In the process of creating a car repair shop, an entrepreneur has to overcome many difficulties and solve complex problems. It is necessary not only to find a good location and go through the entire bureaucratic chain when obtaining permits, but also to buy high-quality equipment, get experienced specialists, and convince suppliers of the advisability of providing discounts to the newly created enterprise.

When everything is ready, the entrepreneur approaches the main problem: how to quickly promote a car service and attract customers? It’s great if he has already repaired cars in a garage in the past: this means that some minimum customer base has already been developed. However, relying on word of mouth and waiting for these customers to bring their friends is definitely not worth it: overhead costs can bring a company to the brink of bankruptcy in a few months. Therefore, it is more expedient to think over and implement a comprehensive strategy for promoting service stations, consisting of three stages: achieving impeccable quality of work, organizing customer-friendly service and conducting an effective advertising campaign that takes into account the interests and needs of the target audience.

Principles of car service promotion

Obviously, you shouldn’t try to attract everyone at once - there is a large category of citizens who do not currently need the services of a service station. The need to perform the proposed action arises when three factors coincide simultaneously:

1. The car enthusiast must feel the need for repairs;
2. He must have money to pay for the services of a master;
3. He must have a good reason to contact the service station immediately.

Car enthusiasts rarely come to a car service center with an abstract complaint like “something is wrong with the car”: usually they try to identify the problem on their own. Then, based on this conclusion, they choose a specialist - suspension, clutch, engine. Therefore, the advertisement should inform the client that this particular workshop provides a service suitable for the profile.

1. The company has a dishonest employee who directly or indirectly persuades customers to turn to competitors;
2. Advertising for a car service center focuses on services that are not in great demand in this area or among this audience;
3. The inflated price eliminates all other advantages of the workshop - such as a professional team or modern equipment.

Service station target audience

Potential customers of the car service are all car owners. However, to optimize the advertising budget, this audience should be specified: by understanding who exactly you will be working with, you can reduce the cost of attracting a client. The following factors are considered key:

1. Sales geography. A service station usually serves a small city or a specific area of ​​a metropolis. It is useless to advertise a car service in other regions;

2. Portrait of the visitor. You should not try to attract all car owners at the same time. It is necessary to analyze which clients are more profitable for a car service in order to highlight their common features. Subsequently, these characteristics are the main emphasis in advertising:

• Age of motorists;
• Places of their residence and work;
• Makes and ages of cars.

3. Assortment. When compiling a list of car service services, it is necessary to collect statistics on the vehicle fleet of potential clients, as well as find out the main types and causes of malfunctions in cars of these brands.

How to come up with a name for a car service?

The enterprise cannot operate without a name: the abstract “IP Ivanov” does not at all contribute to creating the necessary image of the workshop. You should think about what to call a car service in advance: when registering in a hurry, you can easily choose the first option that comes to mind, and later realize that it simply scares away customers and instills distrust in them. How to name a company:

1. When compiling a list of names for a car service, you need to give preference to words that are sonorous, memorable and understandable to the common person;
2. The brand should be correlated with the business profile. If you use a term from another industry, you can expect dissatisfaction from misled customers;
3. When trying to come up with a name for a car service center, it is better not to use abbreviations, abbreviations and compound words like “GlavAvtoTehTsentr”;
4. The word must correspond to the interests of the target audience. Some terms appeal to young people, others to older people. Wealthy clients pay attention to more pretentious and loud brands;
5. The name of a car service in Russia should evoke pleasant associations and positive emotions among consumers, and create confidence in the performer.

There are templates traditional for this industry that help you figure out what to name a car service - variants of such names have probably already been encountered by a businessman:

• Names with the words "car", "auto" or "auto";
• Names that include the word “service” itself;
• Names for car service centers with the addition of “motors” or “motors”;
• Original names associated with cars, engines, speed.

Ways to advertise a car service

In the case of a car service, this is:

• Location. All other things being equal, car enthusiasts choose a workshop located closer to home or work;
• Price. If service stations are identical in terms of service level, drivers turn to a car service center with more favorable prices;
• Quality. Price becomes a secondary factor if the workshop is staffed by professionals using modern equipment;
• Reviews. Almost all car enthusiasts listen to the reviews of their fellow drivers.

When studying how to promote a car service, you need to understand that not a single marketing tool is absolutely effective: results can only be achieved through comprehensive measures.

The following types of advertising are known:

1. Corporate identity. The image of an enterprise is formed not only by business cards and logo, but also by other visual design elements - signboards, uniforms, outdoor advertising. All details must correspond to the same style;

• Advertising billboards with directions and a list of service station services are installed along the roadway at a distance of up to three kilometers from the workshop;
• Small signs with the distance to the car service and the direction of travel to it are used in parallel with billboards;
• The sign is installed directly at the turn to the service station;
• A sign for a car service center should be visible already at the entrances to the workshop, from a distance of 50–100 m.

3. Print advertising. All printed materials must contain information sufficient to attract the client's attention. What is important here is accurate, specific data, supplemented by visual illustrations. Promotional materials must include contact information and address;

5. Business cards for auto service can be distributed to customers to provide a discount in the future or distributed in auto parts stores;

6. Booklets with information about service station services and colorful photographs are also distributed through partners or handed to doubtful visitors. Simpler leaflets are distributed at traffic lights, gas stations, in front of traffic lights, as well as in parking lots and parking lots near supermarkets.

7. Advertising in the press. Experts believe that PR materials - articles and interviews mentioning the service station - are the best way to attract customers to a car service center. However, such tools are available mainly to large enterprises, while small workshops are satisfied with advertising units. Where to print them:

8. If there is an automobile or technical magazine in the city, then an advertisement for a car service should be in at least every second issue;

9. In the city newspaper, advertisements are placed in sections about the sale of cars and the provision of services.

11. For radio promotion, they use local stations with a wide audience coverage, popular among car enthusiasts;

12. Regional and federal TV channels will ask for fabulous money for the video, so it’s better to contact city television.

