There are always a lot of people who ask what works best when approaching businesses, what businesses to approach, and what works. I would like to start this thread to not only educate all of the readers, but to allow all of us to potentially grow our businesses. I myself typically find that word of mouth is the best advertisement, and when I get customers that really like our work, I always give them a few extra cards so that I can pick up some new faces. I put brochures at offices I normally frequent, hang them from mailboxes in areas I do work in, always give them to people I see with high end cars and converse with them about their cars, and leave one in every car I do. When I first started, I visited gyms to pass out flyers and large businesses. Now that I try to do work for people who are car fanatics, I find it harder to get our name out, but we still get them one at a time. Anyone have similar methods or new suggestions???:hifive:
What has worked best for you!!
- Thread starter MCWD
- Start date
brwill2005
New member
Sounds like you and I are at a similar point with our businesses. I am finding direct mail to be an excellent way to reach new customers. I was doing coupons to about 30,000 homes in high income areas. I got business, however, I felt that the coupons were not targeted enough. I recently bought a mailing list of individuals with high income, high home values, and who are car enthusiasts. I am going to mail a nice post card to each of them multiple times. I will be sure to update on how this goes.
brwill2005 said:
Sounds very promising.
I tried to buy a similar list recently and was told that the "Shelby act" prevented these kinds of list from being distributed.
Where can I get a target list that says what kind of cars people drive, or better yet if they are a car enthusiast!
brwill2005
New member
PrideSS said:Sounds very promising.
I tried to buy a similar list recently and was told that the "Shelby act" prevented these kinds of list from being distributed.
Where can I get a target list that says what kind of cars people drive, or better yet if they are a car enthusiast!
The company I obtained the list from (Info Usa) can no longer access the type or value of the cars owned. They did have a field for car enthusiast, which probably means they subscribe to car magazines etc.
imported_Jakerooni
New member
I'm lucky in a way that no other detail shop in the entire area has a website set up. Or if they do it's a one page free site with little to no real information. Outside of word of mouth which is by far the best form of advertising just slamming my website on everything I put out from busniess cards to flyers and such people in my area get to look at exactly what it is we do and what they can expect. I can't tell you how many customers have complained about having to play the "Detail guessing game." No one knew what detailing really was or who was any good at it. So outside of the the word of mouth referals it's got to be the website.
Cleaning Fool
New member
When you send out a direct mail or flyer, whatever, you need to make it so that people will want to call you. For example, if I send something to your house that says "Fine Detailing, polishing, waxing blah blah blah blah" Uhh, most people chuck it in the trash. You need to get there attention right away. You need to put something on there that is to good to refuse along with a time limit on your special ad and a bold guarantee of your work. Look, people are afraid they are going to get hosed, you need to calm there fears.
I have heard of, and use the 3ft. rule... anyone that comes within 3ft gets a card!
I leave a card on the counter at Starbucks,if I see a person in a high end car, I complement on thier car and offer them a card and explain my service.
I also offer referral/Finders fee to customers who refers me to someone who uses my service.
These are what you would call "Guerrilla Marketing" ideas
To me everybody does the direct mail thing, I don't know about you ,? but I don't read them or use them to shop for things.
I also don't think people in high income brackets look at that stuff anyway, most have PAs that look through the mail.
I like the one-on-one thing, so people can see me and know who they are hiring.
It has worked for me.
Jut a different slant, and maybe another weapon to use to get customers
I leave a card on the counter at Starbucks,if I see a person in a high end car, I complement on thier car and offer them a card and explain my service.
I also offer referral/Finders fee to customers who refers me to someone who uses my service.
These are what you would call "Guerrilla Marketing" ideas
To me everybody does the direct mail thing, I don't know about you ,? but I don't read them or use them to shop for things.
I also don't think people in high income brackets look at that stuff anyway, most have PAs that look through the mail.
I like the one-on-one thing, so people can see me and know who they are hiring.
It has worked for me.
Jut a different slant, and maybe another weapon to use to get customers
Here is some advice I gave to someone else a while back...
