Just about every small town in America has multiple auto shops. Competition is fierce, and customers have the upper hand. That is why it is critical for you to ask how you can attract more customers to your auto shop.
Word-Of-Mouth Is King
People hate being sold to. They have a natural distrust for marketing and for auto mechanics. They feel afraid that if they take their vehicle to the wrong mechanic, they are going to spend a lot of money, get subpar work, and be treated poorly.
Just because you market yourself as a professional doesn’t mean that potential customers will believe you. However, they believe their friends and family. If people they trust have had a positive experience with you or if enough people that they have never met have had a positive experience with you, they are going to be more inclined to bring their vehicle to your shop for repair.
There are two ways to generate positive word-of-mouth advertising. One is to incentivize happy customers to refer you to their friends and family. You could offer customers a dollar amount off of their next repair or a free service, like an oil change, for every person they refer to your shop.
The second way to do this is using sites like Google and Facebook to get satisfied customers to post positive comments about your shop. If a potential customer does an Internet search and sees that everyone is talking positively about you, they are going to be more inclined to trust you.
Make Your Auto Shop Women-Friendly
It is not a stretch to say that many women feel intimidated when they have to take their vehicle in for repairs. One reason is that women only make up 1.8 percent of service techs or mechanics in the United States.
By having women behind the counter and in the tech environment, you make female customers feel more confident and build trust that could be lacking in an all-male automotive center. Make your shop “Ask Patty” certified. “Ask Patty” is a website that offers automotive advice for women. A shop that is certified is specifically trained to communicate effectively with female customers.
While there are plenty of women who are automobile enthusiasts, most women will happily admit they know little about vehicles. Your staff needs to be patient and explain problems using terms everyone will understand. This will go a long way in making both male and female customers feel comfortable and welcome.
Treat Your Mechanics Well
Your mechanics make the difference in your shop’s reputation. You hired decent people who work hard. Your customers are trusting them to work on their most valuable possession. You want your mechanics to enjoy their job and to feel comfortable while they are doing their work.
It could be something as simple as purchasing an adjustable rolling shop chair for your mechanics that shows them how much you care. Having a chair that can quickly adjust in height makes it easier for your mechanics to get to hard-to-reach areas without needing to contort their body in a painful or frustrating way.
Things like offering free beverages, having snacks around the shop, and paying your mechanics a decent wage shows you care about them. If they feel cared for, they are going to care about the work that they do, which is going to improve your organization’s reputation and lead to improved word-of-mouth advertising and more customers.
Take Advantage of Online Marketing and Management
While word-of-mouth is your most powerful tool, traditional marketing has its role. Likely, you didn’t go into business to become a marketer. You did it to repair vehicles.
Garage owners will sometimes try to wear too many hats. They will try to design their own webpage and manage their marketing. And then they wonder why it fails. It is better to invest a few dollars and have marketing professionals handle that aspect of your business while you reap the results of attracting new customers.
Conclusion
The automotive field has always been and will continue to be extremely competitive. You can set your auto repair shop ahead of the competition by using professional marketers, catering to male and female customers, and incentivizing your customers to offer positive word-of-mouth advertising.
