Ron Ipach

As some of you know, I always go away on vacation for the entire month of July. Right now I’m writing this while sitting on a breezy sunlit balcony, overlooking an oil-free (for now) Gulf of Mexico. I have to admit, the prospect of spending another 3 weeks with these same ‘harsh’ working conditions doesn’t suck

 

How can I afford the time and money to go on vacation for an entire month – and more importantly, how can you do it too? Easy. I made the decision to just give up! I threw my hands up and said. “NO MORE!”

 

No more:

 

* Trying to do everything myself

* Dealing with pain-in-the-ass clients

* Keeping lousy employees

* Wasting time on unprofitable work

* Allowing people to waste my time

* Dealing with other peoples emergencies

* Doing $15/hour work

* Excuses for not succeeding

 

When I finally gave up all that crap and fixed all those problems, a wonderful thing happened… I found myself with a whole lot more time and money.

 

I know this almost sounds waaaay too simple. You probably were looking for some super complicated formula, maybe a map to the holy grail, or the recipe for the secret sauce. But no. Just give up!

 

Just think of all the time you’re wasting dealing with bad employees and the problems they create?

 

How much of your valuable skills are wasted doing work that could easily be handled by a low-wage employee or an outsourced provider with special skills that you don’t possess?

 

How much time and energy is being sucked up dealing with folks that continue to be a pain-in-the ass, or just as bad, always ask you for favors or special pricing?

 

If you spend just an hour a week dealing with each of these problems, you’re wasting over 360 hours per year (There’s your month-long vacation, plus plenty of extra days to play ‘hooky’ throughout the rest of the year!!!)

 

And please don’t discount what I’ve said here because you think ‘your situation is different’. It’s not. We all have challenges that we must overcome in one way or another. If a shop owner in rural Canada, 20 miles away from the closest town; a shop owner operating in the ‘poorest city in America’; and a shop owner surrounded by 42 other auto repair shops in the same two-mile radius can all figure out ways to create million dollar businesses – plus find the time to get away and travel – so can you.

 

Let me ask you, on the list above, what are you holding on to that is more important than you finally being able to accomplish all of your goals and dreams? What are you willing to give up in order to make the change?

 

Best,

Ron Ipach

CinRon Marketing Group

www.TheAutoRepairEvent.com

If you’ll recall, a couple weeks ago I asked for your help and asked you to watch two new video trailers that I’m considering using to promote my upcoming Auto Repair Event in Las Vegas this October. In case you missed it, you can watch them by CLICKING HERE

 

Thank you to all 1123 of you that watched the videos so far and special thanks go to the 86 folks that responded on the blog or via email with their opinions regarding which was the right video to use. The results were very interesting and instructive because they were split evenly 3 ways: 1/3 preferred the first video; 1/3 preferred the second; 1/3 liked both but either couldn’t make up their minds or they wanted elements of both to be used in the final video. A few of you even used very strong words to convey the strong opinions you felt about each video; love, hate, awesome, crap, nails-on-a-chalkboard, etc.

 

So what have I learned from this? First, even though I’m sure most of you had an opinion which video you liked best, only a small percentage were willing to tell me what it was. How many opinions – good or bad – are you NOT hearing from your clients about your services? Whatever you’re hearing, multiply them by 10??

 

Second, as long as the marketing strategy is solid, there is more than one right way to get it done. In my case, I’ll need to use both trailers, otherwise I’ll risk alienating the 1/3 of my audience that would have preferred the other video. How many ways are you advertising your specials? Are you stuck on the same message and using it over and over? If so, you may be losing 1/3 to 1/2 of your audience because they’d prefer a different message or a different way of being contacted by you.

 

Third, over 1000 folks watched the videos, so I know that a good portion of my audience is willing and able to watch videos online. If your clients are getting online, how much effort are you putting forth to use this totally free way to market your services to your prospects and to stay in contact with your current clients? (Here’s my shameless plug: If you want to discover how to market your auto repair biz online for a teeny-tiny fraction of what you may be spending to do it offline, you definitely need to be at this year’s EVENT! I’ll be showing you in very simple terms how easy it is to do it, or how to get it done for you.)

 

Finally, test! For the cost of a few hours of my time and a free email, I found out that I’m on the right track. I received a lot of constructive comments, got a lot of folks excited about attending the Event, and heard from a lot of old clients that have been out of the loop for a while. If you’re going to try an unproven marketing strategy with your clients, test it small first. If the results are good, quickly roll it out to the rest of your list. If it fails, you’ve learned what NOT to do, plus you’ve saved a lot of time and money too!

 

Best,

Ron Ipach

CinRon Marketing Group

www.TheAutoRepairEvent.com

The reality is, no matter what kind of economy we are in, some shops will do well, and others will fail miserably.

 

Below is a video that I recorded last year that talks about the economy and it's effects on our business.

 

Enjoy!

 

If you can stand the thought of having a few more good customers in your shop every single week, check out these videos that will show you how.

 

You'll get several dirt-cheap or even free ways to put a few more butts in your bays.

 

CLICK HERE to access the videos.

 

(BTW, this is all pure content. Not even a hint of some sort of sales pitch to buy anything else!)

 

Enjoy!

Guys,

 

I could use your help. I just completed two video 'trailers' to help promote an upcoming seminar.

 

If you have a couple of minutes, can you click on the link below and give me your thoughts?

 

Thanks!

 

Click here to watch

How is is possible for two auto repair shop owners to be exposed to the exact same marketing and management information, at the exact same time, and even be located right across the street from each other - and one shop becomes wildly successful and the other one fails?

 

It took me years to figure this out, but I have the answer for you. Watch this 13-minute video that was recorded at The 'EVENT' for auto repair shop owners in Las Vegas last year.

 

Here's another great marketing idea that I developed a couple years ago that you're free to use. I talked with the printer and they said that if you want to use this mailer, you'll need to order the cards by the 23rd of June in order to have them printed and mailed to your customers by mid July.

 

In case you didn't know it already, posting a video about your shop on youtube (or any of the dozens of video sharing sites) will help you get found online. Google owns Youtube, so they rank video real high.

 

Most people think you need to get in front of the camera (which is terrifying to most) and be able to speak like a pro. WRONG!

 

You can create a great video right on your computer using only Powerpoint slides, add some music, and screen capture software - all of which you can download free trial versions right from that new-fangled thingy called the internet!

 

Here's an example of one that I created this morning in only about 15 minutes.

 

In case you want the details - I used a Mac computer, created and recorded the slideshow in Keynote, and mixed my own music using Sonicfire Pro 5.

 

Enjoy...

 

I just created several new marketing videos that you can view for free (yes, totally free). It's just my way of giving back...

 

Here's a killer marketing idea that you'll want to jump on right away. I paid to have it designed, but you can use it for free (Of course you'll still need to pay the printer to print and mail it for you.)

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=TkwFqNHbnq8

I just recorded a new videos series designed to help you get more customers using dirt-cheap or even free marketing. Watch the video below for details. (The videos are all 100% useful content - nothing to buy!)