13. Partners. These may include companies working in related areas. Cooperation should be mutually beneficial: for example, partners promote various types of car service services, and the service station, in turn, refers clients to them. Who would be advisable to negotiate with:

• Auto parts stores;
• Car washes;
• Tuning salons;
• Gas stations.

14. Car branding. Workshop workers and owners probably have personal cars that can be used as advertising platforms. Several options are offered:

• On minibuses or trucks, indicate the original name of the car service, list the main services and indicate contact information;
• Passenger cars are marked with the workshop logo or one or two specific services are indicated with an address or telephone number.

15. Souvenirs. Small useful little things with a logo can be given to the client. A pen, keychain, lighter or magnet will often catch the eye of not only the owner, but also his friends, reminding him of the workshop.

16. Non-standard methods. By positioning the service station as a reputable center, you can promote not only specific services, but also the brand itself. How to find clients for a car service:

• Sponsor local car shows and public events;
• Conduct a column on automotive topics on local television;
• Conduct classes for students and graduates of driving schools.

How to attract rich clients?

• Advertising. To attract such clients, a free newspaper will not work: you need to use advertising platforms that are interesting to them. Also, it is advisable to choose a suitable name for the car service, symbolizing prestige and prosperity;
• Recommendations from famous personalities. The very fact of the participation of “stars” in advertising will not impress wealthy consumers. But they may think about the reasons why a certain famous person is already using the services of this car service;
• Promotion technology. VIPs will not take risks and trust their expensive cars to a newly created company. Therefore, you need to work on your brand reputation for years.

How to attract high-ranking clients to your car service:

1. Maintenance should be expensive, but at the same time fully meet its cost in terms of quality and comfort;
2. The service must be built on the principle of exclusivity - many people like to be part of a closed community;
3. For wealthy clients, it is not discounts that are important, but special services, guarantees and minimizing service problems;
4. The lifestyle of VIPs excludes the use of consumer goods, so care must be taken to include the proposed service in their sphere of attention;
5. Brand representative. Organizing a car service center for wealthy clients involves hiring a manager to work with the target audience. His tasks include attending public and private events, communicating with the public and establishing personal contacts with potential consumers;
6. Individual approach. There is no need to wait for the VIP client to arrive at the workshop. The company itself must approach him with a proposal.

Car service promotion on the Internet

The potential audience of car repair shops is gradually moving to the Internet: today even older car enthusiasts actively use virtual services. Moreover, automotive-related resources are among the top ten in terms of traffic.

It should be noted that a company with serious intentions will definitely need a website. Only small service stations and private craftsmen with a limited range of services or a narrow specialization need a landing page, social networks and bulletin boards.

A website is an advertisement for a car service on the Internet, working around the clock. Therefore, when developing it, it is important to place the main emphasis on the professionalism of the performers, modern equipment and quality guarantees. What sections should be on the site:

1. Detailed description of services. Even if the client does not need any of them immediately, he will still remember that the workshop is capable of solving such a problem;
2. Current price list. For each service, it is recommended to indicate not only the price, but also the approximate time spent in hours;
3. Contact Information. We also need a work schedule and detailed directions;
4. Online repair registration form. The manager can call such a client back to confirm the application and clarify the nature of the malfunction;
5. Reviews from real clients. The easiest way is to invite several service station visitors to write reviews in exchange for discounts or bonuses;
6. Helpful information. Car enthusiasts are interested in articles about car repair and maintenance, recommendations from manufacturers, practical advice, and master classes.

Without visitors, the site itself is useless. Therefore, it is not enough to simply learn how to open a car service center from scratch: a business plan for a service station should also include measures to promote the resource on the network using the following tools:

1. Search engine optimization. Users rarely study search engine results beyond the third page. Through optimization, you can ensure that your site ranks first for some important queries:

• Linking to the area is relevant for customers choosing a service station closer to home;
• Linking to the car brand is needed for specialized services;
• Linking to a specific service will help attract users who are faced with a similar malfunction;
• Linking to the names of spare parts and works complements the previous option.

3. First of all, you need to cover queries that describe a specific problem or malfunction;

5. In the settings, you must specify that advertising will only be shown to residents of a certain city or region served by the workshop.

6. Social networks. Using the car service page on a social network, you can study the target audience, notify potential clients about promotions and events, and create a positive image of the service station. Users are interested in:

8. Lotteries and repost competitions, which involve awarding winners with bonus cards or coupons for car repairs;

9. Educational posts on automotive topics in other thematic or regional groups and public pages;

10. YouTube channel. Thousands of car enthusiasts look for ways to solve problems in videos, and therefore will not ignore detailed professional consultations. Such publications should be accompanied by the name and address of the car service;

11. Cards. On interactive maps of Yandex, Google and other GIS, users can study the location of the workshops closest to their home. The label should be supplemented with a photograph of the service station, indicate the address and hours of operation;

12. Thematic forums. By actively communicating on motorist forums as an expert giving useful advice, you can create a positive image of the service station and convince potential clients of the advisability of cooperation.

How to attract corporate clients?

• When choosing partners, business leaders are not guided by advertising in a magazine or on a billboard. The entrepreneur must contact them personally;
• The process of reviewing a commercial proposal and signing a contract may take several months;
• The cooperation scheme involves many specialists from both sides;
• Any transaction requires the approval of a large number of documents - acts, commercial proposals, agreements of intent, estimates.

Classifying corporate customers by size, they distinguish:

1. Small clients (1–5 cars);
2. Important local clients (5–20 cars);
3. Large clients (20–100 cars);
4. Federal-scale companies (more than 100 machines).

Sometimes novice entrepreneurs believe that in order to open a car service center, they must immediately enter into an agreement with a large customer. Such a strategy is irrational - large enterprises place increased demands on service stations:

1. Fixed low prices and wholesale discounts;
2. Constant availability of spare parts;
3. Customer-friendly service mode;
4. Issuance of replacement cars;
5. Full range of services;
6. Possibility of deferred payment.

