II. MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BODY SHOP

Estimate #

Estimate
date

Estimate
Adjustor

Customer
Name

Follow-up Dates
1st 2nd 3rd

II. MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BODY SHOP

When new-car sales are slow, dealers often look to the service and parts departments to increase dealership profitability. Often overlooked as a source of additional revenue, though, is the body shop.

A survey found that 55 percent of Automobile Dealers have body shops.

A survey conducted by an independent firm in 1999 showed that 48 percent of all dealership body shops reported an increase in sales over the previous years. Almost 75 percent of dealers who have body shops expect to be more successful in the next 5 years. Why? Two factors are helping to make this growth possible.

1.	A steady collision repair market - About 10 percent of all vehicles registered in India are involved in a collision each year. In 1990, collision repair was a Rs. 600 Crore business. So body shops will always be needed.
2.	Decreased competition -Insurance companies' and manufacturers' regulations have put a lot of small independent body shops out of business. Dealerships are better equipped to comply with such norms and regulations that affect the collision repair industry.

The following are some inexpensive, common-sense ideas for marketing your body shop. They require a minimum investment of time and effort.

Before you launch a new marketing strategy, you should figure out a few basis things:

1.	How well does your body shop penetrate your local body repair market?

To find out, compare the number of body shops in your market area with the percentage of the business you're getting.

▪	Total number of vehicles registered in your market area
▪	Annual average value realisation in monetary terms of collision repairs per vehicle registered
▪	Collision repair sales potential in your market area
▪	Your body work shop's annual sales
▪	Your actual market share

2.	Who are your customers?

Perhaps your best potential body shop customers are your current and past service customers and new and used vehicle sales customers. Take a representative sample of 100 to 500 repair orders and do an inhouse basic demographic study. What age groups are represented? How old are their vehicles? Where do they live? Are the vehicles owned by individuals or businesses? Are the customers in dual-income households?

3.	What marketing strategies (stimuli) will they respond to ?

The best way to find this out is to try a variety of marketing ideas and track who responded to what.

For example, you could send a letter of introduction to your service customers on Monarch-size (5" x 8") stationery. Offer them a free estimate or a percent off, but tell them that they have to bring in the letter with them and that the offer is good only through a certain date. When they arrive, note who they are. When the cutoff date passes, analyze who responded, again according to gender, age, location, vehicle age etc.

Then try a new marketing tool (postcards, radio ads, direct mail coupons etc.) and do the same demographic analysis. After you have tried several tools over a 6 or 12 months period, compare your results and you'll see what worked best for you. Even a simple "estimate follow-up" can help.

(a)	How to market to insurance companies?

Insurance companies actually pay for about 90 percent of the repairs you perform. They should be treated as your biggest and best customers because they are just that.

1.	Negotiate with adjusters and agents. Negotiation is a vital part of the relationship with insurance agents. It's important to keep in mind that if it weren't for the insurance companies, many body shops wouldn't be in business. So it is in the dealership's best interest to make a concerted effort to establish a good working relationship with the agents and to negotiate and sort out each difference of opinion in a professional manner -sometimes you will win; sometimes you won't.
2.	Keep in touch with them. When people get into an accident, they call their insurance agents. So it's the agent, who sends business your way. Keep in touch with several agents. Make personal visits to offices and claim centres. Send them letters and testimonials. You might even hold an open house for insurance agents. One dealer holds an annual picnic for his insurance contacts. He spends several thousand' rupees on food, beverages and a raffle. He estimates that the event generates five times its cost in body shop business.
3.	Offer them a comfortable working environment. Provide your insurance adjusters with a clean, comfortable place to work in the dealership, with a calculator and other supplies available. Keep them informed. Send letters to your insurance contacts reminding them of the quality of your equipment, the years of experience your technicians have, and your other competitive advantages. If you business has increased, tell them about it.

(b)	How to market to individual owners?

Now we shall focus on how to generate more business from the smallest segment of your customer base - the individuals who pay for their own collision repairs.

A body shop is the kind of business that customers don't know about until they need one. Therefore, your challenge is to let people know you have a body shop. In this paper, we have placed marketing promotions to consumers in three categories: new-owner retention, traffic building, and in-dealership promotions.

New-owner Retention programmes:

Many of the new-owner retention programmes you have in your service department can be done for the body shop too.

