Planning, marketing, technician training, honesty, and top-notch work help earn repeat business.
Keeping your service bays full and profitable is a top priority for most service providers. When I first worked on this story, my mind raced back to the days when I was a completely customer-dedicated manager at a Goodyear Tire Service Center, and later, a mammoth Chevrolet dealership. Back then, automotive aftermarket customer satisfaction and customer retention was every company's main concern and objective. It still is today. As we all know, it costs much more to bring in a new customer than it costs to keep an existing customer.
HOW TO GENERATE NEW BUSINESS IN-HOUSE
Customers appreciate free and honest preventive maintenance advice—it keeps them coming back. My Goodyear customers happily appreciated assurance their car was in good mechanical shape. Not many customers followed a routine maintenance schedule, so they always seemed surprised when told their pride and joy was in need of servicing. What kind of service did they need, you ask? Dirty engine oil and aged, burnt transmission fluid must be changed. Engines often needed tune-ups; we found leaky, worn shock absorbers and rusted, thin—and sometimes leaking—exhaust pipes and mufflers.
Once the customer agreed to the work we suggested, we ordered selected aftermarket parts from the local warehouse distributor and completed the installation or repair. It was a win-win-win situation.One truth left unchanged over time is that courtesy and honesty to both potential and present customers goes a long way in filling service bays. Customers will always stay with those who are honest and responsive. Customers indeed love to brag to their friends about how good their auto service provider really is. The opposite is also true. But that's another story.
PRE-ORDERING PARTS FOR QUICKER REPAIR SERVICE
Today, most metropolitan service providers use inexpensive computer programs to review and study which parts and services they sell daily, weekly, and monthly. Data is usually broken down automatically by part number and vehicle make. A manager can also create a number to alert him or her when it is time to re-order. Also, many urban independent service providers have warehouse distributors who gladly offer delivery anywhere from minutes to a few hours. This is nothing new. During my 1960s college years, I worked at a large NAPA store in Palatine, Illinois, delivering parts to independent service providers (ISP), taking orders on-location from ISPs, and making slow pay and bad debt collections.
GAINING CUSTOMERS THROUGH DAILY PROMOTIONS
Every ISP business with which we spoke knew the benefit of creating special in-house promotions. Examples of this include a free tire rotation, an oil change with a tune-up (or x-amount of dollars spent during one or more visits or over a period of time).
Retired Major League Baseball great, Lenny Dykstra, owns three huge, modern carwash/service centers in southern California. Many customers frequent them partially because his policy calls for a free wash after the 10th paid-for wash. Also, the company provides a courtesy wash for every Dykstra engine oil/filter change. If customers don't need their vehicle washed that day, they are given a small "Good For" card for a future courtesy wash. Dykstra's staff also performs complete vehicle detailing exclusively using one brand of wax and polish. The company also performs aftermarket wheel and tire installations and more. Fans of the fast-running, MVP hitter used to call him "Nails" in New York when he played with the Mets and in Philadelphia with the Phillies. He's still sharp as a tack in California; his service bays are always full and always very busy.Most everyone in the automotive service business today offers deals, discounts, and other special offers not only to select customers, but also the general populace. ISPs know vehicles do indeed have service needs. Using research and recollection, they also know when their slower months (let's say July and December) are coming up. They can then send mailers to select customers to generate an increase in business during those months, which would otherwise be considered "down" months. Good planning and good marketing can help fill service bays.
Every manager in both sales and service knows where to advertise for the best increase in overall business, whether it's local cable television, major network television, local radio, print, or mailer. Let's not forget local involvement, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, car clubs, and others. Face-to-face meetings and subsequent friendships often can gain an independent service provider overflow or contract work with local new-car dealerships, the city's police department, and other government vehicle contract business.