For a beginner, these conditions may be unbearable: you will have to purchase expensive equipment, expand the space and hire additional staff. Therefore, when thinking about how to develop a car service, it is better to start with small clients in order to move on to larger ones as the production base improves. What methods are suitable for finding corporate customers:

• Participation in exhibitions. Here you are likely to meet representatives of enterprises of various sizes;
• Study of electronic platforms. Companies regularly place applications on stock exchanges and special platforms on the Internet;
• Creation of a customer base. An entrepreneur needs to study the local market for the presence of potential customers with a fleet of vehicles;
• Social contacts. Any connections, recommendations, acquaintances and even family relationships are useful.

Video on the topic Video on the topic

How to retain clients?

When analyzing whether it is profitable to open a car service center, entrepreneurs usually think only about attracting new customers. Meanwhile, business success is determined primarily by the ability to retain regular customers:

• Retaining an old client is several times cheaper than attracting a new one;
• For one new car enthusiast there are a dozen regular ones;
• By re-applying, customers buy much more services;
• About 40% of customers could be profitable with the right interactions.

A businessman must be clear about who his clients are and what they need. A well-thought-out and properly organized structure for a car service center facilitates receiving feedback:

1. Maintaining a client base. Knowing the repair history and contact information of the customer, you can notify him about suitable promotions and discounts on maintenance;

2. Sign up for repairs. Sometimes clients ask about services and even sign up for repairs, and then disappear. By finding out the reasons for such incidents, you can identify shortcomings and understand how to properly organize the work of a car service;

3. Discount cards. Issuing discount and especially savings cards to customers significantly increases the likelihood of their repeated use;

5. Collecting feedback. A few days after the repair, the manager should call the client to find out and enter the following into the database:

• Were the staff polite and friendly;
• Have the technicians explained the causes and essence of the malfunction in sufficient detail?
• Was the repair completed within the stated time frame?
• If there are comments on the quality of work, you need to allow the client to express dissatisfaction and talk it out;
• Ask to rate the service on a ten-point scale.

Even if this is the case, the entrepreneur must carefully consider the entire service process:

• If possible, it is advisable to provide customers with delivery of the car from the site of the breakdown by tow truck or at least towing;
• If the repair takes time, it is recommended to take the client to the nearest stop or metro station;
• The work schedule should be convenient for busy customers. In residential areas, you cannot close at five o’clock in the evening or rest on Saturday and Sunday;
• To demonstrate honesty, you should be sure to return broken or replaced parts to customers;
• Employees who work in a car service center and directly communicate with customers must adhere to a culture of communication, avoid complex, incomprehensible terms, and especially obscene expressions;
• Employees should not complain to clients about wages, working conditions or management policies, or be unenthusiastic about their duties;
• It is imperative to arrange a comfortable waiting area with drinks, a TV, a smoking area and a client bathroom.

Conclusion

Of course, you can pay for the most expensive and effective advertising for a car service, hire copywriters to write positive reviews, and use the best system of discounts and bonuses. However, all these measures will be useless if the entrepreneur is not guided by the principle of maximum comfort for consumers. How to increase the popularity of the workshop:

• The client's time must be valued. The repair must be completed not only on the agreed day, but also by the agreed time;
• If questions arise during the repair process or additional faults are discovered, you should immediately discuss the situation with the owner of the machine;
10 voted. Rating: 4.90 out of 5)

Any service station is interested in corporate clients. Some service station managers say that this is not so, and it is much more profitable for them to work with solvent “physicists” than with large organizations that delay payments, make unrealistic demands on the availability of spare parts and bargain for standard hours, no worse than sellers on the Asian market. This is true. But this does not mean that the corporate client is not interested. This only means that you have not yet learned how to work with it.

On December 26, the Automotive Service Association held a webinar, the topic of which was “Customer service errors when working with corporate clients.” The author of the webinar is business consultant with extensive experience in large automobile companies, coach Yuri Blinov. An online seminar on this topic aroused quite a lot of interest among the public, since seminars on this topic are held extremely rarely. Most independent service stations work in this niche on a whim, using their own experience. And of course, this experience does not always produce the desired results, especially among novice entrepreneurs.

Who is a corporate client?

Yuri Blinov I started by defining a corporate client. This point is very important, since there are several types of corporate clients in the car service market, and for each of them the car performs different functions, therefore, the expectations from the service for such clients will be different. It is very important to determine what function the car performs in the company in order to make a commercial offer to the management of the organization that will be difficult to refuse. For example, if a vehicle fleet generates the main income of a company (transport company, delivery service, etc.), then its owner will be less interested in getting the lowest cost per standard hour for maintenance, but for unscheduled repairs and even a half-hour delay in repairs will be charged to you in full. It’s a completely different matter if the company’s cars are used to service the main business, that is, they play an auxiliary role and are a costly part of the business. As a rule, in this situation, the requirements for repair time will not be so strict, but the client will persistently bargain for the cost of a standard hour. In addition, corporate cars can be purchased for entertainment functions, employee incentives, etc. If you are able to correctly determine his goals before the first meeting with a client, then the chance of successfully completing the transaction will increase significantly.

Which clients should you target?

Traditional division of corporate clients according to words Yuri Blinov looks like that:

From 1 to 5 cars are small clients,

5 to 20 cars are important local customers,

From 20 to 100 - large local clients,

Over 100 are national companies.

Many starting service stations strive to immediately get customers with a large fleet of vehicles. This is not always justified. A large client places increased demands on its counterparties. In relation to a service station this is:

Individual prices,

Availability of spare parts in stock,

Reserve repair capacity,

Convenient (for the client) schedule,

Replacement cars,

The widest possible range of services,

Accounts receivable.

