I Should Be Writing About Something Else Today

With The Auto Repair Event only 18 days away, I really should be writing about all the reasons there are for focusing on your business and discovering new ways to attract and keep customers in this brand new economy that we’re in. Instead I’m going to be writing about the bigger, more important picture – what happens as a result of running a successful business that not only makes plenty of money, but equally as (if not more) important, allows you the freedom to spend plenty of time away from it.

Yesterday was a really bittersweet day for Cindy (my wife) and me, having just dropped off our son Ronny for his first year of college at The Ohio State University. On the one hand, we’re extremely proud of him for blossoming into an amazing young man that we have no doubt will have a positive impact on everyone he meets. It’s an exciting time for him to be going off to college and living away from home. Cindy and I are both kind of jealous because we never had the opportunity to live on campus when we went to college. On the other hand, we’re absolutely torn up to see him go off into the world with out us by his side, ready to protect him if and when he’ll need it. He’s only been away one day and I can’t bring myself to look at his empty bedroom. If you have kids that have already grown up and moved on, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not there yet, brace yourself.

We can’t help but constantly rewind the tapes in our minds, looking back to make sure that we did everything we could as parents to raise him the right way. Did we spend enough time with him? Did we teach him all the right things? Were we positive role models that lead by example? Did we create great memories that he’ll look back on with a great big smile? Is he proud to have us as his parents? Did we show him how much we love him – not just say the words? Questions like these go on and on.

The common thread that flows through all of these questions has to do with the amount of time we had available to spend with him. Fortunately, even though Cindy and I own 11 businesses together, we still easily managed to find lots of time to spend with him as he grew up because we never allowed our businesses to totally consume us like we’ve seen happen to so many other entrepreneurs.

That was by design, not by mistake, because we realized early on that the job of our businesses was to provide plenty of money and free time to us – not the other way around.

Since this is a ‘business’ blog, I suppose that the lesson of this week’s message is to focus on spending time on what really matters to you. If Cindy and I can manage to have plenty of time left over even while running 11 businesses, you surely can learn how to do it with your business too. Oh, and did I mention, I’ll be revealing how we do it at ‘The Event’ in Las Vegas in just 18 days? (Just had to insert that plug in before I was done! 🙂 )

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

PS: If you’re not registered for the Event yet, what are you waiting for? CLICK HERE for details!

PPS: Comments? Questions? Please leave them below.

Wow, I Just Got Hosed Big Time By The Postal Service!

As you may know, I occasionally travel around the country putting on introductory auto repair marketing seminars as a way of attracting new clients. Well for the first time ever, I was forced to cancel two of these seminars that were supposed to happen this past weekend because of a screw up at the postal service. Even worse, that screw up cost me over $13,000.00!

These were going to be my 27th & 28th such seminars, so thanks to a lot of testing and tracking over the past couple of years, I know that I can predict what my results will be in pretty much any city in the United States. I know that 25% of my attendees will come from the first three mailers combined, and that 75% of the attendees will come from my final mailer.

Now here’s where the post office nailed me real good (Probably for the very last time).

The postal geniuses decided that this time, my final mailer – the absolute most important mailer (and the exact same mailer that I had mailed out 26 times before) was not suitable to be mailed, and therefore they decided not to send it out. (They have since admitted they were wrong and the mailer was just fine.)

That’s just peachy, huh? Because my most productive mailing piece of the entire campaign never hit the mailboxes, I lost 75% of my potential attendees. And with 3/4ths fewer shop owners coming to the seminars, I had make the difficult decision to either spend four days traveling coast to coast and only talking with a handful of shop owners, or to cancel both seminars. I chose to stay home and flush the $13,000.00 in printing and postage that I already spent on the first three mailers down the drain.

No, I’m not whining or complaining. I could have chosen to hop on the plane and try and recoup a small portion of my investment. But to me, time is the much more valuable asset to keep.

Here are the two reasons why I’m telling you my story…

First, shit happens. Get over it. I could have spent days or weeks stewing over the injustice, or I can tell a few thousand folks about it in my weekly blog, learn from it, and move on. (That’s what I’m doing here.)

Second, I made the huge mistake of relying on only one source of media to get the word out about the seminars. In this case, when the postal service failed – the whole campaign failed! I should have been smarter and made phone calls, sent emails, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, or anything else.

How about you? Are you relying on only one source (like the highly paid, highly efficient, oh-so-pleasant folks at the postal service) to get your word out? If so, let my story be the warning you need to start collecting emails and cell phone numbers from your clients. That way, when the postal service goes ‘postal’ with your next mailing, you can blast out a few emails and text messages and salvage your entire campaign at a moments notice.

