Teach your SA to call their assigned sales people and ask for discounts and match pricing. Sometimes I see a lower price on a competitor and tell them to match pricing, more likely than not they will price match. Or make your own and ask for that price, for example, if you want a 20% discount multiply their given price x .8, say $100 x .8 = $80. Chances are they will give you the 20 percent discount if they can.

I use Demandforce. I am very happy with them, it did take me about a year to get the most of of them though. I had to hire a couple of writers for some interesting content to put on the newsletters. They are pricey but they do pay for themselves by keeping my customers in touch with us.

I am at $150, Diesel $175, Ambulance and class 8 at $225.

My daughter shared this link and video regarding retailing, I think those running their shops would find it loaded with valuable information. The lady is brilliant.

https://www.shopify.com/videos/successful-retail-shop/opening-a-boutique-5-rules

I want to share this with you, but please do not take it as arrogance or bragging, that is not the intention of my post.

I have done a tremendous amount of work, as has my team, into improving our efficiency rate and sales. April 2017 is being the most successful month ever, shops that have averaged 70k to 80k in sales have double their sales this month.

We changed our strategy, we focused on the customer's needs and made it extremely convenient for them to do business with us. We only choose the customer that can afford us and is worth our effort to please them. We crossed into the other problem, our people are being overworked, and their monetary compensation is not worth the loss of time with their families. What and irony this is. 

Here is the bigger issue, my teams success is an anomaly, we are doing something different into a very difficult economy. In other words we have been going against the grain, which is really not sustainable. I see a lot of turmoil coming, new disruptive technologies, people lacking adaptation skill into this new coming environment. Many things that give me pause.

All I can say for now, we are living in very interesting times.

Good, qualified help tends to cost more, unless they don't know their value, but soon they leave once they find out they can make more down the street. Like Wheelingauto said supply/demand.

On 4/8/2017 at 2:07 PM, xrac said:

Who are your critics?

Yes indeed, who are the ignorant dolts criticizing you?

Automobile Liability
General Liability
Garage Liability
Garage Keepers
On-Hook Liability
Worker's Compensation
Excess Liability

Welcome. You need to read up on insurance and what coverage you are getting. You know Apples to apples, the carriers make it complicated so you can get stiffed in case of a claim. Zurich Insurance Group have been one of my best carriers. Pricing should be consistent on the amount of risk you are seeking to cover.

I like this one. Nice, clean, unique, professional.

Last year we had a very ebb and flow kind of business, then around September we changed marketing strategy for the coming year. We exceed our best year quarterly sales by 12% this first quarter. Pulled a lot of new customer from the dealers that are having scheduling issues.

We have been very proactive in getting this new business, if we had not actively targeted our prospects I am sure our sales would have suffered. 

It is a very much more complicated business atmosphere, but I think if things slow down for new car dealers we should fare much better soon. http://www.zerohedge.com/print/592110

Morgan Stanley: Used Car Prices May Crash 50%

Another priceless story Gonzo, thank you.

People tell me we are expensive and that we charge too much. But they keep coming back. I use the best parts, and make sure the work is done right, and always have a second pair of eyes verify the repair. Yes, it does cost more. The Sinch'Ya customer is not too keep on us, but they try. I even have had them tell me it was not a brotherly thing to do to charge extra for "simple things to check", when I ask them to explain the parable of the Talents, they look at me with a puzzled look. Clearly I try to be a good steward with the two bits I have been entrusted with.

Yesterday was the end of the 1st quarter of 2017.

We broke records in sales and in revenue. All that marketing has paid off. The majority of customers we have picked up came from dealer service centers that wanted a second opinion and let us do  the work. All of this thanks to a brilliant social media marketing campaign.

Remember, it is the small daily habits that determine your success.

9 minutes ago, xrac said:

According to what I was reading earlier in the year the average age of the cars on the road is higher than it has ever been and the actual number of repair bays overall is decreasing.  The shops that seem to be suffering the most are the smaller shops because it is so hard to keep up we the investment needed for equipment, technology, and training.  We are looking at a new Hunter alignment lift that would cost $31,500. 