For a beginning car service center, such requirements can be disastrous. It is much easier to recruit several dozen small companies, with up to 10 cars. And gradually increase the client base, attracting larger companies. The company begins to receive a good income from this work approximately 2-3 years after the start of work in this direction. By the way, many large companies prefer to have several service counterparties in order to minimize their own risks. There is no need to be afraid of this either.

How to get past the barriers?

In any company there are people who make decisions (DMs) and people who influence decisions (DIRs). The only exception to this rule are representatives of micro-businesses, in which these two functions are often performed by the owner of the company himself. The LVR is a traditional type of "gatekeeper". His task is to filter incoming information and convey to his management only what, in his opinion, is important. If you want to become successful in the b2b segment, you need to learn how to overcome these gatekeeper barriers. It is worth noting that in large companies there will be quite a lot of “gatekeepers”, since each transaction goes through several stages of approval. It is customary to identify several main roles in any company:

Decision maker (director, manager, business owner),

The manager influencing the decision (in our case, this is the manager who is responsible for the functioning of the vehicle fleet),

Financier (a very important figure who makes the decision whether to allocate money to you or not),

User (driver).

Each of them needs to be convinced of the profitability of your offer. But each role requires its own arguments. The user must make sure that by collaborating with you, his earnings will not be lower, and his work in the company will not become more difficult. The financier must be convinced that cooperation with you is the most profitable in terms of price-quality ratio. The person influencing the decision may be interested in the prospects for the company's growth, and, consequently, his own growth. If you make these three employees your allies, then with a high degree of probability we can say that the contract will be in your pocket.

Deal stages

There are several rules that should be followed when working with large corporate clients.

1. Rule one. Never try to sell a car or service at the first meeting, and especially when you first call the company. You need to understand that when you contact a potential client for the first time, you are committing the so-called. "cold contact" They don’t know you and aren’t ready to talk to you. You are distracting them from their work. Your task is to “warm up” this call - to switch to personal contact with a potential client even before the first direct contact. Every sales manager has their own way of doing this. The ideal option is a recommendation from you, but this does not happen often. You can warm up contact through preliminary communication on social networks, Skype, and so on.

2. Rule two. A meeting with a potential client should include a proposal. This should not yet be a specific commercial proposal with budgets specified in it. It may sound too American, but it should be a sentence like: “I want to invite you to earn more money.” After all, this is precisely the goal of any commercial organization. Naturally, you must describe in great detail how you will help achieve this goal.

3. Rule three. Be prepared for objections. There is no need to react poorly to objections. It's better not to oppose at all. Use objections as an opportunity to meet with the potential client again. Write down in detail what your future partner disagrees with and promise to look into these issues in more detail. When dealing with objections, you must be demonstrative and demonstrate your competence and knowledge of the issue.

4. Rule four. A commercial proposal is a proposal for discussion. If the client does not immediately agree to accept it, this does not mean that he completely refuses the services you offer. In case of refusal, it is necessary to invite him to discuss in detail those clauses of the contract that cause his objections.

5. Rule five. Don't pay kickbacks. In the long run, this practice turns out to be detrimental to the company. If a business owner finds out about the existence of such a practice, the consequences for your company will be most unpleasant, from irreparable image losses to criminal prosecution, since no one has repealed the article on commercial bribery.

Naturally, the scope of our article does not allow us to fully tell you about all the nuances that were voiced during the online seminar, as well as cover all the questions that were asked to the speaker after the completion of the main part of the webinar.

In conclusion Yuri Blinov drew attention to the fact that with the signing of a contract, work with a corporate client does not end, but only begins. Your success in this type of business directly depends on how well you serve it. Investments in attracting a new customer are usually much higher than investments aimed at retaining them. Customer retention is entirely up to you. You don't need active advertising for this. There is also no need to actively work “in the fields”, go to meetings, or negotiate. All you need is to do your job well, don’t forget about working with clients and keep up with your competitors.

Today’s article will be more practical than theoretical, as I will describe the promotion of a car service using a specific example, so that you have a clearer understanding of how to promote your companies on the Internet. I will say right away that these are not empty words, because this is exactly the scheme we used to promote our client’s service station.

So, let’s say that you have your own car service, that is, a car service station. By the way, it’s quite a profitable business, except for the expensive barrier to entry into this business. But that's not what I'm talking about. Let's imagine that you already have your own service station, fully functioning, there is a certain flow of customers, but this is not enough for you and you would like even more.

Where to start promoting a car service

To begin with, I would draw up a marketing strategy, that is, I would describe exactly what goals and benefits I want to get from this as a result, as well as the most detailed step-by-step plan for achieving my goals. It's corny, but it's necessary!

What could be the goals and benefits?

Alternatively, this is an increase in the flow of customers by 500 per month, profit by 200 thousand, company recognition, and increased loyalty of regular customers. This is all conditional, but as close to reality as possible. You should not take numbers out of thin air, but clearly calculate everything, because if, for example, a service station cannot handle more than 300 clients per month, then there is no need to attract 500 clients, because your employees will already be at maximum capacity.

In addition to maximum workload, do not forget about financial investments in promotion, because... if you are financially limited, then you need to proceed from your current capabilities, and not from your “wants”.

Once you have written down your goals and benefits, you need to move on to developing a strategy for promoting your car service.

First of all, we need sites to which traffic will be driven. This is a website and groups on social networks. If the budget is minimal, then you need to limit yourself to a website and 1 social network. network.

What should the site be like?

You can, of course, make one landing page, but then it will turn out to be very long, and as you know, in 90% of cases people scroll the first 2-3 blocks of the site. Therefore, it is better to make a multi-page site with separate tabs.

In addition to the selling website, I would start a blog on the same domain and write articles on automotive topics. This will further inspire confidence among customers. Plus, this will generate search traffic in the future, but more on that later.

So, we prepared the website. Next, you need to create groups on social networks. To begin with, I would take up VKontakte and, possibly, Odnoklassniki. I have already written a very large material, so re-read those articles again so that you have detailed information.

