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. That's 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 this:
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 decision makers (DMs) and people influencing decisions (DIPs). 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 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 the 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.
After opening their business, many entrepreneurs wonder how to quickly promote a car service and attract customers. Unfortunately, due to a lack of understanding of how to achieve the goal, many car services work for months after opening to their detriment. As a result, most of these properties are simply sold. If you do not want your business to suffer the same fate, we recommend that you carefully read the recommendations presented in this article.
How to quickly promote a car service and attract customers
Of course, when opening a business in a new place, an entrepreneur always has to face a lot of troubles and difficulties. Therefore, many people don’t even think about how to promote a car service due to other difficulties. But, if you want to achieve what you want, and you have little time, you definitely need to think about an effective marketing strategy. One simple thing to understand is that it is necessary to attract customers before opening any commercial establishment. In any case, a clear action plan should be developed. If you are not good at this, order the services of specialists.
Before we talk about how to promote a car service, we should discuss issues related to what needs to be done before purchasing advertising. Developing the right promotion means the benefit it can bring, namely the return on savings. For this reason, you should focus on the target audience, and not on the beauty and attractiveness of the offer. In addition, good advertising will lead to the emergence of new channels that will help promote the project.
Today it is common to distinguish several types of advertising:
Business promotion through radio and TV;
Before choosing one of these types, keep in mind that promoting a car service center is a complex process that requires an accurate analysis of supply and demand for a particular type of service. If you are at the planning stage, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the “business plan for a car service center.”
What services should be advertised?
You should know how to quickly promote a car service without additional costs. To do this, you will need, at a minimum, to master the basics of marketing strategies. Understand that every potential customer who sees an ad must take a specific action. In particular, call or come to a car service center. You must decide in advance what action the client needs to take in order to use your services. This is directly related to the selection of contacts that will be placed in the promotional offer. It could even be the name of the site. This brings up an important question: how do you make sure that the client is interested in the area of services you offer?
First of all, you need to consider the following:
You must focus on a target audience that has sufficient finances to cooperate with your car service;
The client must want to upgrade or customize his vehicle;
He must want to convert right at this moment.
In fact, the answer to not all questions is simple. If a person does not see problems with his car, he will not pay attention to any advertising. If yesterday the driver punctured the tires or broke the glass, he will definitely pay attention to the offer, which states that it is proposed to repair these particular components. Therefore, it is advisable to include the most accurate description of services in your advertising proposal so that potential clients pay attention to your financial contribution.
And so, answering the question of how to promote a car service from scratch, we note once again that good advertising should be used. Therefore, if you simply indicate that there are diagnostics, specialists and favorable prices for services, it is unlikely that you will be able to stand out from other competitors. Moreover, if there is no need, they will not pay attention to the proposal at all. Based on this, it becomes clear that it is better to focus on such a factor as urgency.
Advertising Tricks
Let's say that a person changed his oil about 6 months ago. That is, it is time to re-do this procedure. However, most people have a bad habit of procrastinating. Understanding this shortcoming may be the answer , how to promote a business. To encourage the customer to change now, try to explain the reason why the oil should be changed now. Some specialists in the field of advertising development describe not what the client can get, but what he refuses by not taking advantage of the offer.
To get the maximum benefit from advertising, we suggest setting a deadline for a special promotion, for example, for an oil change. Inform your clients that you are performing this operation in a short time, that there are specialists who understand different products and know their business.
It is more difficult to achieve recognition from clients if you have to work in limited conditions. For example, if you need to receive clients in the garage. Considering that everyone loves comfort and pays attention to resources, we will tell you how to promote a car service in your garage without additional costs. If it is not possible to provide adequate comfort due to a lack of financial savings, then it is better to take a course towards accessibility. Let's say you offer an oil change for 100 rubles cheaper than other service centers. Given the urgency factor, the result will be extremely effective.
Increasing target audience
As soon as advertising bears the “first fruits,” you can think about expanding your offers. Today, car body washing is considered a very useful service. This is due to the fact that every motorist needs to wash their car. At the same time, the technical condition of the car does not play any role in this aspect. Let us note once again that it is more profitable to advertise services that are not in great demand, because all the most profitable niches are already occupied by other major competitors. If you plan to make money from oil changes, you need to be the best in the field. For this reason, it is advisable to focus on your specialty.