I think that's another part of the problem. But if you ask me, the fundamental and base problem is the tinkering the Federal Reserve has done with the low interest rates, that has distorted everything. From housing, medicine, education, transportation, etc. It's all a money problem.

2 hours ago, tyrguy said:

I respectively disagree. You can't more than double the bays in small town and not have an impact.

Right, supply and demand, doesn't get any simpler than that.

For every older car that is replaced independent shops won't see them in at least 3 to 4 years,  and some even 5 to 7 years. All those 5 year 100k long warranties helps the dealers froim having the independents take a bite at the apple.

tyrguy,

I think you are right, there is more capacity in the market. I think simply because of the low interest rates. After the crisis of 2008, Cash for Clunkers took out about 3/4 of a million cars. http://www.heraldcourier.com//news/opinion_columns/article_1ec4ccc4-4350-11e2-8145-0019bb30f31a.html

And then the low interest rates made the choice to get a new car easier than keeping an older car, this has hit us hard, I think.

Given that car manufacturers are claiming that peak auto sales has been reached, I wonder how it will go for us in the next few years. Plus autonomous car coming along too, should be an interest business environment. http://www.autonews.com/article/20170327/FINANCE_AND_INSURANCE/170329874/auto-sales-peak-heightens-risk-for-lenders-moodys-warns

I think you will enjoy this:

https://jcrowcoaching.com/2012/04/04/preparing-a-roast/

Quote

Easter was the usual gathering time for four generations of the family, from great grandmother Nana down to her great granddaughter – a newlywed. The young woman was hosting the dinner for the first time, with the help of her husband. He watched as his new wife took out a large roast, carefully sliced off both ends, and placed it into the roasting pan.

“So, why do you cut the ends off like that,” he asked, curiously.

She smiled. “That’s Mom’s recipe,” she said. “I think it keeps it moist, because her roasts are always good.” The young man was still. “I’m curious. Let’s ask your mom why,” he said, grabbing his wife’s hand and jumping up to find his mother-in-law.

The two of them walked into the dining room, where they found the bride’s mother setting the table. “Mom, why do you cut off the ends of the roast?” they asked. The mother thought for a moment. “I don’t know. That’s how your grandmother always did it. So I did the same.”

The young woman then turned to her grandmother, who was helping her mom set the table. “Grandma? What’s the secret to cutting off the ends of the roast?” The grandmother stopped folding the napkins, then said, “Well, that’s the way your great grandmother did it, so that’s just the way it’s always been done.”

The four of them looked at one another, then together turned toward the living room where great grandmother, the matriarch of the family, was sitting in the rocking chair. “Nana,” asked the young woman, “I’m fixing the roast just the way you taught grandmother and she taught mom and mom taught me, but we’re wondering why we slice the ends off?”

Nana looked at the group, raised one eyebrow, and said, “because the darned roasting pan was too small!”

http://www.snopes.com/weddings/newlywed/secret.asp

I always saw myself as being in the business of helping people get to where they want to go. Have worked on  bicycles, motorcycles, car, trucks, buses, etc. Got to be that the main bread came from car repair so that has being the center of attention.

But if you ask me why I do what I do, the answer is simple, I enjoy getting to where I am going and therefore enjoy helping other get where they are going. I have been lucky enough to have traveled all over the world, and my mechanic skills help me and others along the way get to where we were going. Thanks for the post, it brought back some very sweet memories.

Allright, so we had a Spring special recorded, used Stratics to drop 5K calls. Results? Madness! Our phones went crazy, turns out the calls were all made within a couple of hours, last Saturday was a madhouse. Lesson? The program works, but you have to manage it carefully. One more tool in the marketing tool chest.

Jay, what are your insurance cost over all? You know, workers comp., liability, garage keepers, etc.? And how do you price those costs into your jobs?