What traffic sources to use

Of course it is. In Direct, advertising will be launched on search and YAN, as well as retargeting. Adwords has the same thing, plus banner advertising. The only thing, keep in mind that Google’s traffic on Google’s display network is mostly of poor quality, so be careful with display media so as not to waste your budget.

If the budget allows, then in addition to hot and warm requests, I will definitely use cold traffic through YAN. This will not provide a lot of targeted traffic, but it can be insulated by filtering the text in the ads so that the site is visited by as few uninterested people as possible.

After contextual advertising is set up and launched, we will start launching traffic on social networks.

will have the least success here, since the service is in demand when something breaks down in the car, so there is no point in running teasers all the time. The only targeting you can use here is post promotion.

I would put more emphasis on city public pages and buy advertising in them. Also, to more quickly increase the size of the group, I organized a competition and advertised this particular competition. This option will give a good return not only for subscribers, but also for clients.

When posting, I would ask my friends and acquaintances to write positive reviews about the service station in the comments - this will increase trust among other group members. Only if you use this method, you need to build it in the form of a dialogue, a conversation, and not just stupid reviews.

I would also add bots to the group so that it is not initially empty. This won’t give you a lot of traffic, but the group will be in a higher place in searches on VK. And given that internal search in VK is becoming increasingly popular, over time this will provide good, additional traffic. But the main thing is not to overdo it, so as not to get blocked from VKontakte.

I would also definitely use SEO

Most likely, in 6-8 months, for many queries in this niche, it would be possible to bypass all competitors, since basically, this business is carried out by people far from the Internet, and SEO contractors, in general, do their work not very well. Therefore, you can enter the TOP-3 very quickly.

If the budget allows, then we will definitely post on 2-3 city websites, and also be sure to add free and paid advertisements in Avito.

In addition to the above-mentioned traffic sources, I would start a channel on YouTube and constantly post video clips there. Taking into account the fact that video content has been developing very strongly over the last 5 years, this will give not only traffic, but also additional loyalty from customers.

Be sure to monitor your online reputation

Yes: 2GIS or any other directories. Therefore, I would constantly ask my friends, acquaintances, as well as clients, for some kind of bonus, to write reviews about my service station.

Understand: people are herd creatures. And if they write a lot of good reviews about you, then with a high degree of probability they will turn to you. But keep in mind that reviews must be real and believable. If the opposite turns out to be the case, then one or two negative reviews can drive away a large number of customers.

Important!

And the most important thing is to do your job very well! If we take the service station niche, there is a lot of deception going on there. And if you do the repairs very efficiently and openly, then even with a value higher than that of others, there will be no end to customers. For example, I’m ready to pay more, but I’ll be sure that the car is made with high quality and won’t break down again after a month.

Budgets

As for the budget for promoting a car service, in this case, taking into account the development of the website and money for advertising in the first month, it can amount to an average of 60-80 thousand rubles. But it depends on the region.

Conclusion

In general, this is all about analyzing the promotion of service stations. If you have a related business, then this model is most likely applicable to you, as I tried to show a universal way of promotion.

But if suddenly this model is not applicable to you, write your niche in the comments and perhaps I will do a detailed analysis specifically for your business.

In this article I will talk about my experience in promoting automotive websites and, in particular, car service centers. The recommendations from the article will help you quickly promote a car service and avoid many mistakes. I started promoting my first automotive website in 2007. Since then, dozens of different sites have passed through my hands, and our agency has made many auto projects leaders in their niches.

Mistake 1: Queries are too general

As a rule, car service owners strive to bring their website to the TOP for the most common queries. For example, “service” or “car service,” but these requests do not bring the most profitable customers to the site. For example, your service specializes in Japanese brands, and with the request “car service”, owners of domestic cars, German foreign cars, etc. can search for services. You will pay for all visitors.

The most profitable clients come with specialized requests that take into account your range of services. For example, “automatic transmission repair”, “BMW suspension repair”. The more specifically the client’s need is expressed in the request, the higher the chance of receiving an order.

Mistake 2: superficial processing of queries

Not everyone knows about cars. Not everyone understands that potential clients can use dozens of different words and their combinations to search for the same service. “Chassis repair”, “chassis repair”, “knocking in the suspension” - customers can ask very different requests in search of a solution to their problems (find a service to repair a car), and these requests are not always on the surface. The more suitable queries are collected, the more search visitors your site will receive. To collect all the relevant queries, you need not only to understand SEO, but also have knowledge in the field of auto repair.

Mistake 3: Semantics does not take into account the location of the service

This problem concerns car service owners in large cities. Many customers prefer to find a car service closer to home. Therefore, for example, in Moscow, potential clients often formulate requests indicating the area or even the street where they want to find a service.

If you have one car service in Moscow, process requests indicating the area and street where your company is located. If you have a network, process such requests for each point.

Error 4: Missing directory

Many car repair shops do not strive to develop websites, not considering the Internet as a serious sales channel. For example, information about all services is added to one page, but separate pages for each service are not created. Result: low positions in Yandex and Google and low site traffic. We recommend writing a separate text for each service and including links to related services (this will increase the average bill).

Mistake 5: sites with little information content

A car is quite an expensive thing, and it is difficult for people to trust a car to an unfamiliar company. Your website should instill confidence in the car owner. This can be done through competent design, high-quality texts that show professionalism, photos and video materials. It is important to post “live”, but professionally taken photographs on the site. If you do body repair, photos “before” and “after” the repair will help attract customers. It is important to protect photos with watermarks, since automotive-themed photos are often borrowed by competitors.

A high-quality, well-designed, developing website can bring a car service many customers. However, to get such a sales channel, you need to take into account the typical mistakes listed above and avoid them in your project. With the right approach, even in the region, a car service website can receive hundreds of visitors a day and dozens of calls and orders, not to mention Moscow.