How to promote a car service? Visit planning and guidance for new clients
Secrets of attracting attention
No matter how it sounds, the best way to attract a new client is to “bribe him.” That is, you must attract potential clients in such a way that they feel that they can profit from doing business with your organization. At the same time, acting on this principle is quite simple. First you need to decide on the size of the “bribe”. In other words, calculate the amount of money you are willing to spend to attract a new customer. The amount spent on attracting customers does not always seem rational. Someone can spend 100 rubles, others don’t mind even 1000 dollars. You must understand that the contribution must be comparable to the possible benefits.
That is, if your services can bring good profits, then you need to focus on expensive advertising and lucrative offers regarding discounts and affiliate programs. At the same time, you don’t need to worry about attracting new clients in the future. After the business has been promoted, another factor will come into play. After all, the company will already be famous. Consequently, there will be more profit, which is more logical to spend on expanding the business.
After making calculations regarding the money you can spend on advertising, think about how to promote your car service on the Internet. Today this method is relatively profitable and extremely simple if you find professionals. If you already know that you are ready to allocate, say, 100 rubles to attract a new client, then it would be advisable to offer the consumer the service at a cost of 100 rubles. For example, you will pay a washer a certain amount of money so that he will supposedly wash the client’s vehicle for free. At the same time, you know that you will have to pay only 50 rubles to the washer.
If the car wash does not bring good income, it is more rational to use it as a bonus. Therefore, if people come to you to replace an engine or other spare parts, it is advisable to offer a car wash as an additional service. There can be many alternatives.
How to avoid overspending on advertising
This question should be asked by every entrepreneur who wants to save himself from repeated investments. If you don’t know how to promote a car service without investment, carefully read the recommendations presented in this section of the article.
And so, first, you must take into account down to the penny how much profit this or that advertising offer will allow you to make. If it immediately becomes clear that it will not be possible to obtain greater financial profit, it is better not to start. At the same time, it is necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the proposal from the first seconds of the project launch.
If you can't determine how effective and profitable an ad is, then don't use it at all. Most likely we are talking about losses that are not noticeable at first glance. In the future, if you do not stop in time, you may face additional costs. When we talk about performance analysis, we mean that your employees will find out how clients accessed the service. This way, you will be able to find out how justified your investment is. In addition, analyze traffic to your website, if you have one. You cannot completely rely on customer reviews as they may misinform you without thinking twice about answering the above question.
Interaction with advertising channels
If you have reached the stage where it is important to correctly calculate the effectiveness of any advertising channel, we recommend supplementing your offer with contacts. This will help you determine how effective your actions are. It is recommended to use numbers for print advertising. If we are talking about promoting resources on the network, you can use special utilities to determine traffic.
Individual resources;
Use of code phrases;
Adding contacts;
Application of color marks;
Operation of cutting coupons.
In other words, your task is to find out how many potential customers were converted to the company through the specified channels. If you are advertising, say in a newspaper or magazine, then you need to engage a certain response. After all, this will allow you to determine how much money you can return from investing this kind of investment. Remember that people who underestimate the importance of managing advertising channels rarely extract enough value from their offers. After all, new clients are not appearing, and advertising money is being spent at a “crazy” pace. It should be noted that the effectiveness of any advertising is quite easy to check. You just need to acquire the necessary knowledge in a particular area. For example, on the Internet, the effectiveness of contextual advertising can be tracked using Google Analytics.
Working with clients
When trying to find out how to quickly promote a car service and attract customers, most business owners make a huge mistake, believing that they need to focus only on new consumers. In fact, it is important not only to increase the base of potential clients, but also to periodically improve the terms of cooperation.
If you do not take care of processing new customers in a timely manner, then you will not be able to influence the acquisition of new customers. In order for customers to like it and share their positive feedback, you gradually need to expand, improve the level of service, and also constantly remind yourself of yourself. That is, you regularly need to pay money to develop interesting advertising. After this, you can count on a stable and long-term income.
Back in the 90s, most of the large car service centers were founded. Some people believe that it is impossible to earn decent money from a car service because there is quite a lot of competition. But still, many entrepreneurs create this business and devote time to this activity.