14 minutes ago, mspecperformance said:

I believe it can be done with the proper attitude and system. I'm excited to try it at least.

Don't let me detract you from it, these things are like an itch, you will not be satisfied until you scratch it. Only after you are done, will you see if you are the wiser.

Gentlemen,

The numbers don't lie. I don't have the time to go into detail, but from over 25 years experience, cheap oil changes were never good for my business.

If AndersonAuto is making a net 20%, that is a VERY impressive number with cheap LOFs as the main driving tool for new business. Except for me, in my experience it hasn't happened. Be it at the two bay shop or the 30 lift facility.

For example 900K at 37% growth yields $1.2 Million. That would be about 100K a month is sales. With 13 employess plus himself that would be $7,142 in sales revenue per employee on a monthly basis or about 85K on an annual basis. How does that compare to your numbers?

My worse perfoming shop is doing about 60K month and 145k per employee in an annual basis.

My aversion to cheap oil pricing is that it truly distorts the value of our industry.

Having said that, if he is indeed taking in 20% net, more power to him, since that is what owneship of the business is all about, how much you get to keep after all is said and done.

9 minutes ago, AndersonAuto said:

That's ok, you can hate it. I don't mind.

Define "hurting myself" for me.

If by hurting myself, you mean years of double digit growth, fine by me. The first year I started the cheap oil change coupons, my business went up by 37%. My net for the two businesses (the shop and the LLC that owns the building) was 317K last year, plus the 78K that's on my W2, plus the shop bought me a BMW 650 Gran Coupe for a company car. This year I'm on track to clear about another 50-60K on top of that. The painful part is writing the check to Uncle Sam in a few weeks. That's gonna hurt.

Bragging? ok sure. But here's the thing. You can either see my marketing strategy as a gimmick and that I'm hurting myself and other shops by cheapening the perception of our value, or you can see it for what it is. It's a means for bringing customers into my building so they can spend money. Period.

I feel sorry for shop owners who allow their prejudices about coupons to get in the way of making great money. It is after all the whole point of having a business, to make money. It's time to detach yourself from the emotions of what you think is the right way and just do things that make money. It doesn't matter what that method is, as long as it's ethical and honest. If it's "low life" coupon clippers that make you rich, then fine. You're still rich, right?

Coupons work when done right. If you have any doubts, look at Kohl's. They used to advertise much like Macy's. Beautiful models wandering aimlessly through their commercials in the latest high fashion, and the Kohl's logo on a white background at the end. You know, lifting the image of the department store, promoting their value over price.  Then in the late 90's they switched gears and started doing coupons, % off scratchers, and Kohl's cash.Their ads feature the discounts as much as the clothes. They're now the second largest department store in the US. They're not the cheapest on everything, and everyone knows it, but the coupons bring their target market in the door to spend money. Isn't that the goal?

BTW Harry, I scanned through the article you linked to, and at the bottom it includes an "About the author". In it, you'll find this line: "He provides an inexpensive, easy to use, website based marketing system that is designed from the ground up for automotive repair shops." It seems the author knows how to attract his target audience, but then advocates a different approach for everyone else.

I don't want to turn this into a pissing contest, because this is one argument that is not profitable for me to spend my time on. But I will bite for the hell of it.

1. 37% is impressive, but 37% of what dollars in revenue? net profit? car count? etc.

2. 317K again, is impressive, but are you sure you are not double counting your net dollars if you are taking your shop's net into account into the LLC's? And that 78K is it not a part of the cost of which you made that net 317k? I think you need to talk to your CPA.

3. I won't even mention the car, because BMW.

4. Now, I give you this, you are right that emotion should not play a part in marketing decisions. And you know what, you are right about Kohl's and their Kohl's cash, they have a great system there, the way they use their coupon and discounting with their Kohl's cash, very nice way they keep their customers coming back and lowering their customer acquisition cost.

But that is the thing, by your own example, it took you four years to lose a bottom feeder! That means your own systems are not running up to par to fire unwanted patrons!