First off, it costs about 5 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer. Before advertising for new customers, you really have to take care of your current clientele. Spending money on advertising for new customers while you don’t have a good system in place to keep them is pointless. You want to keep your existing customers happy, which will make them want to come back over and over again. You must build relationships with your customers and provide great customer service by keeping in touch with them by phone, e-mail or whatever.
I would suggest talking to your current customers and have them fill out a little survey or something and offer a chance to win a free detail. These customers will be able to tell you a lot about your potential customers. Ask them where they buy their newspaper, what roads they travel on, where they shop, where they spend their weekends, etc.. This will give you a better idea how to reach your target market.
Word of mouth is the by far, the best and cheapest form of advertising. You should offer some sort of VIP/referral program to your current customers. Print up a bunch of business card coupons. On the front of the card, write your special offering. On the back of the card, put "referred by" and leave a blank space for the your customer to put his name, number and e-mail address. Every time a customer comes in, hand them some new ones. Tell them to fill out the cards and pass them out to family, friends and co-workers. If their relative, friend or co-worker uses the coupon, they’ll get a special discount on their next detail. You will need to keep track of this on a spreadsheet.
Another great way to grow your business is cross-promotion. Work with body shops, auto repair shops and dealerships and have them hand out your fliers to their customers to promote your business. Do the same for them in return, but make sure you are referring your customers to someone that is reputable.
If you decide to make up some cards of flyers, your biggest goal should be to get your customers to buy now. Offer some sort of discount or free offer with the purchase of a specific package. To promote your offering, make sure to include an expiration date on the card or flyer which will give the customer a deadline. If you offering them this great deal, than you will have to set some sort of time limit to get the customer to act on it. If your offer expires in 1 week, they can't wait until "someday" to come in.
Sorry this is getting lengthy, but just remember to always take care of your existing customers. Follow up every detail with a follow up call or e-mail asking the customer if they were satisfied with the work you performed. If a customer is not totally satisfied and you do not fix the problem, they are going to tell people they know and never come back. If they were not satisfied at first and you fix the problem, they will tell others how good they were treated and refer others. The goal is to keep a customer for life. There's no point in spending all of your money on getting new customers if you can't keep your current ones.
Hope this helped....
~Rick
First off, it costs about 5 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer. Before advertising for new customers, you really have to take care of your current clientele. Spending money on advertising for new customers while you don’t have a good system in place to keep them is pointless. You want to keep your existing customers happy, which will make them want to come back over and over again. You must build relationships with your customers and provide great customer service by keeping in touch with them by phone, e-mail or whatever.
I would suggest talking to your current customers and have them fill out a little survey or something and offer a chance to win a free detail. These customers will be able to tell you a lot about your potential customers. Ask them where they buy their newspaper, what roads they travel on, where they shop, where they spend their weekends, etc.. This will give you a better idea how to reach your target market.
Word of mouth is the by far, the best and cheapest form of advertising. You should offer some sort of VIP/referral program to your current customers. Print up a bunch of business card coupons. On the front of the card, write your special offering. On the back of the card, put "referred by" and leave a blank space for the your customer to put his name, number and e-mail address. Every time a customer comes in, hand them some new ones. Tell them to fill out the cards and pass them out to family, friends and co-workers. If their relative, friend or co-worker uses the coupon, they’ll get a special discount on their next detail. You will need to keep track of this on a spreadsheet.
Another great way to grow your business is cross-promotion. Work with body shops, auto repair shops and dealerships and have them hand out your fliers to their customers to promote your business. Do the same for them in return, but make sure you are referring your customers to someone that is reputable.
If you decide to make up some cards of flyers, your biggest goal should be to get your customers to buy now. Offer some sort of discount or free offer with the purchase of a specific package. To promote your offering, make sure to include an expiration date on the card or flyer which will give the customer a deadline. If you offering them this great deal, than you will have to set some sort of time limit to get the customer to act on it. If your offer expires in 1 week, they can't wait until "someday" to come in.
