We opened in January this year. I spent the past few years going to school and learning from a really successful mentor. Sales have been steadily increasing until mid May then almost everything dropped. The customers are coming in, getting estimates then either saying they cant afford it ie. "I'm just gonna sell the car"(most likely making payments from buy here pay here place and are just going to to abandon car), "I don't have ANY money" or everything sounds good, they make an appt and then never show(won't answer our calls). I feel like we have a really good formula and we have really happy customers(surprisingly happy) but when 90% of our appts are no shows and the other half walk its getting difficult.
our formula (things we do differently):
-Customer service is above any in the area including dealerships- we have sales backgrounds
-We are following up all leads - call backs, house visits, text
-we pick up and drop off customers and cars, any time day, night, or weekend
-Good location - high traffic count, clean, professional painting
-Best tech in the area - there is no one that can argue this fact
Our Pros
-Customers love us...period
-Most customers have repeat visits
Marketing
-Direct mail
-coupon book(the best results yet)
-facebook - we have the biggest auto repair facebook following in town
-we have visited most any local business personally and gave out flyers and a warm invite.
-fleet accounts - visited all fleet business in an 5 mile radius
It hurts me to face this reality but a happy small customer base does not keep the doors open. I wonder if this is common in my area(the bmw dealer said it happens in their service dept all the time) or if my expectations are wrong....
I know its only been 6 months I am just feeling discouraged and I don't want to spend alot more money on something that may never take off....
We opened in January this year. I spent the past few years going to school and learning from a really successful mentor. Sales have been steadily increasing until mid May then almost everything dropped. The customers are coming in, getting estimates then either saying they cant afford it ie. "I'm just gonna sell the car"(most likely making payments from buy here pay here place and are just going to to abandon car), "I don't have ANY money" or everything sounds good, they make an appt and then never show(won't answer our calls). I feel like we have a really good formula and we have really happy customers(surprisingly happy) but when 90% of our appts are no shows and the other half walk its getting difficult. our formula (things we do differently): -Customer service is above any in the area including dealerships- we have sales backgrounds -We are following up all leads - call backs, house visits, text -we pick up and drop off customers and cars, any time day, night, or weekend -Good location - high traffic count, clean, professional painting -Best tech in the area - there is no one that can argue this fact Our Pros -Customers love us...period -Most customers have repeat visits Marketing -Direct mail -coupon book(the best results yet) -facebook - we have the biggest auto repair facebook following in town -we have visited most any local business personally and gave out flyers and a warm invite. -fleet accounts - visited all fleet business in an 5 mile radius It hurts me to face this reality but a happy small customer base does not keep the doors open. I wonder if this is common in my area(the bmw dealer said it happens in their service dept all the time) or if my expectations are wrong.... I know its only been 6 months I am just feeling discouraged and I don't want to spend alot more money on something that may never take off....