5. Regarding the article, I took from it what it benefited me and discarded the rest, you may be right the author may not be doing what he preaches, however, I did find his take useful from what he gave in that article. In other words, acquiring knowledge is like gold mining, you find it in nuggets at a time, but you have to sift through a lot of ore.

For those interested, here is an article I read a while ago that helped me view marketing in a different and better light:

http://robertmaxim.com/auto-repair-marketing/845-coupons-vs-value-based-auto-repair-marketing.htm

Quote

Coupons vs Value Based Auto Repair Marketing

 

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Related articles:

• Auto Repair Marketing
• Repair Shop Marketing

You can't deny the popularity of auto repair discount coupons but do they attract the customers you want?

Most auto repair shop marketing uses price discounting to attract new customers. I call this lazy (or desperate) auto repair marketing. Most shop owners are hooked on it and don't know what else to do.

To move beyond price based auto repair marketing shop owners will need to change their whole concept of automotive shop marketing. Auto shop owners must think beyond discount based marketing so they can maintain margins and attract a better quality of customer.

Discounting – A Race To The Bottom

Competing on price alone is a slippery slope to business failure. Discounting auto repair prices only attracts price driven, disloyal customers which lead to lower profit levels that can't sustain a healthy company.

You will always have a competitor who will sell services or products for less. If you join this no-win game you will end up in a race to the bottom. So how should auto repair shops market their services to retain profit margins? Base your auto repair marketing on value - not price.

Stop Price Comparison

Marketing of auto repair services should instead use “packaged” services that focus on increasing the “value” that people see in the “total” package. Instead of using a lower price as the carrot use added value to catch people's attention. Change the focus from the “price” of your offer to the “value” gained.

The key to maintaining auto repair shop profitability is auto repair marketing that can not be directly compared on price. You need to get away from using copy-cat specials that shoppers can directly compare on price.

Rather than competing with everyone else in town for the cheapest oil change, charge a higher price for a package deal that includes an oil change combined with another service or two that most people would want. Make your oil change “package” unique so that people can't straight across price compare. Make your "special" YOURS and something your competitors can't easily match. If done well enough it can become part of your Brand and something that your business becomes known for.

Better Response Rate

Sure your “package” promotion may not get as much attention, but the response you do get will be from people who will be of a much higher long-term customer value. Your marketing is changed from targeting “price” shoppers to focusing on attracting people looking for “good value”.

So the bottom line is stop relying on no profit loss leaders to build your business. Use value added promotions to attract a better caliber of customer. Some people say that any customer is a good customer but profitable auto repair shops need long-term, loyal customers rather than one time bargain shoppers.

Use Your Time Wisely

Auto repair shops sell their “time”. And you only have so much of it in any one day. If you are smart you will seek the highest profit work for the time you have available. Do you want to do low profit oil changes based on a hope the bargain shoppers will return, or high profit brake or timing belt repairs?

Your shop size limits the time available for the work you produce. Auto shop management needs to be selective about the “type” of jobs (and customer) their auto shop marketing attracts. Promoting a bunch of low/ no profit specials with the hope of converting people who respond into more profitable work has very poor success. The conversion rate is often so low it is largely a waste of your limited resources. What you want to do is customize your auto repair marketing “product” for a select group.

Greater ROI

For greater auto repair marketing ROI make your promotion compelling and relevant to a smaller, more value driven group of customers. Be more selective in who your marketing is targeting. Pre-screening your prospective customers weeds out the time-wasting, low profit work allowing you to provide a higher standard of service. To do this you need to build a “customized” offer, not a “product” that can be price comparison shopped.

Offers That Satisfy Customer Needs

To make your offer attractive to this different (better...) group of prospective customers you should focus on assisting or satisfying the total customer “need” set. Create an offer that looks at the customer's needs holistically. In reality an oil change is very low on the priority order of most people's to do list. To stand out shops need to provide a packaged, multi-dimensional offer that includes a set or group of services that considers the many needs people have in their lives. Auto shop marketing should not see an oil change as just a specific service, but as a small, low priority part of the many things a person may need to get done that day. To increase the priority of that service in the mind of the customer, and the opportunity for you to get the job, your offer must “assist” the customer in a greater way that extends beyond the benefits of the repair work you do.