Your thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Best, Ron Ipach http://www.cinron.com

PS: The Auto Repair Event is only 26 days away! If you’re not registered yet, go to www.TheAutoRepairEvent.com for more information, or call 1-866-744-8467.

You Can’t Afford To Ignore This Any Longer

I hope all of my friends in the US had a safe and happy Labor Day yesterday. For everyone else, I hope you had a great weekend and day of work yesterday.

Today’s message is going to be real brief, and hopefully real thought provoking because it has to do with an incredibly important trend that is vital to your business. Here are some stats that I came across the other day with regards to where people in the US are spending their time these days…

• 76% of people in the US actively use the internet
• The average person spends over an hour every month on Google
• The average person spends over an hour every month on YouTube
• And get this… 126 million in the US are on Facebook and they average spending 32 minutes socializing each time they visit!!!
• Even better, 42% of people over the age of 50 (our best customers!) use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter – and that number doubled over the past year!

Lets contrast that to a few other tidbits…

• Yellow Page usage is way down (I couldn’t find any official figures, but you already know this is true)
• Newspaper circulations continue to slide by double digit percentages every year
• More than half of TV watchers record their programs (and blow by the commercials)
• The cost of mailing a letter is going to cost 5.6% more real soon

Soooo…. The majority of Americans are getting online and spending an incredible amount of time while there, and the effectiveness of the ‘traditional’ way of marketing your business is declining quickly and getting more and more expensive. Any thoughts on where you might want to focus your efforts now and into the future??

Your thoughts? Please leave your comments below.

The Best Way To Get Noticed Is To Stand In Front Of (not behind) The Stampeding Crowd!

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

PS: Are you registered for The Event yet? If not, go to www.TheAutoRepairEvent.com right now!

.

The Confessions Of A ‘Plaid Suit’ Salesman

Last week I sent out an email titled, “Zero Cost Advertising for Your Auto Repair Shop that Really Works” that was promoting my upcoming Auto Repair Event in Las Vegas. A few hours later I received an email from a past client that was obviously upset that the email didn’t contain all the nitty gritty details of what my new strategies were, as well as full instructions on how to put them to use.

He called me a ‘plaid suit salesman’ because my email got him so excited about the killer results that I got from testing my new strategies that would produce new customers in his shop without spending a dime on advertising, but then I made the dastardly sleazy switch – in order to get the strategies, it would cost him money to learn all the details on how to put them to work for his shop.

Apparently, unlike with his business, when he packages up his knowledge, expertise, and experience and then markets them to his clients, he’s allowed to get paid for performing them; I’m in an entirely different business. When I market my knowledge, expertise and experience, mine should be given away for free.

Does that sound right to you? Is it sleazy of me to expect to get paid for the services that I perform? If you think so, look in the mirror and ask yourself the very same thing. If the answer is yes, then adjust your business plan accordingly. Then whenever a customer is unwilling to spend any money to fix his car, just go ahead and fix it for him for free. Forget about all the money and time you’ve spent honing your skills for the past dozen years. Forget about the knowledge you’ve gained while being in the trenches running your business. Forget about the enormous risks you take every day as a business owner – because after all, since this guy doesn’t WANT to spend money on his car… he’s entitled to your services for free.

What a great business model, huh? You’ll get quite the reputation in your community, right? Sure the profits will be non-existent. Maybe you can make it up with more volume???

Okay, okay, I know I’ve gone way over the top to show how ridiculous this guy was being. I’m sure you got my point a long time ago since I have no doubt that you’ve dealt with folks just like him and were left scratching your head while trying to figure out their logic. I hope you fired them too.

Since when is developing an excellent product or service, marketing it in a compelling way so that your prospects get excited about having it, and then expecting to to get paid for it, drum up images of a sleazy cigar-smoking overweight balding guy in a plaid suit? Sheesh!

Am I wrong, right, or somewhere in between. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please post them below.

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

Whoops, It’s 8.9.10 Today!

I know this may be a little late notice (I just noticed it myself), but today is 8/9/10 and this unusual event isn’t going to happen again for another 1000 years. Here’s a great excuse to run a special promotion today.

Here are some suggestions…

“Today is 8/9/10. The Next 8 People To Show Up Before 9PM Can Buy Their Next 10 Oil Changes For Only $89.10!”

