It’s a Very Good Time To Own A Good Auto Repair Business, But It’s A Very Bad Time To Own A Bad Auto Repair Business!

Sorry, but this week’s message is going to leave more than a few of you very uncomfortable, annoyed, and maybe a bit pissed off at me. If you’d rather not ruin your day by listening to me uncover several undeniable truths, go ahead and delete this message, unread. On the other hand, if your biz has been skidding on a rough patch lately and you’d like to know how to fix it; read, believe, and act on what I have to say here.

We just came through the single best stretch of economic boom in our history. Low unemployment. Job security. Overnight millionaires were created left and right. Times were good. Repair shop owners were doing well – even if they were sloppy with their marketing, sales, and systems. Their clients were making money, had job security, the future looked bright – so it really wasn’t too difficult to sell them services. Your only competition was the new car dealers that were attempting to sell your clients brand new cars. It was a good time to even be in a bad auto repair business.

But now the roof has caved in. High unemployment. Zero job security. Investment accounts wiped out. People in fear of losing their homes. The good news? People are now forced to keep their cars longer so they aren’t buying new cars – they MUST repair and maintain their current vehicles. More good news – you have less competition because thousands of shops have closed their doors all over the country.

The shops that are still doing well are succeeding because they didn’t need to rely on the economy to do well in the past. They built their businesses on a very strong foundation by building a database of great clients through highly targeted marketing, and then having properly trained sales staff, and put the systems in place to operate a solid business. If you’re in the top 20% of shops that are still doing well, woohoo! Congratulations! You’ve listened, took action, and are reaping the abundant rewards!!!

If your business is slipping right now, it’s because the good economy had propped you up and allowed you to get by with a lot of sloppy (or non-existent!) marketing, training, and/or systems. Now, the thread that had been keeping you in business (the good economy) is now being yanked on and your business is unraveling. For example, your lack of targeted marketing has now left you with a database of low-quality clients that now don’t have any money. Your lack of investment in relationship-building strategies in the past has left you with a small, shrinking list of non-loyal clients. Your poorly trained service advisor that did okay selling to folks when they had money, now struggles to sell even the most needed services.

Now, I realize that I’m generalizing here and if you’re struggling, it could be any one of several dozen reasons. The most important thing is that you take a good hard honest look at your business and get started fixing the problems – fast!!  Your only other option is to get pissed off at me for blaming you for your own problems, do nothing to change your situation, and hope and pray things get better on their own.

How can I help you? If you’re already doing well, what else can I do to help make your business better? If you’re struggling, what would you like to get from me that will help turn things around? Please let me know by writing your comments below.

Best, Ron Ipach

Advice Needed For A Fellow Business Owner …and me too!

I received an email last week from a client that needed some advice. I thought I’d throw it out to all of you to get your thoughts before responding. Here is his problem…

“Ron, I have a particular group of current and former customers of my auto repair shop that I want to get your advice on how to handle the following situations:

– They expect me to give away my services for free. They want me to diagnose their problem and tell them what to do so they can go and try and do the work themselves. Then they get really upset at me for not giving away free advice and complain that I’m always trying to sell them something (Isn’t that supposed to be how I make my money?).

– They never took my advice and maintained their cars when they had the money, but now that their car is falling apart and they don’t have the money, they feel I owe it to them to give them a great price because they are a long-time oil change customer.

– Since I started using your marketing ideas, which I’ll admit are sometimes out of my comfort zone, sales are way up, but I hear a few grumblings from clients that don’t like them. Should I stop doing them?

– With so many businesses struggling now, I want my customers to know that I’m doing well because we do great work and unlike my competitors, I’ll be around for a long time. Some of my customers really resent it and tell me they don’t care about my success and don’t think it’s right that I let them know that I’m successful.

I don’t want to seem like a jerk and blow these guys off, but what can I do? I’d really like to help them, but I’m pretty darned busy dealing with loyal customers that value my services and pay me to perform them. Your advice?”

Soooo…. This got me thinking. As long as I’m asking for your advice for my client, why not ask your advice on how to handle a particular group of my own former clients:

– They expect me to give away my latest strategies, ads, and letters for free and then tell them what to do so they can do it themselves. Then they get really upset at me for not giving it all away for free and then complain that I’m always trying to sell them something (Isn’t that supposed to be how I make my money?).

– They never took my advice and marketed their businesses when the economy was good and they had the money, but now that their businesses are falling apart and they don’t have the money, they feel I should give up my time and help them because they bought my marketing system 5 years ago.

– I’ll admit that the strategies I use to market my business are sometimes out of my comfort zone, but sales are way up, but I hear a few grumblings from clients that don’t like them. Should I stop doing them?

– With so many businesses struggling right now, I want everyone to know that unlike my competitors, I’m not falling victim to the economy because my marketing strategies continue to work extremely well for my clients. Some of these guys really resent it and tell me they don’t care about our success and don’t think it’s right that I let them know that any of us are still successful.

I don’t want to seem like a jerk and blow these guys off, but what can I do? I’d really like to help them, but I’m pretty darned busy dealing with loyal customers that value my services and pay me to perform them. Your advice?

Please give me your thoughts below.

Best,
Ron Ipach