It's All About Time

Time is the most important commodity for people. They may need their vehicle serviced but in the big picture of their busy lives it is a low priority. Auto repair shops can raise the priority of the work they do, and get a premium price for it, by helping people multitask.

A large part of the value added component is the “arranging” of the package. For example, getting an oil change service plus full interior detail and exterior hand car wash all in one appointment would be a “convenience” people would pay a premium for. Often sweetening the package with an unrelated service or product is very successful. Movie tickets, manicure, coupon for lunch or dinner, etc. are all combinations that can be attractive to people. The secret to making value marketing work is including an element that is valuable, difficult to purchase, and most importantly, difficult to price comparison shop.

Here is a realistic example. A busy mother needs to get her vehicle's air conditioning serviced, grocery shop for a family BBQ, care for her two young teenage kids and two of their friends, and meet a friend for lunch. Your offer can include:

1. Air conditioning service;
2. Lunch for two at nice local restaurant;
3. Tickets for a day at the local water-park for the kids;
4. Grocery shopping service;
5. Provide on-call transport to and from shopping center including grocery pickup.

The shop can prearrange a discount at a local restaurant and water-park in exchange for co-marketing arrangement. The grocery order can be emailed or faxed to a local store. Transport is provided by your in-house shuttle service for transport to and from the restaurant. Customer picks up their vehicle and collects the groceries and kids on way home from your shop.

At $199 the package price provides a high profit margin. And instead of competing on price you are competing with the perceived value of your offer. The customer not only gets their vehicle serviced but help with all the other things she needs to get done that day.

Here is a comparison to clarify your understanding of Price Marketing versus Value Marketing.

Price Marketing	Value Marketing
Choose service to sell	Choose customer group to target
Select benefit to promote	Determine customer needs
Set price to attract customers & capture market share	Create packaged offer
Sell service to as many customers as possible & hope for repeat business to reclaim profits lost from discounting.	Sell fewer high profit services to loyal customer group. Easier up-sell and repeat business.
Further discounting to acquire new customers.http://robertmaxim.com/node/845/edit	Sell high margin services to chosen loyal customer groups.

The goal of “value” auto repair marketing is to target high value customer groups from the start so that you don't have to waste time on doing profit eroding, loss-leader, low success rate customer acquisition service work. The concept is to initially target customers with the highest probability of providing high profit, repeat business. If you have been collecting and building your customer list you should have a good group to target with email or direct mail.

You may need to advertise Value Added services in different ways. You need to be able to describe the added value of your offer in enough detail for the person to grasp what is all included and decide it is good value. Print advertising such as newspaper, direct mail, and hand bills can be effective especially if you can attract people to your website.

Placing your offer on your website allows you to fully explain the value of your offer. Using Robert Maxim Website Solution's Promotions Calendar feature is a great way to expose your Value Added special to the search engines and people looking for the auto repair service your value added package is related to.

BTW, I would have fired that "customer' sooner, think of all the lift time and material you invested in a losing relationship.

AndersonAuto, please don't take this the wrong way. "I REALLY HATE THE CHEAP OIL CHANGE GIMICK."

In my opinion, giving out a cheap synthetic oil change like you are doing gives our industry a bad image. Why? Again, in my opinion, because it distorts the consumers' perception of what it cost to do business.

One of the reasons that fancy car manufacturers strive to have you use a machine to reset the maintenance interval is because it gives the impression that you need a qualified technician to reset the little light.

Think about the biggest industries that thrive in people's ignorance: lawyers, insurance, and finance.

Please do not take this personally, as I understand you have to do what is best for you. But in my opinion, you are hurting yourself and others by doing cheap oil changes.