Car service business plan
To create a car service with a full range of services, you need to know the following numbers:
- the investment amount is about 400-500 thousand dollars;
- annual cash turnover - about 250-300 thousand dollars;
- profit is normally about 30%;
- The payback period for this business is 5 years.
The first thing that is important for a manager to create is a business plan for a car service. Today, finding a profitable, good place or building for this activity is quite difficult. You can only rely on a bare plot in a populated area near a fairly busy road. But still, there may not be the only establishment there, so competition is not excluded. “Garage” services and service stations are also often present in large numbers.
Undoubtedly, the construction of a service that will provide 2-3 services can immediately be called a failure. It is necessary to build more than one workshop so that several types of work can be carried out in it. This room should look many times better than the car services that already operate here.
Premises and requirements for them
For this type of activity you will need approximately 700 square meters of area. They can be rented, for which you will need to go through the following steps:
- prepare a project and provide documentation to the administration at the location. The project can be developed by a specialist;
- agree on the project in the commissions;
- obtain the right to rent land and pay for it.
The rental buyout amount may well exceed the rent throughout the entire period of renting the plot. It depends on the value of the land in the area and the wishes of the administrative authorities.
Having a ready-made business plan for a car service, you can clearly determine what should be located in this room:
- sites for car electrical repairs, communications wiring, tire fitting;
- body shop;
- paint shop;
- metal shop.
Although in the 90s, when most car services were created, it was easier to find building materials and a place for this, there are still business advantages now. To conduct this activity you do not need licensing - it is enough to have a certificate of conformity. Obtaining such a certificate is not a problem as there are many companies offering these services.
The person who will supervise the operation of the service must have an education diploma, preferably a technical one. Also, the documents for the right to establish a car service must be in perfect order.
Car service equipment
It is impossible to start car maintenance work without car service equipment.
If a car service offers services such as tire fitting, repair, wheel alignment, wheel balancing and many others, you will need the following tools:
- pneumatic tool;
- tire fitting, diagnostic, hydraulic equipment.
All these devices allow for a complete comprehensive assessment and repair of the machine.
Diagnostic equipment makes it possible to identify faults and defects and find methods to eliminate them. Diagnostics of exhaust gases, electrical signals and pressure are carried out. You will also need motor testers.
Tire fitting equipment allows you to work with car wheels: balancing, rolling, assembling and disassembling, straightening discs. This equipment includes: a machine, a balancing stand, lifts for car service centers and more.
Pneumatic tools include drills, grinders, and impact wrenches. It is necessary to select equipment that has high power, low noise levels, and a long service life.
Business structure
After you have built a car service according to a business plan and received a certificate, you need to take care of the staff. For the service it is enough to use 10-12 workers. Unfortunately, qualified locksmiths are very difficult to find. Specialists from neighboring countries are now offering their services. But finding a professional among them who will meet all the requirements is even more difficult. Most of these workers lack professional skills, as well as the concept of proper communication with clients.
The visitor brings his car in for service and, naturally, wants to be treated politely with him and his car. The employee must be a professional and a psychologist when communicating with the client in order to maintain a positive image of the company and its employees. Any work should be done, even the cheapest one. But if you come across a job where the company will suffer losses or make no profit at all due to any circumstances related to the car servicing process, you need to be able to refuse such services.
The best specialists for your company may be those whom you train and “educate” yourself. This requires a lot of time and expense, but this way you can form a team of professionals.
Car service costs
The main cash costs when running this business will be utility bills, rent, taxes, and equipment depreciation.
Most Moscow car services are registered as LLCs, for which a simplified tax payment system applies.
The earnings of a car service directly depend on the number of competitors in the surrounding area, weather conditions and other reasons. The period from mid-December to February is considered the “dead” season. The situation in May and August is also not very profitable. Therefore, by calculating the number of working days of a car service, we conclude that the undertaking will pay off in 5-7 years.
After reviewing the business plan for a car service, entrepreneurs can immediately decide whether to create it or not. In any case, this activity is actively developing and always occupies a high position in the service sector.