Sorry this is getting lengthy, but just remember to always take care of your existing customers. Follow up every detail with a follow up call or e-mail asking the customer if they were satisfied with the work you performed. If a customer is not totally satisfied and you do not fix the problem, they are going to tell people they know and never come back. If they were not satisfied at first and you fix the problem, they will tell others how good they were treated and refer others. The goal is to keep a customer for life. There's no point in spending all of your money on getting new customers if you can't keep your current ones.
Hope this helped....
~Rick
brwill2005
New member
Yes, keeping in contact with your existing customers is very important. Of course offering them a great service is also key. I send a Thank You note to each customer after a detail. This helps them to remember you. I also send out post cards to existing customers several times a year, although I need to get more consistent with it. I will say that advertising is very important if you want your business to grow. Word of mouth takes a while to build. Getting new customers is expensive, however, but it can bring you additional income for the future. My gross sales are up 26 percent since this time last year. I attribute most of it to spending more on advertising, specifically direct mail. I started off doing coupons to 30,000 homes in my own county. That worked pretty well, but is expensive. I am now mailing a very nice postcard to a targeted list. I have only mailed once, so we will see what time brings. I plan to mail to the same list once a month.
Customer Service (period)
Businesses have nothing if they don't have phenominal customer service. Meaning that from the first time they call to setup the appointment, and your tone and confidence on the phone, to the moment they get in their vehicle and drive away after the small talk and payment is taken. If a customer get's service that is second to none, no matter what kind of vehicle they drive (Mercedes-Benz, Porsche or Honda, Toyota), we have found that price often does not matter!
My $.2 for now!
a_
Businesses have nothing if they don't have phenominal customer service. Meaning that from the first time they call to setup the appointment, and your tone and confidence on the phone, to the moment they get in their vehicle and drive away after the small talk and payment is taken. If a customer get's service that is second to none, no matter what kind of vehicle they drive (Mercedes-Benz, Porsche or Honda, Toyota), we have found that price often does not matter!
My $.2 for now!
a_
MrAnderson
New member
I agree with most everyone's replies, Customer Service is key, heres an example..
This isnt car-related, but it should help.
I sold cell phones for 4 years for AT&T/Cingular, whatever. ALOT of the times, in fact, every day there was at least ONE customer who would come in with something wrong and it was definitely "our" fault.
I had a guy come in once, with his head literally shoved up his ***. He came in asking about the 1st iPhone and he thought he knew it all. He had researched the plans, the service areas, he was on it. So when he came in, he was like
"I want the new iPhone please, dont sell me on anything else, I just want to be able to use a really cool phone and get my work email"
My response:
"Sir, you don't want the iPhone then"
The key to CS is listening, as soon as I heard him say "work" I knew that phone wasnt for him. The 1st iPhone was not compatible with company e-mail when it first launced so unless he had a hotmail or some other free e-mail account, he wasn't getting jack for e-mail on his iPhone.
He barked a bit, but I simply asked him what he was looking for. Alot of the time, people have the pre-concieved notion that they are going to be dealing with someone who only has thier interest in mind and not the customers. So they come in defensive, and looking for quick, simple answers.
You could start by asking open-ended questions. Instead of "Do you wash your car regularly" which would probably get hit with a "no" or "yes" say "How often would you say you wash your car?"
again, Bad: "have you ever had an auto detail before?", Good: "Your car could benefit from an auto detail, which is different from just your basic wash and wax,for instance, where are some areas of your car that you feel are always dirty"
A question like that, gets them thinking.. "well...I usually go the car wash, but then I have a bunch of water streaks all over my car..OH and when I roll my window down and then back up..I HATE THAT!"
See, now you've established a dialouge, you've completely removed yourself from the "sales" tag they gave you and you've just become thier "Car therapist" haha.
After they start talking to you about thier cars issues, you can then slide in and this is when it never hurts to have a little sample ready...whether it's your car, which should always be in top detail shape, or a little kit in your car where you can detail a small part of thier car on the spot..Visual is key as well remember. Talking is one thing, actions speak louder than words right?