“The Next 8 People Will Get Brakes Installed For Only $9.10”

“The Next 8 People Will Get An Oil Chance For Only $9.10”

“We’re Rolling Back Prices To What They Were Back On 10/98”

“On 8/9, All Services Performed Will Get A 10 Year Warranty”

I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. Anything with 8’s, 9’s, 10’s will work.

Soooo, since this is pretty late notice (again…sorry about that), how can you get the word out and get response today? Six ways – Email, Text, Voice Broadcast, Fax, Sign (if you have changeable lettering), or hire a dancing clown to hold a sign in front of your shop.

The sign is a no-brainer to use if you have the ability to change messages. And if you’ve been taking my advice and gathering email addresses, mobile phone numbers, home phone numbers and fax numbers from all of your clients, you should be able to get the word out to everyone within the next 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, if you’ve been lazy about gathering this vital contact information from your customers, you may have to resort the dancing clown act.

Good luck. If you put this idea to work for you today, I want to hear all about your great results.

Best,
Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group
http://www.cinron.com

PS: If you’re not yet registered to attend The EVENT, click here to get the latest information, discounts and bonuses.

Why Don’t You Just Give Up?

As some of you know, I always go away on vacation for the entire month of July. Right now I’m writing this week’s blog while sitting on a breezy sunlit balcony, overlooking an oil-free (for now) Gulf of Mexico. I have to admit, the prospect of spending another 3 weeks with these same ‘harsh’ working conditions doesn’t suck ☺.

How can I afford the time and money to go on vacation for an entire month – and more importantly, how can you do it too? Easy. I made the decision to just give up! I threw my hands up and said. “NO MORE!”

No more:

• Trying to do everything myself
• Dealing with pain-in-the-ass clients
• Keeping lousy employees
• Wasting time on unprofitable work
• Allowing people to waste my time
• Dealing with other peoples emergencies
• Doing $15/hour work
• Excuses for not succeeding

When I finally gave up all that crap and fixed all those problems, a wonderful thing happened… I found myself with a whole lot more time and money.

I know this almost sounds waaaay too simple. You probably were looking for some super complicated formula, maybe a map to the holy grail, or the recipe for the secret sauce. But no. Just give up!

Just think of all the time you’re wasting dealing with bad employees and the problems they create? How much of your valuable skills are wasted doing work that could easily be handled by a low-wage employee or an outsourced provider with special skills that you don’t possess? How much time and energy is being sucked up dealing with folks that continue to be a pain-in-the ass, or just as bad, always ask you for favors or special pricing? If you spend just an hour a week dealing with each of these problems, you’re wasting over 360 hours per year (There’s your month-long vacation, plus plenty of extra days to play ‘hooky’ throughout the rest of the year!!!)

And please don’t discount what I’ve said here because you think ‘your situation is different’. It’s not. We all have challenges that we must overcome in one way or another. If a shop owner in rural Canada, 20 miles away from the closest town; a shop owner operating in the ‘poorest city in America’; and a shop owner surrounded by 42 other auto repair shops in the same two-mile radius can all figure out ways to create million dollar businesses – plus find the time to get away and travel – so can you.

Let me ask you, on the list above, what are you holding on to that is more important than you finally being able to accomplish all of your goals and dreams? What are you willing to give up in order to make the change?

Got comments? Please leave them below. I’d love to hear them.

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

PS: SPECIAL TELESEMINAR TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
Are you on the Pre-Earlybird list to qualify for the biggest discounts and bonuses for attending The EVENT? If not, CLICK HERE to get on the list

And The Survey Says… (The Results Are In!)

I hope all of my friends in the US had a happy and safe 4th of July this past weekend. We had a ‘blast’!

If you’ll recall, a couple weeks ago I sent you a link to watch two new video trailers that I’m considering using to promote my upcoming Auto Repair Event in Las Vegas this October. In case you missed it, you can watch them by CLICKING HERE

Thank you to all 1123 of you that watched the videos so far and special thanks go to the 86 folks that responded on the blog or via email with their opinions regarding which was the right video to use. The results were very interesting and instructive because they were split evenly 3 ways: 1/3 preferred the first video; 1/3 preferred the second; 1/3 liked both but either couldn’t make up their minds or they wanted elements of both to be used in the final video. A few of you even used very strong words to convey the strong opinions you felt about each video; love, hate, awesome, crap, nails-on-a-chalkboard, etc.

So what have I learned from this? First, even though I’m sure most of you had an opinion which video you liked best, only a small percentage were willing to tell me what it was. How many opinions – good or bad – are you NOT hearing from your clients about your services? Whatever you’re hearing, multiply them by 10??