The number of cars is growing every day, although the build quality of cars does not show such a trend. New cars very often break down due to poor-quality parts and assembly, old ones break down due to a long service life. Some car owners are able to repair a minor breakdown and inflate the tires. The percentage of such craftsmen is less than 10 percent of the total number of drivers; all the rest are our potential clients who, during a crisis, will want to fix problems with their car as cheaply as possible. We will consider a business plan for a car service center for a beginning businessman who does not have large funds to open a business. You've probably already seen business plans for a similar business with a budget of 500 thousand dollars and wondered where a beginner in entrepreneurship got so much money. We will reduce this budget to a minimum so that anyone can try themselves in this business.
We will not create a car repair shop in which the client will receive absolutely the entire range of services. To do this you need to have a huge room, about twenty staff and a huge amount of equipment. We will limit ourselves to simpler services that are used most often - tire replacement, restoration of minor damage, repair of the engine and the rest of the car. By choosing these services, we will automatically have many bonuses for opening a car service center - we don’t need expensive equipment, we don’t need to rent a large room and hire a large staff of craftsmen, and the price for our services will be noticeably lower than that of large car repair shops.
Where to open a car service: secrets for beginning businessmen
When creating a business plan for a car service center, you need to think not only about the size of the premises, but also about the ease of access to this premises. You need to look for the possibility of renting premises near the highway, near the entrance to the city. In addition to the fact that it will be easier for clients to find you, you will also save on rent, because the further the premises are from the center, the cheaper it is, and you will receive free advertising - all motorists driving along the highway will see your service and, when needed, will call for services.
We need to rent a small room or garage. The main feature of a car service center is an inspection hole; without it, a mechanic will not be able to properly inspect the client’s car. Most garages have such a pit, we just need to find the most spacious and affordable garage to rent. A garage near the highway will cost you 12 thousand rubles per month for 30 square meters. The garage will most likely be empty, without shelves and tables; we will need to buy these separately. You can negotiate with the owner to rent a garage for several months in advance if you have extra money.
Car service business plan: buying equipment
Equipment will take the most money out of our budget, but we will try to find the highest quality and cheapest tools to reduce costs. The first thing we need is a crane to hang the engine. There are expensive cranes installed on the floor with a retractable hook; we will choose a simpler option - we will install an iron beam with a crane. The price of a crane with a beam is 4 thousand rubles, installation will cost 2 thousand. We also need to buy a kit for straightening dents - it costs 4.5 thousand rubles. With this kit you can straighten dents even in hard-to-reach places.
You will also need a set of tools with socket heads to unscrew the parts and screw them back. There are different sets, the simplest and most effective will cost 2 thousand rubles. Later, with the first arrivals, you need to buy new sets with the missing tools. This tool can only be used on special metal tables; we need one table that costs 6 thousand rubles. It has drawers for equipment, is sturdy and will last for many years.
You need to buy some small equipment - for example, a jack. A small jack will allow you to quickly replace a tire, wheel, or anything else on your car. The price of the jack is 1.5 thousand rubles. This also includes consumables such as compressor oil and hydraulic oil. Costs for materials - 6 thousand rubles. Having fully staffed your car service, you can proceed to the next point of the car service business plan - searching for personnel.
How to open a car service: searching for professional personnel
A good car service center needs an equally professional locksmith. Of course, finding such a person will be difficult, but the task is doable. Look for suitable candidates on labor exchanges, post advertisements looking for a worker, write a couple of applications on the Internet.
It is possible to find a professional for this work; you will be surprised how many good locksmiths sit at home without work or do not work in their specialty. We will play on the fact that the person does not have a job in his specialty and will offer a salary slightly lower than the established minimum - 15 thousand rubles per month. To begin with, we only need one mechanic who will perform tire replacement and other minor work. When the number of clients increases, you will need to hire another person - he will help do the work, because some tasks cannot be completed by one person. Locksmiths will also price the work performed in accordance with the price list and receive payment for the work done.
Finding clients is an important component of this business.
First of all, our service will attract customers with a lower price for its services. In large auto repair shops, straightening a small dent on the hood costs from 2 thousand rubles, changing the oil costs 1.5 thousand, changing tires from winter to summer starts from 2 thousand rubles. We need to lower the price a little compared to big services and we will get an advantage. When compiling a price list for services, subtract 200 rubles from the average price on the market - this will be the best option.