At this point, you've done the hard part. You introduce yourself, let them know what you do, tell them to check out your website, also, just because this is a uinique situation, write on the business card they recieve a 10% discount or something, just to kind of give them that last swift kick in the arse to get them into your shop.
You gotta have personality, you gotta be able to overcome objections, not everyone is going to let you sit there and talk to them about thier car..
if you smoke cigarettes and you see someone else smoking with you by thier car, ask em for a cigarette. comment the car. build from there.
Each situation is different, you gotta be able to adapt.
And as far as that guy went who wanted the iPhone...he walked out with a Blackberry Curve and it was set-up with his work and personal e-mail before he left the store.
He came back 2 months later and bought 3 more blackberrys for his family.
Gotta find what works for you...for me, its listening and overcoming objections without sounding too pushy (like the gym membership guy i talked to today, wasnt hearing me at all..just wanted my money, I noticed a Pittsburgh Steelers notepad on his desk, start chattin about football, next thing you know Im getting a free month membership...giggity giggity!)
This isnt car-related, but it should help.
I sold cell phones for 4 years for AT&T/Cingular, whatever. ALOT of the times, in fact, every day there was at least ONE customer who would come in with something wrong and it was definitely "our" fault.
I had a guy come in once, with his head literally shoved up his ***. He came in asking about the 1st iPhone and he thought he knew it all. He had researched the plans, the service areas, he was on it. So when he came in, he was like
"I want the new iPhone please, dont sell me on anything else, I just want to be able to use a really cool phone and get my work email"
My response:
"Sir, you don't want the iPhone then"
The key to CS is listening, as soon as I heard him say "work" I knew that phone wasnt for him. The 1st iPhone was not compatible with company e-mail when it first launced so unless he had a hotmail or some other free e-mail account, he wasn't getting jack for e-mail on his iPhone.
He barked a bit, but I simply asked him what he was looking for. Alot of the time, people have the pre-concieved notion that they are going to be dealing with someone who only has thier interest in mind and not the customers. So they come in defensive, and looking for quick, simple answers.
You could start by asking open-ended questions. Instead of "Do you wash your car regularly" which would probably get hit with a "no" or "yes" say "How often would you say you wash your car?"
again, Bad: "have you ever had an auto detail before?", Good: "Your car could benefit from an auto detail, which is different from just your basic wash and wax,for instance, where are some areas of your car that you feel are always dirty"
A question like that, gets them thinking.. "well...I usually go the car wash, but then I have a bunch of water streaks all over my car..OH and when I roll my window down and then back up..I HATE THAT!"
See, now you've established a dialouge, you've completely removed yourself from the "sales" tag they gave you and you've just become thier "Car therapist" haha.
After they start talking to you about thier cars issues, you can then slide in and this is when it never hurts to have a little sample ready...whether it's your car, which should always be in top detail shape, or a little kit in your car where you can detail a small part of thier car on the spot..Visual is key as well remember. Talking is one thing, actions speak louder than words right?
At this point, you've done the hard part. You introduce yourself, let them know what you do, tell them to check out your website, also, just because this is a uinique situation, write on the business card they recieve a 10% discount or something, just to kind of give them that last swift kick in the arse to get them into your shop.
You gotta have personality, you gotta be able to overcome objections, not everyone is going to let you sit there and talk to them about thier car..
if you smoke cigarettes and you see someone else smoking with you by thier car, ask em for a cigarette. comment the car. build from there.
Each situation is different, you gotta be able to adapt.
And as far as that guy went who wanted the iPhone...he walked out with a Blackberry Curve and it was set-up with his work and personal e-mail before he left the store.
He came back 2 months later and bought 3 more blackberrys for his family.
Gotta find what works for you...for me, its listening and overcoming objections without sounding too pushy (like the gym membership guy i talked to today, wasnt hearing me at all..just wanted my money, I noticed a Pittsburgh Steelers notepad on his desk, start chattin about football, next thing you know Im getting a free month membership...giggity giggity!)