On the internet you can find how to start an auto repair shop but not many people talk about how to grow your auto repair shop. I am here to tell you four problems auto repair shop faces while growing their business and their solutions. So Let’s dive into it without wasting your time.
Customer Service
So many Auto Repair Shop have the best technicians but they lack in customer service.
Having good customer service is an advantage in a business, with good customer service the business builds trust with the client.
People do business with the people they trust, so many businesses are good at delivering service but they get short on the front end.
People love when the business acknowledges their presence. If the customer trusts you, they will want to do business with you again.
Customer Service will also increase your customer retention rate. By Harvard Business Review, with 5% improvement in client retention rates your earning will boost by 25% to 95%. So let me help you build good customer service.
Some methods to increase your Customer Service
- A Warm Welcome
Taking your customer straight to the business is not always the best way to build rapport. Yes, it can save your client’s time and can be effective sometimes but if this is the best way to do business then so many shops would have succeeded.
This generation’s customers crave customer service because they want to feel acknowledged.
The best and simple way to start the conversation is with “ Hello, How’s your day going?” not with “ What brings you to our shop?” You can ask this after the first question.
And asking for their name and directing with that will create a more personalized experience. Do not alienate them. Instead build a place that makes them feel comfortable.
- Transparency and comfort
Trust is most important for car owners because for some people cars are their life. If a Car Repair Shop is not trustworthy no one will want to take their cars to the shop.
Customers not only expect you to solve their vehicular problems but to ensure you offer a hands-on walkthrough of the repair or replacement process with them.
There are so many ways to build transparency and here are some-
- Carry out a complete inspection with transparency.
- Use software for your Auto repair Service and Management. This will help your customers to track your service, prices, results and other metrics.
- Update them with the auto parts prices
- Update your customer with the repairs done on their cars.
- Customer Feedback
.If your shop lacks reviews or has mostly negative reviews, there’s a 90% likelihood that potential customers will choose not to visit your shop.
Reviews play an important role in acquiring customers. They provide a form of social proof for customers and can significantly influence purchasing decisions.
So, always ask the customer to review your business after completing a job. And don’t use fake reviews, they can negatively impact your business for a long period of time.
Brand Reputation
Brand reputation plays a crucial role with the success of the business. Having a good brand reputation is directly proportional to the success of the business.
. A bad reputation not only drives away potential customers but also makes 87% of consumers cancel their purchase after reading negative reviews or news online.
In a survey of 300 business executives, 90% ranked brand reputation as the riskiest aspect of their company.
Few tips to build a good brand reputation/Strategies for Managing Brand Reputation
- Social Media
Social media plays an important role in your brand reputation. Having a strong social media presence provides a significant advantage in your niche and sets you apart from your competition.While many people overlook its importance, focusing on your social media is essential if you want to achieve success.
Here’s few advice to build a social media presence-
- Educate your audience with quality content.
- Post at least 3 times a week.
- Interact with your audience frequently.
Remember to be patient and consistent.
- Influencer Marketing
We have talked about how to build your own social media audience but now I am going to tell you how to use social media influencers to find your potential customer.
Influencer marketing can be used to reach your potential audiences, with the help of social media influencers you can do more personalized and impactful outreach
Here how you do influencer marketing-
- Find influencers who your potential customer is following and the demographics of your potential customer and do they align with each other.
- Does their content align with your brand and does they follow an effective marketing strategy?
- Find which platform your potential customer is active on.
- And once you found your influencer, reach out to them and strike a conversation and hire them.
Financial Management
Financial management is one of the reasons most auto repair shops fail. Financial management is one of the crucial parts of a business but if you can manage your finances, it can increase your cash flow and increase your profit.
To manage your finances you don’t require an in-depth understanding of accounting, it can be done with just simple spreadsheets.
- Budget Management–
Budgeting can be a tedious process and it only needs to be performed once a year or twice. It will help you find where your money is spent. In an automotive business there are two types of costs, direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs mostly consist of parts and labors. Indirect cost mostly consists of marketing and new equipment, these costs are meant to increase profit or to decrease labor costs.
- Asset Management
An auto repair shop mostly invests in assets and these are mostly equipments.In order to manage assets the revenue generated must be recognized. The effectiveness can be measured with a breakeven point and return on investment(ROI).
Breakeven point is when the asset meets the cost of the asset and ROI is measured by dividing the revenue generated by the cost of the asset. ROI over the life indicate the effectiveness of the asset.
- Financial Statement Management
There are 2 primary financial statements produced by accounting systems. The balance sheet and the profit and loss (P&L) statement. These tasks are often assigned to accountants but it’s best to know the basics of how to read and interpret them. The balance sheet can be viewed as a summary of assets and liabilities. Assets can be viewed as positive.
However, they can also be subject to taxation increasing operating expenses. Liabilities are generally money owed. Money owed to vendors for operational costs is considered short term or current liabilities and loans are considered long term liabilities.
Quick ratio is a ratio to measure the relationship between assets and liabilities. The ratio is determined by dividing quick assets( cash in bank, account received) by current liabilities. A Low quick ratio may mean that the shop could have trouble paying its bills
Digital Marketing
Auto repair shops that develop and implement marketing plans grow their business 30% faster than those that don’t.
So let me tell you some strategies to grow your business.
- Newsletter and Blogs
We have talked about how to build a social media audience but to nurture them we need long form content, and newsletter and blogs are best for that. You know that you have an audience on different platforms. You will find your customers from blogs or newsletter or social media.
So let me tell you a secret. Just write one long form content and then reframe it for your different platforms. It’s time efficient and it will align with your idea on every other platform.
- Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
An auto repair shop should definitely use search engine optimization in its marketing plan. It increases your business visibility on the internet.
To increase your business visibility you need to optimize your website with popular keywords and your layout should be appealing to the customers and encourage them to stay and increase your ranking on the google. SEO can also be improved by your online reviews.
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an important marketing tool in the digital age. Itis used to reach Specific customers instead of a wide audience. It helps bring relevant traffic to your business. This also increases the probability of converting a browsing customer into an loyal customer. If you want to learn PPC on your own, it will require a lot of trial and error to achieve success. Instead of wasting time and money, consider hiring an expert in the field.