Marketing -- the final frontier

Marketing

In an industry that has relied upon word-of-mouth for so many years, the increasing emphasis on marketing is not always welcome to bodyshop owners. In today's business climate however, effective marketing can be the difference between sound business growth and closing up shop. Paint and Panel reports.
Marketing is a term coined for a practice that has been going on for generations. While today's universities and colleges spew out marketing graduates in their thousands, the age old practices of marketing still remain the same.
Correctly targeting your customers is the most important point, as any marketer will tell you. And bodyshops have usually always done this by advertising locally, building a good reputation and following that up with good service and reasonable pricing.
Word-of-mouth has always been the traditional route to marketing a bodyshop. However, with direct repair programs, increased competition, smaller profits and bodyshop consolidation, the modern shop needs to extend its marketing reach to attract new customers and retain current ones.
Matt Hankin, marketing manager with Standox, believes the most important approach to correctly marketing your shop is to do your research.
"What you have to do is firstly, pinpoint what your shop does differently, your USP [unique selling proposition]," Hankin says. "Then you have to decide who your customers are."
Those customers include traditional private customers who have always used a particular bodyshop's services, insurance companies through their direct repair programs, fleet managers, car hire companies and the car manufacturers themselves. While the bad news is that each customer sector requires a different approach, a well thought-out marketing plan will allow bodyshop owners to expand their customer list and diversify their business.
John Smith, marketing consultant for the Australian Accident Repair Network (AARN), says good marketing is a vital investment in any business's future. "It's certainly essential for any bodyshop's survival to include a marketing plan as part of their overall business strategy," he says. "Direct and preferred repairer programs from insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers, fleets and other work providers are becoming the norm and you must market your product to meet their specific demands.
"Even when you are part of a DRP you will still have to market your services to both the work provider and to the vehicle owner in a multi-choice situation. It's also pertinent to know just what marketing is."
Engaging the customer
"Marketing is vital in this market, because it is so tough," according to David Cole, general manager of AAMI/APP Autobody Repairer of the Year 2001, Blackburn Motor Body in Melbourne. "We send out a full information package to insurance companies and corporate clients such as fleet managers. It is a 50- to 60-page package that has all of the information they need, plus photos of our panel operations.
"For private customers, we do newspaper advertising, mainly suburban, usually with a one- or two-page spread every six months. The circulation has to be three to four hundred thousand."
While local advertising is a good technique, the benefit is mainly in building brand recognition, he says. Presentation is vital as well.
"We have spent a fortune on a new floor which remains in pristine condition. We have installed windows in the spray booths and invite customers to come in and see how well-equipped and professional the operation is. Once they come in, we have got them.
"It is very important to engage the customer. We do follow-up calls and customer surveys. We call the customer three or four times at least when the car is being repaired so that there are no surprises for them. We do a full quality assurance inspection, and ring them a month after handover to check that everything is good, and to get feedback.
"We also give them a detailed questionnaire on handover, which asks in a non-intimidating way what they thought of all aspects of the service. That questionnaire goes straight to the managing director. It ensures that if there are any complaints they will be acted upon. We have grandfathers, fathers and sons coming to us. They say 'we only want Blackburn Motor Company'. Ours is a whole different mindset. We are working for the customer, not the insurance company."
Marketing plan
The consensus of opinion within the industry seems to be that too many bodyshops rely on word-of-mouth and work providers rather than building up an image.
"There are exceptions but in the main we tend to market ourselves quite poorly compared to our US cousins," John Smith says. "We need to be more proactive in our marketing, and market our business a lot more aggressively."
According to Smith, a marketing plan is basically a map on how a bodyshop can get to a certain point. Different marketing techniques will get different results for different shops.
"If your target market is for the prestige vehicle manufacturers, you have to be aware of what they are looking for," he says. "Image and the appearance of your shop will be paramount, as well as your ability to invest in specialist equipment and attend regular training."
Standox's Matt Hankin, who works very closely with many bodyshops, including Blackburn, says marketing has to start with a plan.