Go around to your friends and hand out pre-printed flyers with the address of your auto repair shop and the price of the most common services. Your friends who have a car will be happy to receive cheaper services from someone they know. Your customer base will be replenished a little with regular customers, and you will receive free advertising - your friends will tell someone else.
Never forget about online advertising, it is very good at promoting small businesses. Communities of car enthusiasts, groups of cities on social networks, a website with advice for beginners in driving - all these resources are a platform for promotions. Moreover, in most cases you don’t even need to pay for this advertising. Why not get a couple dozen clients for free?
Income and expenses of a car service
First, we will calculate the one-time costs of a car service for the purchase of equipment for our car service. We definitely need to buy a crane to lift the engine and install it. It will cost us 6 thousand rubles. Next comes the cost of purchasing smaller equipment - a dent bending kit for 4.5 thousand, a set of wrenches for 2 thousand and a table for 6 thousand. The expenses don’t end there - we’ll buy a jack for 1.5 thousand and consumables for 6 thousand rubles. Now that the one-time expenses are over, let’s move on to the costs of operating the enterprise.
We need to constantly pay rent for the premises - this is 12 thousand rubles per month. In addition to rent, we also need to pay for the work of a mechanic, which is 15 thousand rubles in expenses. Let's add 6 thousand for advertising. As a result, we need 33 thousand rubles a month to operate the enterprise, and 20 thousand to open it.
Now let's move on to the more enjoyable part of the car service business plan - we will calculate the car service's income. If your client just wants to repair the dent, he will pay 2 thousand, change the tires - about the same. In order to recoup operating costs, you need to serve one client per day - for one day of work you spend 1,100 rubles, and from replacing tires you will receive 2 thousand.
From year to year, the number of cars on the roads is only growing, the army of motorists is expanding, and therefore the need for high-quality car maintenance services is increasing.
Therefore, if you are thinking about how to open a service station, and whether this business will bring you income, then carefully assess your financial capabilities, analyze the situation in this market and sketch out a business plan for your future enterprise. Of course, now a lot of service stations are opening, but the number of people wanting to quickly repair their car is not decreasing, on the contrary, it is constantly growing.
Deciding on the type of enterprise
Now let's think about what kind of workshop you can pull off.
The first option is a large enterprise, often an authorized service center of a certain manufacturer. Here you will need to contact a well-known brand and register a franchise, that is, you will start working on behalf of a recognizable brand, which will attract clients who are accustomed to trusting a reputable large company. This method requires substantial financial investments. In addition, you must prove that you can support the service requirements approved by the brand holder.
The second option on how to open a service station will cost you less. You simply open a medium-sized enterprise that would satisfy the basic service needs of customers: repairs, painting, tire fitting, washing. It is possible to organize a small recreation area for clients.
A very modest type of workshop, both in terms of investment and service, is a small station, the owner of which is also a master.
We prepare documents
Having decided on the scale of the future company, think about what organizational form you will choose for your service station. Prepare documents in accordance with these conditions.
For a tiny station, the status of individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur) is quite suitable. But it is better to register a larger business as a limited liability company (LLC).
While you are registering your business, immediately register with the tax office. When choosing a tax regime, it would be a good idea to get qualified advice from specialists.
Without some experience, it is difficult to immediately understand what is more profitable: a patent, simplified tax or UTII (especially since this form is not applicable to all regions).
Find time and acquire the necessary licenses to carry out maintenance, perform lubrication and refueling work, and diagnose.
Supervisory authorities
Service stations, as a business associated with various man-made risks, require appropriate control by the services responsible for safety. You will have to obtain permission from the sanitary inspectorate, which checks compliance with basic hygiene standards, and negotiate with firefighters, who will issue their instructions regarding fire safety techniques.
And you will be much calmer if your company fully complies with labor safety measures. This is much cheaper than paying out if your employees are injured.
Location
Before opening a service station, you need to agree with the municipal authorities on the issue of renting land. It is unlikely that you will be allowed to settle in a residential building or public building. Typically, such enterprises either have to re-equip old production premises, or rent (acquire ownership) a plot of land and erect a building on it from scratch. When choosing a place, try to cling to one that is located near major highways. The busier the better. This way you will immediately get clients.
