5 Growth Strategies Every Auto Repair Shop Should Use
The marketplace is competitive. Customers expectations are high. The cards can seem stacked against you if you find yourself looking to generate business as an auto repair shop. Traditional marketing wisdom tells you to keep doing a good job and eventually, your work will prove itself.
What your auto repair company needs in today’s market is a strategy that can compete. That is why, whether you know it or not, you need a trusted partner like Risely.
People are complex. And marketing to people can be even more so. Dale Carnegie once said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”
People are also emotional. Their emotions tell them they have a right to be treated well. Everyone wants respect, expert service, and competitive pricing. How can you meet these needs while sustaining a viable auto repair business?
The answer starts with getting more customers, and improving your marketing plan. To help you, we will discuss five strategies that can jumpstart your companies online presence and increase revenue. We know a thing or two when it comes to growing your auto repair company.
Strategy 1: Feature Reviews
You need reviews online. Before someone may ever call your company or step foot onto your property, they want to know they can trust you. Auto repair can be emotional because for a lot of people, other than their house, their car is their most valuable possession. They did not plan to need auto repair this month and they want to know they will be treated fairly.
Feature reviews can show you care and are trustworthy. In today’s age, people place a lot of stock in online reviews.
Google Reviews
Yelp Reviews
Facebook Reviews
Savvy companies go to great lengths to ensure they are receiving positive reviews and even hire people to answer online objections. How many people would have called your company for service, but didn’t because there were not enough reviews online?
This is the nature of the game. Just like having enough cans of SAE30 or Pennzoil in stock, today’s market requires feature reviews online.
Strategy 2: Optimize for Makes and Models
Your specialty can open doors for you. What do you do better than the other guy? Do you specialize in foreign cars? Make it known. Do you restore classic cars? Put it out there. You need to make sure your online presence alleviates any concerns a customer has. The more knowledgeable you are about your skillset online, the more you increase trust in your potential clientele, and in turn, generate new business.
Focus on what you do best. When you optimize your company and your business, and your line of work to highlight the makes and models you know best, you only set yourself up for success.
Let your skill in your work make a way for you so your company can earn a review like this.
Strategy 3: Include Specific CTAs
The Call to Action is a pillar in marketing. It is one of the most important aspects in all advertising. Oftentimes, a potential customer will not order a product or purchase a service only because they were not asked.
Simply put, human psychology is such that people are more likely to say “yes” when you ask them to do something, than they are to volunteer themselves for the same thing. People wait to be asked to do something or buy something.
Therefore, if you apply this concept to the auto repair industry, and specifically your company… it means you simply must ask someone to purchase your service. If you want someone to schedule an appointment, ask for an estimate, or bring their vehicle to your shop for a tune-up, just ask them!
This principle is also called “asking for the order.” It’s when you assume someone wants your services, and they will make an order. Your part is offering them the opportunity. People will respond when you ask them.
Schedule an Appointment
One way to do this is by adding a form that allows potential customers to schedule an appointment right from their computer or mobile device. You can customize the form fields to get exactly the information you need.
Free Service With Order
Another option is to promote free services. You can include any offer that you think is relevant to your customers, like an oil change or a free tire rotation. Finally, you can include an estimate form for price-conscious shoppers.
Get an Estimate
With each photo, link the photo directly to an order form or way to contact you. Make it as easy as possible for them to connect with your business, and watch the new customers flow in.
Strategy 4: Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
When someone lands on your website, make it easy on their eyes. If your website is a soothing oasis of gentle fonts, soft colors, and likable pictures, chances are they will stick around a little longer. The longer they linger on your site, the higher your chances are of them making an order.
People have become conditioned to desire information in the form of pictures. This is where you can help your website shine. This is also a reason why large auto companies employ full-time photographers. With so much stock to move, they need the power of a beautiful photograph of the latest new car to move a customer to make the purchase.
Make sure you include photos of any and everything related to your company. That could includ photos of cars you work on, your logos, and even your shop so people know what to expect.
Even something as simple as a photo of the waiting area with available amenities like free coffee and Wi-Fi. Remember, people want to be treated like royalty whether they are or not. If coming to your auto repair business can make them feel like they will be pampered, chances are, they will come.
Strategy 5: Driving Directions
When it comes to directions and helping people find you, here are three cardinal words to live by: “Make it easy.”
Even with GPS, online maps, and everything else, this is a critical component. Make sure you go above and beyond and then above and beyond again when you list your contact information, and how to find your business.
Pretend someone has never been to your town a day in their life. If people can find you easily, they will come. If your directions include anything along the lines of “turn right at the second rock,” you lost that customer.
As you may have noticed, making the directions simple for your customers tags along with the principle of making everything as easy as possible. Humans are interesting creatures. Sometimes they want challenges, and sometimes they don’t. When it comes to directions, they want things as simple as possible. Driving directions are a good place to optimize your site for mobile devices.
In conclusion, remember that people are people. Remember to ask for the order and include a lot of pictures. Show them why you are their best option and why you would love to earn their business. Then make it easy for people to find you.
If you can focus on what you do best, you are free to outsource the rest! Bring Risely into your corner and let us work for you!
To quote Dale Carnegie again, “you can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” It’s a small shift in strategy, but if you can reposition your auto repair company thinking to focus on how your company is best suited to alleviate a clients’ needs, desires, or wishes when it comes to their vehicles, you may just win a customer for life.
Risely is here for you.
We want to help you do what you do best. When you contract our accomplished team of highly skilled professionals in the online marketing space, you set your company up for success.
When Risely is working for you, you are free to focus on your work with the knowledge that a highly motivated, skilled, and profitable marketing team is on your side.
Enjoy the new normal of sleeping well at night knowing new clients have found your company, were won over by your website, and are waiting to call in to schedule an appointment. All because of your decision to bring on Risely.