1.	Mail letters to new and used vehicle buyers. Letting them know you have a body shop is winning half the battle. You might enclose a magnetic business card for them to place on the refrigerator or a sticker to attach to the vehicle's door jamb (post) or glove compartment. You also could include some discount coupons for rentals, a certain amount of deductible for detailing work. Ask them to place the coupons in their glove compartments. In the letter tell customers about your commitment to service and quality, your technicians' length of service and your body shop equipment. Also tell them that estimates are free.
2.	Give discount coupons to all retail car customers. When retail cars are delivered to customers, have your delivery person hand them coupons for a discount on deductibles, a polish or buffing or detail work.
3.	Attach a towing sticker to service customers' vehicles. Every vehicle that comes into your body shop should leave with a sticker that has the phone number of your 24-hour towing service (whether it's your own tow truck or a towing company that you hire to bring vehicles to your dealership). Let customers know the sticker is there and they are likely to call you the next time any of their vehicles need body repairs.
4.	Send follow-up letters to people who have come in for estimates. Remind them of the reasons why they should let your shop do the work. Encourage them to ask questions about the estimate.
5.	Send a thank-you letter to all body shop customers. Send the letter soon after the work is completed. Enclose the technician's business card so that the customer can call with questions.
6.	Have an automatic car washer. This investment can make a tremendous impression. Make sure the car is washed and vacuumed and that the windows are washed, the ash tray emptied, and the tires scrubbed.

Traffic-building Programmes:

You can build new business in your body shop through direct mail or advertising. Here are four ideas to get you started.

1.	Send direct mail promotions to prospects. There are several ways to develop mailing lists - List of your own current sales and service customers and getting registration lists from your RTO. Direct mail can include coupons or letters. In a letter, tell the prospective clients why you should handle their vehicle body repairs. For example, you could say "our repairs are completed as promised in 99 percent of the time". Of course, you must be able to substantiate your claim. You also could mention your technicians' experience and' testimonials of satisfied customers (with their permission)
2.	Advertise in the newspaper. As with any advertising, you have to run the ads consistently. A few ads a year won't do. Many times, customers don't realise that you work on several models of vehicles, especially if you sell only one or two models by and large. Advertise all the models you work on.
3.	Give local independents an incentive to bring you business. Have your body shop manager go to local service stations and independent service repair facilities, introduce himself, leave his business card, and offer an incentive for sending customers to your body shop. Even if you pick up only one or two additional jobs a month, this way, it's worth it.
4.	Ensure that you have adequate signage. Is it evident to the people who pass your dealership every day that you have a body shop? When it comes time for them to require your services, will they know you're there? In addition to a “Body Shop” sign, your signs also should identify body shop parking spaces.

In-dealership Promotions:

There are several things you can do at your dealership, at a minimal cost, that can increase your body shop business.

Spruce up your waiting area. Just as you do in your service department waiting area, make sure that your body shop waiting ,area is comfortable and clean, with current magazines that appeal to males and females, adults and children. Plants, rugs, pictures and track lighting are inexpensive but add a lot to the ambiance.

1.	Display before-and-after photos and testimonials. Many dealers have had success with before-and-after photos of their customers' vehicles. You can display them on a board or put them in a photo album. This display should include letters from happy customers and/or testimonials. When possible, get phone numbers from your satisfied customers and their permission to have prospective customers call them for a referral. Customers also might enjoy seeing pictures of work in process.
2.	Set up a display case with body shop-related materials. Display body side moldings, door edge guards, polishing/buffing compounds etc. - anything that you sell to retail customers.
3.	Pay service advisors an incentive to generate body shop business. Vehicles that come into your service lane for repairs may have body damage as well. With a little effort, and the right incentive, you can show service advisors how to mark body damage, show it to the customer, offer a complimentary estimate, and notify the body shop of the prospective business. Decide on an appropriate spiff for your service advisors. This certainly generates additional body shop business, but there's an additional benefit - it can protect you from liability. A customer who drove into your service department not knowing that his car had been hit while he was at work may think it happened at your service department, if you don't point it out to him before tie leaves the dealership.
4.	Follow up on sales leads. You should capture more than half of all the estimates you write in your body shop. Keep track of all your estimates and follow-up letters. Those customers who don't come back in or who don't respond to your letters should be called by someone in the body shop.
5.	Until they tell you they've gone elsewhere to have the work done or they ask you to stop calling, consider them active prospects requiring follow-up. If they've taken their vehicles elsewhere, ask why and make a note of it.
6.	Capture all internal work. Don't let your employees send work down the street to the competitor! If they feel that you prices are too high, consider modifying the prices. If you're filled to capacity, hire technicians for another shift. There is no legitimate reason to send work away from your shop.

If you implement some of these ideas, your body shop will be on its way to a larger market share and increased profit.

Sample Estimate Follow-up Log

Back