TRAINED SERVICE TECHNICIANS
The subject of professional training and officially certified mechanics and technicians is important. Independent repair shops all agree that employees with training and certification perform the best work. Why? Odds are they are career oriented. They like what they do and they want to work and make all the income they can. Trained and certified employees generally stay with their employers for a longer time.With today's computerized engines, drivelines, and electrical systems, technicians must receive any and all training available, usually on an annual basis. How far back does dealership training go? Well, in 1965, I went to a GM class on Rochester fuel-injection operation and many more on GM management training. Certified OE dealership training dates back at least 50 years, if not more.
BUYING AFTERMARKET PARTS & ACCESSORIES
By talking to ISPs across the country, we learned that knowledge of specific warehouse distributor parts promotions was lacking. Some recalled receiving fliers, telephone calls, and e-mails from WDs, but didn't remember the details. This provides an excellent opportunity for WDs to ensure local installers and service providers know them and are aware of their "specials." Special manufacturer and warehouse distributor deals come down the pike all the time, but it takes a sharp manager with both time and budget to take full advantage of the aftermarket parts and accessory business discounts as they occur.
Now let's take a look a few top ISP operations.
JENNINGS DYNO TUNING
Proprietor Bob Jennings—of Jennings Dyno Tuning, located in North Hills, California—is a legend in his own time. He has been in the dyno-tuning and tune-up business since 1969. He is a well-liked, funny guy whose list of television, movie actors, stunt men and women customers, and car magazine veterans is almost endless. Jennings grew up a Ford man back in Norfolk, Virginia. When asked how he and his son Nick have kept his three service bays and chassis dyno full for almost four decades, Jennings said (with tongue planted firmly in cheek), "Hmmm, I guess it would be because I never finish anything."Jennings treats his customers with trust and honor and it works, as much of his business is repeat and referral. Located within 30 minutes of some of the largest, most well known performance car magazines in the USA, Jennings has received his share of coverage over the decades. Why? Because Jennings does a great job; it's as simple as that. He has also had success with mail-order sales and mail-order carburetor modification work for auto enthusiasts nationwide. Due to his location, several warehouse distributors are nearby. As a result, he doesn't have to pre-order many parts, since he can usually get same day or next delivery on any part the shop needs. Oftentimes, manufacturers offer special discounts, of which Jennings has always taken advantage. His shop walls are covered with signs and banners from some of the best-known performance aftermarket manufacturers who, to him, are more than just parts suppliers; many are friends.
JIM CARLSON'S AUTO CENTER
Old-time drag racers will remember Jim Carlson's "Two Tons of Fun" Buick stock eliminator station wagon drag cars from the '70s and '80s. Holmen, Wisconsin, is where you will find Jim Carlson's Auto Center. Back in the '60s in rural America, an auto service provider had to be extremely diversified and a "jack of all trades." Carlson used his many years as a GM dealership executive to create his own diversified sales and service business. It consists of a certified repair and restoration facility, a late-model used-car lot, a classic and specialty car lot, and parts sales—both new old stock (NOS) and mint-used—aimed at restorations. Out back on an acre or so are dozens of stripped and semi-stripped "parts cars" (mostly Chevrolets) from the '50s and '60s. By diversifying his business and offering automotive services internationally, Carlson managed to survive even the worst of economic times. The majority of his customers live within a few hundred miles, but he also has many buyers (parts, engines, and cars) in Western Europe. Carlson is well known for locating vintage classic vehicles from the "rust-free" western states.
Carlson is a life-long aftermarket parts and cars veteran who has purchased his fair share of parts from the area's warehouse distributors and aftermarket manufacturers. Customers know Carlson by his happy, courteous demeanor and his classic "keeper" cars. For example, you'll never find another car quite like his red 1960 bat wing Buick with custom louvered hood and superb interior. Over the past 40 years, classic cars and a sincere smile are what have kept Carlson's service bays busy. A few years ago, he created a customer-appreciation car show and party. Now, more than 200 customers and their cars attend each year. Carlson's Midwest honesty and trustworthiness keep regular customers and their friends coming back. Visit www.autocenterusa.com to see for yourself.