How to promote a car service is of interest only to those entrepreneurs who look to the future and care about their business. Today, all business is on the Internet and even small firms or even private craftsmen have their own websites; those who do not even have such an opportunity, they register in various directories and open groups on social networks. But this approach is ineffective, if you are engaged in car repairs and also additionally sell spare parts, then you should get an online store with good functionality.

But we have a question : “How to promote a car service?” To do this, in our article we will highlight several main points and mandatory activities that will help you have a constant influx of new clients. Based on our own experience in promoting auto parts stores and car service centers, we can highlight two main rules of our own, which are given below.

How to promote a car service - rule No. 1

Material base, human resources.

If you, say, are engaged in Nissan repair, you need to provide a full range of services only in this area, to become the best in your specialization. To do this, you need to have the right tools, the right craftsmen, i.e. fully prepare the material base and human resources. Perhaps you are a universal car service and take on everything, this happens most often. But not always, customers remain satisfied with such car services, firstly, car repairs can take many weeks, and secondly, the quality of service leaves much to be desired.

So, the rule is - be specialists in your field, don’t spread yourself thin, find a niche in the car service market, don’t dilute your car service for all brands of cars.

Geographical location and internal space of the car service center.

It is very important when you are going to open a car service to decide on a location, because your profit depends on how conveniently and quickly you can get to you. Otherwise it will be difficult - promote a car service. Have you ever wondered why there are always queues at official dealers, for example Volkswagen or Ford. Yes, many people complain that their service is expensive, but this does not make them fewer clients. Yes, because it’s simply pleasant to be with them: here they treat you with respect, smile and help; everyone is neatly dressed; there are waiting rooms; here you can monitor the progress of repairs through special monitors; and also such auto centers are conveniently located, the buildings are modern, and the interior is surrounded by high service and comfort.

So, the rule is - if you are just starting out, find a box in the center where you can get to without traffic jams, at least paint the walls inside white, dress your craftsmen in branded workwear, organize a leisure room for your clients.

How to promote a car service

Automation of car service.

This implies the use of information technology, special business automation programs, as well as an online store website. Promote a car service– today you can only do it via the Internet. Give up notebooks, notepads and Excel.

No computer can hold so much information, and not all entrepreneurs can afford to buy a server and spend considerable sums on its maintenance. And here “cloud technologies” come to the rescue, which, by the way, have been implemented in our program.(LINK TO THE PAGE). Here you can store unlimited amounts of information for an unlimited time.

In any business there are ups and downs, so if suddenly the flow of clients decreases, which incurs losses, you open your chest with the numbers of your clients and make a mass mailing, which, by the way, is also implemented in our program. But you shouldn’t abuse this; it’s easier to establish a trusting relationship with the client and make sure that he always comes to your car service center.

How to promote a car service - rule No. 2

Key points for promoting a car service and attracting customers:

Smart marketing.
There are many definitions of the word marketing. In simple terms, marketing is ways to attract and retain customers. How to promote a car service without losing your grip. Our three points of mandatory activities are your base. Your clients must attract clients, so that rumors about your car service are passed from mouth to mouth, this is called reputation and you need to build it up by the quality of the services provided.

Online advertising and the Internet.
If you have a website, then you can use contextual advertising services from Yandex-Direct and Google, promote a car service, it's much easier that way. If you don’t have a website, then you will soon be supplanted by your competitors, who have not only a page on the Internet, but also services such as pre-registration for services.

Advertising for car service

By the way, with our program you can connect the online store option so that your clients sign up for your services - and you will get a functional website with high conversion.(LINK TO PAGE) It is important that your site is indexed by search engines; for this you need to register the site in thematic directories such as Double GIS, etc. It also doesn’t hurt to create groups on social networks where you must include a link to your website.

Off-line advertising.
Some sources advise submitting advertisements to free newspapers, advertisements in which naturally cost money. A dubious idea. Answer yourself the question of how often you personally turn to such sources. As a rule, free newspapers with advertisements are several pages, where a bunch of advertisements are printed in a not always readable font and there is not even an empty square centimeter. So think about whether it’s worth spending time and money, albeit small, on such advertising. An effective way to promote a car service is to distribute your own printed products: business cards to the traffic police (where car owners turn after an accident), distributing coupons with discounts in traffic jams (your entire target audience is in traffic jams).

All articles What equipment is needed for a car service?

How to properly advertise your car service

The main wealth of any service is its customers and their trust. But in order for a client to come to your service and stay with you for a long time, or even better, forever, you will have to work hard. Success in attracting and retaining customers has many components. Ignoring at least one of them greatly reduces the overall effectiveness of the fight for the client. Car service advertising in the media is one of these components.

All car service clients can be divided into three categories:

1. Regular customers - those on whom your client base rests, those who tell others about your service in enthusiastic tones, those whom you need to groom and cherish.

2. Clients who contacted you for the first time based on a recommendation or an advertisement; Their trust must be won and flattering recommendations confirmed.

3 . Clients who came to you by chance. Perhaps they will also join your regular customer base.

It is believed (at least that’s what they say in smart articles and books) that there can never be too much advertising, just like clients. The manager or owner must constantly promote his service. At the same time, they list various types, starting with “word of mouth” (dwelling on it, albeit enthusiastically, but in passing), and ending with advertising in external sources - as a rule, in the media. Let me agree with them only partially.

I won’t say that they ask a lot of questions about advertising. These questions that come to me, among all the consultations, are far inferior to questions on taxes, service management, personnel, and even labor protection and fire safety. But we receive quite a lot of requests to place an advertisement for a car service in the magazine. Obviously, most owners or managers of the service either believe that placing an advertisement somewhere, without analysis, is already enough, or do not pay due attention to this issue. In a series of articles on this topic, I will try to tell the basics of advertising that are necessary for a manager, and consider typical mistakes made when conducting an advertising campaign.

