Service Business: Count the Competition

Here’s a challenge. Grab your local yellow pages phone book and find the Auto Repair Section. Count how many auto repair businesses advertise there- I mean it, physically count them. Now go to the Tires section and count the number of tire dealers that are listed and then add these two numbers together to see how many businesses you compete with everyday and remember all of these are also advertising online.

Now go a step further and actually read the ads. Everyday thousands of shoppers thumb through the yellow pages in search of a place to have their car serviced or to buy tires – and they look at the competitors’ ads. Read what they have to offer and imagine that you are a customer shopping for a place to have your car serviced. You will read things like “Dealer Quality, without Dealer Prices, Factory Trained & Certified Technicians (guess who paid for their factory training), Free Shuttle Service, Open 7 am to 7 pm for your Convenience, No Appointments Needed, 90-days Same-As-Cash, Loaner Cars, Lifetime Warranty…the list goes on and on. By now you have realized that these independent and franchised shops are no longer a bunch of bumpkins working out of a barn – they are real business men and women and they are competitive, convenient and worst of all, they are convincing. Now that you looked at the competition’s ads, take a look at yours. Does it stand out? Does it attract attention and make customers want to call your store?  Does it look like you are trying to sell service or just sell cars? And what about tires – you sell tires don’t you? So why is it that I hardly ever see a dealer advertising in the Tires Section when we all know that 75% of customers have their car serviced where they buy their tires?

The independent’s ads are creative to say the least and they make it clear that they are in the service business. I read one that had a catchy line that intrigued me enough to check it out…it said “Visit our website to see the Top 10 things you should know about your mechanic”. Pretty cool, don’t you think. Another independent’s ad said, “If you are looking for a technician you can trust and afford, you just found him.” Let’s face it - these guys are aggressive – they have to be – remember, they don’t have warranty work to fall back on, but then again – you don’t either anymore, do you? Warranty is declining and maintenance intervals are stretched…so now more than ever you need every customer you can get, right?

My message is simply this: It is time to get into the customer pay service business and you need to get in all the way. You have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty – you have to get aggressive with your prices, you have to fight the competition and you have to convert your service department into a service ‘Sales’ department. Think of it this way – How much money do you make when customers go someplace else for service anyway?