We’ve all had a customer come into the shop with bumper damage. You write the estimate and he stares at the total cost, stunned! “How could a little bumper damage possibly cost this much?” he exclaims. After you show him the cost of the reinforcement bar, impact strip, (etc, etc.) and then explain how the impact also pushed the fender into the quarter panel requiring additional repairs and refinishing, he may look a little less stunned. And you hope he may begin to understand how what seems to be superficial damage may have traveled far deeper than he could have imagined.

Life is like that. Much of what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. When you drill down beneath the surface, you can begin to encounter some pretty nasty stuff. Or you can discover hidden gold. Marketing can be that way. I just read an article on marketing in one the industry’s leading publications. The suggestions were O.K., but they were too general and superficial to be of much help. In most cases, you have to drill much deeper to hit pay dirt!

The laser vs. the flashlight
The flashlight illuminates a wide area in the dark so you can proceed safely along a road or path. The laser, on the other hand, concentrates the light into such a narrow beam that it can cut through metal. Like a flashlight, putting effort into a broad range of marketing activities can spread your resources loosely over a wide area, but have very little power. A laser-like focus in one area has the potential to generate some real action!
    A shop may simultaneously go after DRP business, agents, dealerships, fleets, local commercial accounts and more. But unless that shop has an incredible sales and marketing professional on staff, most of these marketing actions will be superficial at best. A far better approach would be targeting one area at a time and bombarding the selected area with the best marketing ammunition you have to employ.

Selecting your “drilling” tools
Using a military metaphor, first you want to soften up your target. Or if you prefer a mechanic’s metaphor, you need to apply some liquid wrench to lubricate and loosen up the target area. During World War II, phase one was often dropping propaganda leaflets on the target area before bombing or attacking it. One hope was this might frighten some local citizens into becoming informants or traitors who would help us with our attack. Another intent was to put some fear into the enemy and maybe inspire some to defect. How might you soften up your marketing target?
    Take a dealership, for example. If you could get the parts manager, service manager, or even used car manager on your side, you might have a better chance of winning over the general manager. The first promotional pieces should go to all of these people and maybe even secretaries and receptionists. After promotional pieces, ideally you or your representative should call on these individuals to see if they received your literature and to determine what they would be most interested in for a collision repair provider. This “drilling down” action determines what you will emphasize during your promotional efforts.
    A similar approach could work with insurance companies, commercial companies and agents too, but identifying internal contact people may be more difficult. The trick is always beginning to build a positive opinion of your shop for every target prospect.