I will not describe the basics of advertising - enough articles and books have been written on this topic. Obviously, a director who decides to deal deeply and seriously with this issue should stock up on literature or contact an appropriate specialist. True, there is a difficulty here too. Personally, I have met, unfortunately, very, very few who understand the specifics of car service well. Moreover, this applies to both the provision of services by the station itself and the sale of spare parts, materials, and services to car services.

Let me make a reservation right away: when talking about advertising, I will not talk about a sign above a car service center or about a roadside sign indicating the location of a service center. We will talk about advertising in various newspapers, magazines, radio or on big boards, i.e. about advertising, which is costly for any organization.

So. Does the number of clients on your service leave much to be desired? To attract customers, have you decided to advertise your service? Good deed. But... You may have already made the first mistake. The lack of clients is not a reason to immediately spend money on advertising. Let's consider several situations.

Newly opened car service

If you have just opened a car service, then analyze several factors:

— types of work performed;

— station location;

— personnel qualifications and team climate;

- financial opportunities.

For example, if the service is located in a busy place, is clearly visible and provides services such as tire fitting, oil changes and other consumables, then there is no need to spend money on advertising at all - a bright sign is enough. If the team has not yet formed (high probability of turnover), its qualifications are unclear, then attracting a large number of clients whom you will not satisfy will do more harm than good. And no one will return your money and time. You should not immediately start an advertising campaign if a new service has opened in place of the old one. Here you have to find out the “pros” and “cons” of the previous service, and, preferably, not so much from the words of the landlord or others, but from the words of the client. In my practice, there was a case when the negative attitude of clients towards the previous service forced new tenants to move out. In this case, neither the highly qualified personnel nor the advertising company helped.

A car service with a history

— a new service is provided that will be of interest not only to old, but also to new clients;

— lack of clients on the service.

Typically, it is the introduction of a new service that aims to better satisfy existing customers and attract new ones. But, let’s first calculate whether our service is capable of passing through a sharply increased number of clients (hereinafter, I conditionally believe that advertising increases the flow of clients), or is it enough that the old ones, using this service, will increase the profitability of the service and download new work site.

For example. You have fully loaded chassis repair areas (your regular customers) and an engine and fuel diagnostics area (your clients, clients of other small services and occasional visitors). You are introducing a new service - wheel alignment. It is clear that at the initial stage this post will not need advertising, since it will be provided with work from all these cars.

Promotion of a car service: how to quickly attract customers and promote a service station

Moreover, the remaining posts will be loaded using other services.

The case of a lack of clients is more complex. There are a number of factors that need to be analyzed here.

Seasonality. If the absence is due to the New Year holidays (and this is approximately from December 15 to February 1, depending on the level of service, specialization, etc.), the May holidays (from approximately April 25 to May 15, depending on Easter and memorial days) or holiday season (approximately from July 20 to September 10), then you should not be upset. On the contrary, use this time to improve skills (yours and your employees), expand the services provided

services, purchasing equipment, putting things in order or repairing the service.

Here we are also dealing with deferred repairs. That is, with those works that car owners postponed to a later date (for example, replacing shock absorbers from winter to spring).

Based on the above, it becomes clear that advertising during the “off season” is a lost cause. The response, if any, will be minimal. But advertising placed on the eve or during the season is most effective. It is at this moment that clients are looking for where to service their iron horse.

Personnel qualifications. The most painful topic for a leader. It is discussed in the “Management” section of the “Auto-Master” magazine and at seminars held by the Association of Auto Service and Tuning Specialists. It is clear that without putting personnel in order (training, attracting specialists or luring them away), there is no point in spending money on advertising.

Station specialization. To understand this point, consider an example. You specialize in servicing inexpensive domestic cars. The financial situation in the country has worsened - customers have no money, gasoline is becoming more expensive. To save money, the client does some of the work himself. In the above case, this applies not only to changing the oil or brake pads, but also to more complex repairs on the chassis or engine. Add to this the increased service interval for replacing consumables. Thus, the focus of the service on this fleet of cars led to a decrease in the number of visitors. And if not because

You have analyzed your situation and decided to advertise. Let's think about where to do this. Let's start with a typical situation not only for a car service center, but also for companies selling spare parts, equipment, etc.

The editorial office receives a call from a reader: “I’ve been reading your magazine with interest for a long time. Now I want to place an advertisement for my station with you!” It would seem something simpler. If I read this publication and like it, then others will read it and see my ad. This is the main mistake. Just because you like a magazine or newspaper does not guarantee that your potential clients are reading it.

In the example above, the reader wanted to place an advertisement in “Auto-Master” aimed at attracting customers to his universal car service center, specializing in car servicing. At the same time, it was not taken into account that the magazine’s audience was services similar to it, and not car enthusiasts or corporate clients.

Another example. Advertising in a car magazine or a "Buy and Sell a Car" magazine. This is a bit more complicated. The main audience of such a publication is people looking for a new car. Naturally, today they are far from interested in repairs or maintenance. The remaining readers of such a publication will, of course, pay attention to your ad, but the question is whether the investment in advertising will pay off.

Here we need to make a small digression and talk about a very important parameter for assessing the cost of investment in advertising. I call it "call cost". Let me explain with an example. The cost of an advertisement in publication X is 100 rubles. Based on the ad, 2 people called us. Thus, the cost of their call for you is 50 rubles. In publication Y, the cost of the ad was 200 rubles and 10 people called based on the ad. In this case, the cost of the call is 20 rubles.

Very often, the one who advertises chooses a publication with either a low advertising cost or a very high one. In both cases, we either have an incorrect definition of the readership as potential clients (this is most often the case), or a choice of publication based on the “I like” principle.

Therefore, before you decide to advertise, you need to understand exactly who we want to attract and what they read or at least view. Agree that a client who has a two or three year old Mercedes will most likely not pay attention to a piece of bad paper with advertisements of various types thrown into the mailbox.

Conversely, the owner of an inexpensive car is more likely to take a publication distributed free of charge through gas stations, mailboxes, or read a newspaper distributed at intersections.