TaggedWhat are the main values of any business specializing in providing services to the public? Of course, clients and their trust. However, attracting the former is sometimes difficult, and winning the latter is even more difficult. After all, in order for a random person to want to look into this particular car service, and then also become its regular visitor, you need to try very hard. The success of measures to lure and retain vehicle owners depends on many factors. Let's look at them in more detail and give a detailed answer to the question of how to attract customers to a car service center.
Advertising
Let's start, perhaps, with external means of attracting new customers. We are talking about bright signs and indicators, especially useful for motorists looking for service “from the street”. Information media must contain information about the services provided and the location of the service station. One of the signs with an arrow should be placed along the road, the second - a little closer to the destination. When the visitor practically approaches the service, his attention should be attracted by a catchy sign with the name of the enterprise. Outdoor advertising in this case is more of a necessity than a marketing tool. It is used to indicate the location of the service for new visitors.
As for print media, the question of their usefulness in terms of attracting customers is constantly subject to debate. Can a car repair shop benefit from placing advertisements in newspapers and magazines? The answer will be definitely positive. You just need to choose the right print media. It is quite obvious that information about a car service that flashes on the pages of glossy magazines is unlikely to attract anyone’s attention. The same can be said about newspapers with private advertisements for the sale or purchase of cars. It is much better to rely on inexpensive or free specialized magazines with articles on automotive topics. However, before deciding to publish an advertisement, you need to know the circulation and methods of distribution of the publication. As practice shows, the greatest return is achieved by free magazines offered to customers at gas stations.
In continuation of the answer to the question of how to quickly promote a car service and attract customers, it is worth mentioning Internet sources. Today, your own website is an essential part of creating the image of any company. To make a resource more in demand, you will have to show a little ingenuity. For example, you can offer site visitors to create a personal online account with a personal maintenance calendar. Having an electronic appointment to visit a specific master will be an additional advantage. You should also remember that a web user reaches a particular page either through search queries or through online advertising and external links. Therefore, if your site ranks too low, you need to help potential customers discover it. Email newsletters also produce good results. However, it will only be effective if there is an up-to-date database of the intended target audience.
We cannot ignore such advertising means as radio and television. However, in the case of a car service, they are ineffective due to the specific focus of the business. In addition, these channels for promoting services require a lot of costs, which are often simply not justified. It is much more appropriate to focus on good old word of mouth, which works almost uninterruptedly. After all, before contacting one or another car service center, we first passionately “interrogate” all our acquaintances, after which we decide on a choice. Thus, a satisfied client brings with him several more new visitors interested in quality service. The main tools of word of mouth are reflected in the video material:
Niching and specialization
Despite an active advertising policy, the main source of customers for most services remains the nearest highway. Moreover, it is absolutely unimportant for the owner of the enterprise who drops in for a peek, because the craftsmen are ready to take on any job. That is why underground garage repair points pose serious competition to service stations. Both perform the same function, but in the second case you can significantly save on services. After all, the owner of the “garage” works unofficially and exclusively for himself, which cannot be said about registered enterprises. When all the efforts of the service owner are aimed at solving technical and organizational problems, he simply does not have time to “select” clients. The lion's share of service station owners operate on the principle of “we'll fix what comes.” This is where their main mistake lies.
To be like everyone else means to be content with little. It is worth trying to rise above business in order to realize all the prospects of such a step. Thus, niching for a certain brand of car gives car service owners many tangible advantages. Among them:
Automatic separation from competitors
By focusing on a specific brand, an enterprise not only distinguishes itself from similar brands, but also receives much more trust from potential customers. After all, the car owner reasonably believes that a specialized service will take care of his car much better than a universal one. And trust, as you know, is the most important factor in attracting customers.
Possibility of price increases
Narrow-specialized specialists, compared to wide-profile specialists, are always worth their weight in gold. And finding a professional in a certain niche is much more difficult than finding a “jack of all trades.” Therefore, the client is willing to pay a higher price to have his car repaired by a specialized service center.