VINTAGE CORVETTES & MUSCLE CARS
A specialty independent service provider, Vintage Corvettes & Muscle Cars, located in Van Nuys, California, is an affiliate of the legendary Guldstrand Motorsports. Everything they order is special. The chief wrench man is the legendary Cherokee Martin (no pun intended). Together with working owner Jay Beynon, the corporate goal is to provide each customer honest, timely, first-class service. Business is gained via word-of-mouth. When you are a small business without a huge budget, customers seeking straightforward, honest work is what best fills your service bays. How picky are Beynon and Martin about who does their car painting? Very! Each customer car is trailered to an exclusive paint shop in San Diego—three hours away.
During our visit to Vintage Corvette & Muscle Cars, a familiar-looking customer named Gilby Clark stopped in. His candy-red 1965 Mustang was in for finish work that began elsewhere. His daily driver was a 1969 SS 396 (454+) El Camino and the engine was built by VCMC. Beynon and Martin mentioned that Clark was once a lead guitarist with the legendary band, Guns 'N Roses. No wonder he looked familiar! Today, Clark and Tommy Lee (formerly of Motley Crue) have formed a new band called Super Nova. Clark grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and is one cool dude with a sweet '65 'Stang. Rock on!
As part of the upper-crust specialty-niche auto business, Beynon and Martin often attend key events to selectively promote their business. Beynon refers to Martin as a "great chef who runs my kitchen," which seems a good analogy. They recently completed cloning a 1969 Camaro into a 427 ZL1. Every part on it is said to be "correct," which is how it works at Vintage Corvettes and Muscle Cars. They also have a super-trick, big-block '55 Chevy. Next up is a C/Gas Supercharged '57 210. Each car is their "corporate calling card." Beynon, who grew up in Oklahoma, believes a specialty shop must have a lead guy who is not only good, but exceptional.
Martin is a self-taught super craftsman. VCMC orders only custom aftermarket products, including frames, front and rear suspension, brake components, engines, transmissions and rear ends, wheels, instruments, wiring harnesses—the works. Beynon and Martin pay close attention to aftermarket manufacturer specials. "There are no manuals for hot rods and muscle cars," Beynon said. " In this specialty business, you've got to be smart and figure things out for yourself. Keeping our bays full means using our brains, not our brawn. We think creatively and are always trying to push the creative envelope."
1960S NICKEY CHEVROLET
Aggressive dealerships offer a wide range of automotive aftermarket parts and accessories so their customers don't have to look (and spend) elsewhere. The first we recall (because we worked there) was Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago. Said to be the nation's largest Chevrolet dealership back in the '60s, Nickey's speed equipment and custom shop was located next to its huge parts department. The facility also had its own machine shop and "the guys in the back" could fabricate virtually anything. For Chevy people, this was probably the first "one-stop shopping" dealership.
2008 GALPIN MOTORS
In North Hills, California, right next to the San Diego Freeway, Galpin Motors has been family-owned and operated for 62 years. Galpin has been named Ford's "number-one" sales dealership for 17 years and is also first in inventory. Its Web site claims it has more than 4,000 new vehicles in stock. With a second location 15 miles north in Santa Clarita, it's also said to be the first dealership with its own Starbucks coffee shop. Galpin also has seven other brand franchises in addition to Ford and was one of the first car dealers in the nation to take on the Saturn franchise. In addition to the new-car and truck dealerships, Galpin also has an upscale aftermarket parts and accessories store that serves all of its brands and customer needs.
Great moneymaking opportunities exist in the automotive aftermarket. If you manufacture parts or sell parts, keep the installers, independent service providers (ISPs), and new-car/truck dealers in mind when you lay out your marketing strategies. Make certain these customers know who you are and are aware of your special offers. If you are an ISP, consider using the business techniques outlined above to grow your business.
Treat your wholesale customers with the respect they show to their retail customers (the successful ones) and your business will flourish.
SOURCES
Jim Carlson Auto Center
Lenny Dykstra Automotive
Galpin Motors
Bob Jennings Dyno Shop
Vintage Corvettes & Muscle Cars
