Your community today still is the area around your shop and the people with whom you do business. But if you’re not taking advantage of your larger, social networking community, your shop is missing out.
Actually, according to Chris Brogran, president and CEO of Human Business Works and ASRW keynote speaker, you’re missing out on CRAP that can boost your business. He says the community, referrals, audience and passion — CRAP — you utilize in today’s marketing plans is just as important as ever.
Just like how the phone and Internet came into play in your shop, you need to learn how to properly use social media in order to stay in business. Brogan’s keynote address Thursday morning focused on simple ways to implement what you stand for and how you can relate to customers.
“This social media stuff does take time, but prospecting for referrals takes time,” Brogan says.
You can build your community in social media that is based on conversation not advertising. Showcasing your charitable side is a great way to do this, Brogan suggests. You can use Facebook to show that you donated to a cause and encourage others in your community to do so or to like it.
Speaking of likes, if you simply put a “like us on Facebook” option on your website, you can grow your community through referrals, the second part CRAP. And referrals lead to audience, which you can grow through your social media community by utilizing videos, for example. Show them through social media what you do in your shop and get your customers to share short video testimonials.
Brogan dared general session attendees to go one step further and share negative reviews or postings on their sites. By soliciting negative comments, you now have a larger realm to correct the problems and set the record straight.
“And the minute you see only positive reviews, you smell a trap,” he cautions.
“When it comes to guest experiences, you’re thinking of them before they’re there. You’re not advertising to them,” he states, adding that you want them to think of you before they have an accident or need repairs.
Just look at your waiting room and how it’s evolved throughout the years. It’s now clean, comfortable and offers amenities like WiFi.
“You put WiFi on and everyone shuts up,” Brogan jokes. “They’re in there playing Angry Birds and they’re content.”
He suggests taking the customer experience a step further: Why not give them an iPad to use while they’re in the waiting area? “People aren’t going to walk out with them — you’ve got their car!” Brogan says.
Brogan’s keynote address rounded out Thursday’s opening session. CARS Chairman Mitch Schneider and NACE Chairman Ron Nagy welcomed attendees and dropped hints of next year’s show in New Orleans. Automotive Service Association (ASA) President Ron Pyle echoed the chairmen’s remarks, saying that the association would continue to honor where it’s come from in the last 60 years, but recognize that change in inevitable.
“Twenty-nine years of success (as NACE and CARS) says we’re doing the right thing and we’ll continue to do the right thing and change as necessary,” Pyle says.