Ease of attracting new visitors
A correct advertising policy targeting a specific client will certainly bear fruit. Seeing the call “Attention Nissan car owners!” in the newspaper, a person will perk up and think: “This is for me.” The more accurately the advertising message is formulated, the more targets it will hit.
No problems with auto parts
Specializing in a specific brand of machine simplifies the process of finding a reliable supplier of parts. And if you have your own warehouse, the number of necessary components will be significantly reduced.
Improving the quality of service
If a technician concentrates on a specific brand of car, he will need much less time studying technical manuals for that brand. He quickly becomes an ace in his field, able to determine the cause of a malfunction at first glance and just as quickly eliminate it. Accordingly, the quality and speed of work increase significantly, and the demand for services grows.
No staff turnover
It's no secret that multidisciplinary businesses usually require "jacks of all trades" who can fix any car. Whereas in narrowly focused services the requirements are much lower, which means finding a suitable employee is not a big problem. Without any particular fears, you can employ a graduate of an automotive technical school and, in the shortest possible time, teach him all the intricacies associated with servicing a specific brand of car.
Speaking about the disadvantages of specialization, it is worth highlighting the impossibility of attracting clients “from the street”. After all, the likelihood that a car of the right brand will drive by and its owner will decide to look into this particular service is not very high. Thus, there is a need for a competent advertising policy, which requires certain investments.
Secondly, the concept of niching by brand is not suitable for small cities, where the percentage of cars of a particular type can hardly be called high. In this case, it is worth trying to choose a different area of specialization. This could be the repair of diesel engines or Japanese car brands. Some services focus on various parts of cars, be it automatic transmission or suspension, others are engaged in servicing trailers, others prepare vehicles for hunting, and others position themselves as service stations exclusively for women. The choice of niches is very large, and regardless of the size of the city, choosing the right option will not be difficult. By the way, it is often the introduction of specialization that helps attract corporate clients to a car service center.
Offering additional goods and services
It is quite obvious that a successful service must be multifunctional. That is, capable of satisfying the maximum number of client needs, thus saving his time and money. However, expanding the list of services implies purchasing additional equipment, training staff to work with it, increasing the staff of craftsmen, etc. All this requires serious expenses from the owner of a service station, which not everyone is ready to undertake. The purchase of equipment is often viewed not as a profitable investment, but as an out-of-pocket expense. The reason for this is the uncertainty of a quick return on investment.
When introducing a new service, the owner of a car service must clearly understand how, to whom and in what quantities to sell it. It is not enough to simply add a new item to the company’s price list; it is necessary to colorfully demonstrate to the client the benefits of acquiring know-how. Let's give a simple example. Every motorist is familiar with the tire replacement service firsthand. Many people today also know about seasonal wheel storage. However, most people prefer to store tires on the balcony, garage or country shed. If you convincingly tell customers about the consequences of such a rash step and offer them a more tempting alternative, some of them will be willing to give their wheels for storage at a service station. Thus, in order to successfully make money on additional services, it is necessary to convey their essence to customers and clearly demonstrate the benefits of the purchase.
In addition, a wide range of different offers is important not only from the standpoint of increasing profits, it also acts as a serious competitive advantage for the enterprise. After all, as practice shows, new clients suddenly appear at a car service center. And the more extensive the list of services provided, the higher the likelihood that the visitor’s problem will be within the competence of the enterprise. Obviously, the choice of additional options must be made based on their demand, the amount of investment in equipment and the amount of expected profit. From this we can draw a conclusion about the payback period. The list of additional services useful for clients includes:
- airbrushing;
- heated seats;
- inflating tires with nitrogen;
- installation of monitors in the cabin;
- glass works;
- air conditioning maintenance;
- sound insulation;
- reservation of headlights, etc.
It would also be useful to develop several package offers at an attractive price. This can be preparing the car for winter, including operations such as changing oil, spark plugs, coolant and brake fluids, diagnosing the suspension and battery, adjusting headlights, cleaning the ignition coil, etc. The client’s benefit is that when purchasing package of services, he pays less than when purchasing them separately. So, for example, preparing a car for sale, a long trip or the summer heat, as well as “re-preserving” a car after winter involves a number of different works. They can also be bundled and sold as a set. Such offers will certainly arouse interest among car enthusiasts.
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