"Marketing should be part of the business plan, but even that is not the answer," he says. "There is no one technique that is going to work for everyone. If a shop has the time and resources to do a direct mail campaign, then the message must be clear. Advertising is fine if you find the right mark, but there is very small percentage in this.
"The main thing that bodyshops miss out on is doing research," Hankin says. "They do a little bit of advertising in local papers, an ad in the Yellow Pages, sponsor the local soccer team -- these are not going to get you business.
"There is only a very small percentage in private customers. A good technique is to network and build a relationship with fleet management companies and car hire companies. You have to understand what those customers want.
"Some of the most effective techniques I have observed involve what happens after the service. Follow-up calls, things that customers don't expect. It is the little things you do that make the difference."
Us and them
Doing the little things right is a policy Genevieve Hey, business manager of Daniel Hey Smash Repairs in Biloela in central Queensland would agree with. Servicing a market with a population of roughly 6000, the company's catchment area is actually much larger. Hey's marketing strategy has been so successful that she has customers bringing vehicles to her shop when there is actually another much closer.
"Marketing is very important for our business," she says. "I don't think the industry in general places enough importance on it.
"[Husband] Daniel and I are a partnership. I was previously a business development consultant with Cairns TAFE, so I have a management point of view. Daniel has a tradesman's point of view, but we work together. I look at it like a business, and every business needs to concentrate on customer service, advertising, marketing and a business plan."
Marketing your services in a predominantly rural area is quite different to the big city slick approach, Hey says. "In terms of advertising media, what works in the country may not work in the city. Country people are different. I began to market the business by networking -- talking to people, trying new things, making mistakes. The most important tool is word-of-mouth, followed by insurance referrals. Country people demand more than city people. They want to talk, to have a yarn, to develop a feeling of trust and develop a relationship."
For private customers, Hey has designed a series of ads which play on local radio stations such as 4CC. "Country people love their radio -- they listen to it all the time," she says. "Our ads are based on bush poetry, with a character called Bluey, who tells an Aussie yarn. The catchphrase in one of them was 'You hit a roo, what do you do? You go see Daniel Hey!'"
Hey takes a different approach to insurance companies. She keeps in regular contact with administrators and assessors, making sure that they know her name and she knows theirs. She sends out annual Christmas cards to insurers, assessors and brokers, using the catchprase "Teamwork -- together we can achieve anything". According to Hey, this reinforces the message that the crash repair industry is not all about 'us and them'.
"I also include what we have achieved with our apprentices and any business awards we have won, and I always include the goals that we want to achieve for the next year."
One tactic she is currently pursuing is writing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a local insurance broker, setting out what each party will do for one another. "If she sends us work we guarantee that we will take care of her customers to a certain standard. It's a win-win situation."
Getting started
For smaller bodyshops that don't have a huge amount of resources to work with, John Smith recommends getting to know what marketing is and what it can do for you.
Books, including one he recommends called Guerilla Marketing, outline dozens of techniques bodyshops can use to market their businesses without costing a great deal. He also recommends contacting local chambers of commerce, finding out what TAFE colleges have to offer and also surfing the internet. He also suggests talking to paint companies, as most have programs designed to market to certain segments.
"Before you begin your campaign, make a list of your company's best features and qualities," he says. "Then look at what makes you unique from the shops around you. If you believe you haven't got one, you need to develop one. Believe it or not, we aren't in an undifferentiated market."
Once this is completed, he recommends matching what you do well with what your target audience wants, and letting them know about it. "Put yourself in the mind of the recipient of your advertising. What's going to hit his hot button? If you are sending a mailing piece to a local fleet, don't spend time on the technical details of your facility and equipment.
"For example, you may be really proud of the new IR drying system you have bought, but just tell the customer what it means to him -- quicker drying times and quality results -- which means that your vehicles will be back on the road quicker. They just won't be interested in the technicalities of the system."
According to Smith, the main thing to remember is to make yourself different from the crowd. "We need to find out what we do well, and what we have that is unique. We need to target our customers with a telesco

Want to find out more about how to effectively market your business? Paint & Panel will be running a regular series on this important topic.