a tire rotation and not just a cheap oil change is someone who is interested in taking care of their vehicle. They have the potential to be a good customer. The problem with so many cheap oil change coupon customers is they don't want ANYTHING but a cheap oil change. I have even had customers tell me to not look at anything else. I don't want these people as my customers.

[ssauto]

Thats dead on. I actually had an oil change, tire rotation and 50 point inspection coupon in the paper for the first 2 months that had alot more upsells per car/volume then what is being generated now.

Also, I am trying to gain some more commerical accounts and they seem hard to come by. Most are serviced by the local competition. I am working on offering a higher level of service and quicker turnaround time to pursuade them to try us.

Edited October 21, 2009 by ssauto

[xrac]

Thats dead on. I actually had an oil change, tire rotation and 50 point inspection coupon in the paper for the first 2 months that had alot more upsells per car/volume then what is being generated now.

Also, I am trying to gain some more commerical accounts and they seem hard to come by. Most are serviced by the local competition. I am working on offering a higher level of service and quicker turnaround time to pursuade them to try us.

 

On the commercial accounts I would personally call on them and offer the person in charge or owner a free oil change and an invitation to visit my business. This would include some information about who we are, what we do, and what we could offer. My conversation with them would be to ask if they are happy with their present service and what could be done to improve it. If you keep in touch on a regular basis you can gain some of the accounts when they decide to change and if they decide they are no longer happy. Although more geared to other types of sales a must read for anyone trying to understand how to sell against an established service provider is either How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales or The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning by Randy Schwantz. Those books have given me a better understanding.

Edited October 22, 2009 by xrac