Second, as long as the marketing strategy is solid, there is more than one right way to get it done. In my case, I’ll need to use both trailers, otherwise I’ll risk alienating the 1/3 of my audience that would have preferred the other video. How many ways are you advertising your specials? Are you stuck on the same message and using it over and over? If so, you may be losing 1/3 to 1/2 of your audience because they’d prefer a different message or a different way of being contacted by you.

Third, over 1000 folks watched the videos, so I know that a good portion of my audience is willing and able to watch videos online. If your clients are getting online, how much effort are you putting forth to use this totally free way to market your services to your prospects and to stay in contact with your current clients? (Here’s my shameless plug: If you want to discover how to market your auto repair biz online for a teeny-tiny fraction of what you may be spending to do it offline, you definitely need to be at this year’s EVENT! I’ll be showing you in very simple terms how easy it is to do it, or how to get it done for you.)

Finally, test! For the cost of a few hours of my time and a free email, I found out that I’m on the right track. I received a lot of constructive comments, got a lot of folks excited about attending the Event, and heard from a lot of old clients that have been out of the loop for a while. If you’re going to try an unproven marketing strategy with your clients, test it small first. If the results are good, quickly roll it out to the rest of your list. If it fails, you’ve learned what NOT to do, plus you’ve saved a lot of time and money too!

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group     –    www.cinron.com

PS: Are you on the Early-Bird list to qualify for the biggest discounts and bonuses for attending The EVENT? If not, get on the list by CLICKING HERE.

How To Capitalize On This Economy

Even in bad economic times, auto repair shop owners are making more money than ever before. Click the image below to watch a video that was recorded at last year’s Auto Repair Event 2009 to find out how you can do it too.

If you have any trouble watching the video, CLICK HERE to watch it on Youtube.

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

Why Do Some Shop Owners Succeed And Others Fail?

How is is possible for two auto repair shop owners to be exposed to the exact same marketing and management information, at the exact same time, and even be located right across the street from each other – and one shop becomes wildly successful and the other one fails?

It took me years to figure this out, but I have the answer for you. Watch this 13-minute video that was recorded at The ‘EVENT’ for auto repair shop owners in Las Vegas last year.

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO

I wish you all the best of success,

Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group        http://www.CinRon.com

An Apology…

This economy should have easily been a boon to your business. Poor new car sales have given way to more money being spent on repairs and maintenance, but far too many of you have not been able to capitalize on this potential opportunity of a lifetime.

My mistake. I got soft. I worried about what my critics were thinking and saying about me. I listened to everyone that took offense to my very blunt and straightforward approach to teaching the proven principles of personal and business success – a style that had worked very well for thousands of my clients for 12 years – and made the very bad decision to go the ‘warm and fuzzy’ dark side.

It suddenly became ‘okay’ to be mediocre. I stopped flaunting the successes of the ‘haves’ because there were so many ‘have nots’ that were still struggling. I listened to every excuse under the sun, and instead of methodically squashing every one of them, I took the Bill Clinton, “I feel your pain” route. Every word in my weekly messages was scrutinized to make sure I wouldn’t offend anyone.

The result? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! (Well not quite that bad!) What did happen is many of you didn’t get the constant swift kick in the pants that you needed to get your $h!t in gear and do something, anything(!), every day to propel your business forward. Way too many shop owners have taken the ‘ostrich approach’ and have stuck their heads in the sand and are waiting for business to get better on it’s own. The lifeblood of your business – marketing – has become just an afterthought. Even when handed a proven marketing program on a silver platter, most chose to sit on their hands and do nothing at all!

Oh, and the whiners that I listened to and changed my approach in order to get all warm and fuzzy with… they’ve been responsible for a paltry 1.3% of my total income over the past year! (This may be the biggest lesson for you this week – Listen only to your customers that are actually giving you money!)

Sooo… lesson learned. If you’re looking for info on how to be successful in the should-be world, where the skies are sunny every day, cute little cuddly teddy bears frolic with butterflies in flowery meadows, and lies like; “The check is in the mail”, “It’s only a cold sore”, and “It’s supposed to make that noise” are actually true – this ain’t gonna be the place for you any more.

But if you’re looking for info on how to be successful in the REAL WORLD, using the same success principles and proven strategies that are, still to this day, making a crap-load of money for shop owners in this so-called lousy economy – bend over and get ready for a weekly swift kick in the pants.

Comments? I’d love to hear them. Post them below.

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

PS: If you didn’t watch the free marketing video that I emailed to you last week, CLICK HERE.