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Posted

For starters my shop is in a very busy metro area. There are cars everywhere, over 100,000's of people within 5 sq miles. I have a German specialty shop so my target market is a bit limited comparatively speaking. There are a lot of nice German cars around the neighborhood and the surrounding area. I have always toyed with the idea of placing flyers on cars or my business card. I feel awkward going up to someone's vehicle and snooping around it, possibly putting my hands on it to leave a flyer. Most people in my area can be hostile towards strangers so this has always put me off a bit. Also it seems most people don't like things being left on their cars.

 

What would you u guys do? How would you approach this? From the sheer volume of potential customers, I think its worth it to find a way to make this work. Thoughts?

Posted

That is one of the marketing strategies I used a couple of weeks ago. I made some fliers and went to stores like Walmart and even the local college. Well I got kicked out of the college because I was not authorize to touch peoples cars. So that was a done deal there. At Walmart I did almost half of the parking lot when I would watch people getting to their cars and wouldn't even read the flyer they would just throw it on the ground. That really did it for me. I had spent my money on making copies and let me mention that it was as hot as it could be on that day for them to just throw them in the ground. I decided instead of placing the fliers in their cars I would hand them to them in person. So I did. That seem a little more effective to me.

 

Good luck with your marketing!

Zulma

Posted

This is something I definitely would not do. Most places like Walmart will not allow this type of activity and some jurisdictions consider it to be littering because they wind up on the parking lot. A better strategy is to strike up alliances with neighboring business and get them to distribute them for you to their customers. We have done that with neighboring business. A Sonic Drive in is next door to us and we have had them place our flyers in every customers food bag and we did the same distributing their coupons. Also better is to call on businesses and pass out flyers there with maybe a special offer to employees.

 

If I were a German shop I would try to buy a mail list for owners of those cars and then I would religious work that list.

 

I've tried direct mail through mudlick mail that had failed miserably, Out of 5,000 mailers I got a response of 3 with only 1 person claiming the special. I will give them that the mailer did go out during Hurricane Sandy week which I guess had to been the worst luck of mine!

 

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to get my own mailing list? What methods has worked with mailers without going through a direct mail company.

Posted (edited)

imo, you must have a huge budget to use direct mail and be very targeted with it to get any meaningful response. I have used Cole and Haines

http://www.coleinformation.com/

http://www.haines.com/

They both have their benefits and shortcomings.

Not sure if you are able to pull the data based on the car they own, but know for sure you could do it by the household income bracket with Haines.

Edited by nmikmik
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      It always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
      While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
      Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
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