Before you engage in advertising (not only in the media, but in general), you need to clearly understand: what suits large companies, for example, those selling auto parts, often does not suit a car service center - a car service center sells services. And in selling services, the main thing is to build trust in yourself. Therefore, ideally, it is necessary to advertise the quality of the services provided, but this is extremely difficult to do. And I don’t have a ready-made universal solution. Usually services set a simpler task - to force the client to come.

Smart books advise finding a “unique selling proposition.” For most universal service managers, this is an overwhelming task. If you find a “unique selling proposition” in your car service, honor and praise to you, perhaps you should change your qualifications and go into advertising. It’s another matter if your service has a narrow specialization - for example, repair of fuel equipment for diesel engines. Narrow specialization allows not only to have highly qualified personnel, but also a “unique selling proposition.”

This “unique selling proposition” can, of course, also include price. But think about whether such advertising will play a cruel joke on you. During the winter low season, one large Kiev station posted on the radio an offer to paint a car with fashionable materials at a fairly low price. I don’t know how many clients they managed to attract, but there was talk that the company had problems among clients, among fellow competitors, and among suppliers. I would like to hope that their advertising had at least some effect, although I doubt it.

Thus, before engaging in advertising, and anyone, not just in the media, the manager must clearly understand how much he needs it, what consequences an increase in the number of clients will lead to, for what categories of clients it will be intended, where to place advertising, how it should look, when to carry it out.

We have already considered some of these issues, the rest will be considered in future publications.

To be continued…

Andrey Obmanshchikov
Auto-Master

Promotion of auto body repair service stations

Good day! I continue the series of articles about the service station business plan and, as previously promised, today I will write an article about how to advertise a service station correctly.

How to advertise a service station

As a rule, an advertising company is one of the most expensive items, especially when opening a service station, while quite often novice entrepreneurs spend a lot of money on advertising and everything would be fine, BUT most of the money is simply wasted.

What kind of advertising attracts customers to service stations?

Let's look at where the owner of a service station should advertise:

1. Business cards. I already mentioned them in the business plan. Be sure to order business cards, just not cheap pieces of paper for 2 rubles, order colorful laminated business cards.

   Car service as a business and personal success

   You can place these business cards in auto parts stores, and you can agree with the owners of car shops so that they will place your business cards, and you, in turn, will place their business cards at your place;

2. Printing colorful booklets. These booklets are ordered from a printing house, where you can also order business cards. The booklets are distributed free of charge to the mailboxes of city residents. The booklet must contain the name of your service station (if you have not done this yet, then it’s time to think about it, the name should also be on business cards), the address and telephone number of the service station. If you cannot come up with an interesting name for a service station on your own, then simply google the Internet and take it from there. Just try to make sure that the name of your service station is unique in the city (that is, only for you). And of course, the booklets can describe in detail the types of services provided;
3. Advertising in elevators. This type of advertising works well for the entire service sector, including service stations. The layout size should not be too small, because then it will simply be a waste of money;
4. Radio advertising. Advertising here is a must. Only the radio should be promoted and broadcast to the local category. Many car enthusiasts listen to the radio. But before advertising on the radio, you need to determine your competitive advantage over other service stations, that is, the reason why a car enthusiast should come to you;
5. Car magazine. Almost all large cities have auto magazines; I myself live in a small town and we don’t have such a magazine. If an auto magazine is published in your city, then advertising of your service station should be there on an ongoing basis. However, pay attention to the circulation of the publication and the method of its distribution. For magazines with a circulation of less than 5,000 copies. There is no point in advertising. Also, some publishers simply deceive and indicate the wrong circulation of the publication. Therefore, for the first time it is worth coming to the publishing house and seeing how many magazines are being distributed;
6. City newspaper with advertisements. Almost every city has such a newspaper. There are two ways to place advertisements in such a newspaper. The first is in the form of an advertising module in the car sales section (in the module, list the types of services provided by your service station) and additionally place an advertisement in the “Services” section as from a private person about car repairs. If there are several such newspapers in the city, then, of course, place advertisements for your service station in the most popular one with a large circulation;
7. Service station advertising on television. In general, the cost of such advertising is quite high, but in every city there is a so-called TV newspaper in which the prices are not so high and the effect is much better (advertising in the form of videos and creeping lines should not be given, as this is very expensive);
8. Internet advertising. This type of advertising should not be neglected; the most effective is Yandex Direct contextual advertising, as well as advertising on social networks. In order to give such advertising, it is worth ordering a website business card for a service station with a list and cost of services, as well as contact details and address;
9. Word of mouth. With high-quality service and performance of the work itself at a high level, people themselves will begin to recommend your service station to each other. This type of advertising can only be influenced by high quality service and not high prices.

Advertising that does not work for service stations

1. Free newspapers. With a gigantic circulation and almost zero efficiency. Such newspapers have zero value for citizens and are very annoying; such newspapers are a relic of the past. And if you take into account that the cost of advertising in such publications is simply prohibitive when comparing price and quality, then it is better to refuse it;
2. Advertising on and in transport. This type of advertising works poorly because there are quite a few potential clients in public transport, and if there are, your advertising will either not be noticed or simply ignored;
3. Plasma panels. It doesn’t matter what kind, on the street, indoors, at payment terminals, wherever they try to stick them. This advertising does not work for almost any activity;
4. Billboards. Advertising on billboards is image advertising and is not suitable for attracting potential customers;
5. Outdoor advertising.Requires coordination with the architecture of the city, but that’s not scary, the cost of such advertising is quite high, you won’t hang this banner in one place, for the effect it must be placed in at least 5 places where there is a large transport interchange (then it will make sense);
6. Posting advertisements. Despite the fact that the service station belongs to the service sector, posting simple advertisements does not have a strong effect.

This is where I will end my review; if you have any questions, ask them in the comments or to my VK group “Business Secrets for a Newbie.”

Happy business!