In our daily search to separate our shops from the competition and in our efforts to stand out from the crowd, the knowledge, skills and ability of our technicians, service advisors and managers are highly visible inducements that we often overlook in this important undertaking. It is not nearly as sexy talking about our lead tech getting his L1 certificate as it is planning and executing that blue light special or coupon give-away but in the long term, talking about and promoting the training and professional development of our staff, as part of that broad marketing plan, will do more to establish our viability and reputation than a box full of blue lights, social media being an extraordinary tool to that end.
We of the automotive industry are great for gimmicks and gadgets in our marketing and management efforts and there is nothing better than a plug and play solution, though in my experience, those that actually work are incredibly rare. More common is the rumor of a boxed solution, with reality generally falling somewhere between no appreciable impact and negligible results that barely justify the investment of money or time.
Promoting the quality of our shop and thus, promoting the quality of our staff and the training they have had, is a very tangible way of highlighting the great things we represent to our current and potential customers but it goes one step further than that blue light special by having the appeal of human accomplishment and the presumption of competence that training and experience suggest. There is a huge value in competence and professionalism.
In dealing with tire and repair shop owners from across the country, I had a great client from Spokane, Wash., who explained value to me by describing a diner near his shop that was having cash flow problems. The owner decided they had to raise their prices. Now this diner had been there for 30 years and that same bacon cheeseburger and fries, served by the same waitress, off the same greasy menu, did not seem to justify the proposed 50 percent increase in price. This owner knew a lot of the customers would complain or worse yet, simply move on. He was in a tight spot and needed the cash flow but more importantly, he needed his customers. He had to find a way to show the value to his customers and in this, he had to find a way to save his business.
What he did was to clean up the place a little, replace the curtains and those greasy old menus and more than anything else, he went to great lengths to provide an extraordinary customer service experience for his customers. By doing this he increased the value of that greasy bacon cheeseburger. His customers saw a tangible difference in what they got for their money and though it was the same old burger, it had an increased value for which his customers were very willing to pay. Remember, price is what you pay, value is what you get. Value for us of the automotive repair and tire world is just as easily obtainable and grows as we invest in training.
It is no accident that ASE, among many others, makes their certifications look like diplomas and it is not by accident that they provide very visible, almost gaudy, patches to highlight a technician’s or service advisor’s professional standing. Most new customers walking in our doors don’t really understand automotive repair and don’t care to. Explaining that is our job. If being ASE certified or being BMW trained has value to us and we highlight and market it, I can promise there are customers out there looking for great reasons beyond price to give us a try and highlighted training and skills in our marketing provides that written invitation.
Customers often come in the door talking price because they don’t know what else to talk about. Training, and the skills that grow out of that, make for a great discussion and provide us with the value proposition that will have customers enthusiastically saying yes to our service recommendations again and again. Most customers are looking for a shop to call home and leveraging our training and core competence makes it very comfortable when we invite them in and ask for their business.
National surveys suggest that the automotive repair and tire industries continue to suffer perceptions that say that we have an awful lot of work yet to do, in getting consumers to trust us and to believe in the quality and professionalism of the service providers in our industry. A disproportionately large number of consumers in the automotive repair industry describe their loyalty to their preferred repair shop as “a relationship of convenience”. In other words, they are coming in because we are close to where they live or work and somehow we have failed to impress them with our value, our personality, our quality and most disappointing of all, our service.
Social media are an emerging tool in the marketing world, though traditional marketing methods have not proven to be relevant or necessarily effective in reaching and helping us retain customers. These tools can be extraordinarily effective at putting us out in front of huge numbers of customers and as Stalin said, “Quantity has a quality all of its own” (Before he became a merciless and brutal dictator Stalin owned a three bay shop south of Moscow right?). If we are careful and do it right, social media have the ability to deliver that quantity. An important consideration here is the quality and highlighting our training and professionalism is a very safe and advantageous path to tread in that effort.
I know a successful shop owner in northern Virginia who takes great pride in his ability to drive car count through social media, though he would be the first to tell you that it is hit or miss and more than anything it just comes down to a consistent effort to connect and reconnect with customers. Two of his favorite tactics are to post cute pictures of cats on Facebook, and the second is just a digital photo of an expired inspection sticker. In both cases we are doing nothing more or less than causing an emotional response and all this without a single blue light or 50 percent off coupon in sight. We are humans connecting with humans. It is not clear as to whether or not those cuddly cats actually get customers coming in the door but we are interacting with our customers on a very social and human level and that is always a good thing.
Think that might be why they call it social media? I am sure that the expired inspection sticker has inspired more than one customer to rush down to this shop. Social media is important here and to our industry because in growing numbers of cases, that is where our customers and potential customers are. They are there, we have to be there. Highlighting our training and professionalism as opposed to price in this effort gives us the opportunity to bring value to the interactions we are having with our customers. It might just be me but when I am sending my daughter’s car to a shop, I feel much better knowing they have an L1 Master Technician than I would knowing they have a mangy, flea bitten cat.
Obviously I’m not a cat person but when I need my car worked on, when I’m so dependent on it, there is nothing that builds confidence and peace of mind like knowing that when something in the automotive repair world is broken, a shop is capable by staffing, training and experience of handling whatever it is I would throw at them. Social media and marketing allow me to get that word out and make me a viable automotive repair solution to the masses.
Now I have covered all of the outward facing advantages of leveraging our training, our competence and professional standing but what about inward facing. What do you think happens when I announce to the world that one of my techs has just picked up three ASE certifications or that my long term service advisor just attended the advanced service manager’s course out in Baltimore and I am promoting him to ‘Service Manager’?
Do you think that this might resemble our reinforcing positive behaviors and celebrating accomplishment? Do you think people respond when they are held up and lauded for their dedication that they work hard to maintain that standing? I believe that with all my heart. Hard work and accomplishment breed commitment.
Marketing and marketing through social media in particular are tools that allow us to define who we are and what kind of shop our customers will see. By highlighting our training, certifications and professionalism we take a large step from good to great.
Social media can be a vehicle to greatness.
