Accessory sales again

At the November Specialty Equip-ment Marketers' Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas for those who make and sell aftermarket accessories for cars and trucks, it was reported that the aftermarket business generated $34 billion in retail sales in the U.S. in 2006. This was up nine percent over 2005, and an increase over the average year-over-year increase of eight percent for the past decade. One local body shop manager in my area said he averages $25,000 a month in graphics and accessory sales.

These numbers have become possible because consumers used to only accessorize second or third-hand vehicles. Now many more new and recent car buyers want to customize their vehicles. Auto manufacturers, seeing a potentially significant add-on parts market, are beginning to place more focus on selling highly profitable accessories.

For example, Mazda has created a line of Mazdaspeed aftermarket parts, and a Retail Revolution showroom theme. These are meant to appeal to younger, digital-savvy buyers who might be inclined to make their ride look like a Mazda in video games. At SEMA, Kia announced it will expand its line of aftermarket accessories with add-ons like cold-air intakes and short-throw shifters for its Rio and Spectra cars.

According to SEMA reports, sport compact brands like Scion are the fastest growing segment of this market - not surprising, given the market's appeal to customizing-crazy gen-Y consumers. Compacts constitute about $5 billion in aftermarket accessories sales, but the lion's share of the accessorizing business is trucks and SUVs, roughly 30 percent of the market.

What's in it for you?

The beauty of this interest in accessorizing is that many of the products require professional installation. Spoilers, power running boards, flares, bed-liners, and more are generally simple for shop technicians to install - and may not be that hard for a sharp estimator to sell (might even suggest it as a holiday gift). An astute shop owner should probably be talking to local accessory shops about handling many of their product installations.

The Rule-of-Three is still a solid guide for building long-term repeat business: When a customer comes to your shop three times and is happy with the service each time, that customer will almost certainly become your customer for life (unless you screw up one of those times). But without wishing every customer to have three accidents to come back those three times, what can you do to promote those three visits?

With more than three thousand accessories listed in SEMA's guide to the trade show, I can't imagine that you would have trouble finding a half-dozen desirable (and profitable) accessory products to sell (or suggest as gifts to give) to your current and prior customers. You might even offer a drawing for a few of them for customers who did come into the shop during the holiday season. Now your holiday greeting card has a chance to bring some real green into your shop during the season, and that would really help you beat the holiday blues!

Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing representative and consultant for forty years and is the author of the books, "Business Battlefield Marketing for Body Shops," "Tom Franklin's Top 40 Marketing Tactics for Body Shops," and "Strategies for Greater Body Shop Growth." His marketing company now provides marketing solutions and services for body shops and other businesses. He can be reached for questions or comments at (323) 871-6862, by fax at (323) 465-2228, or by E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it