The "thank you" selling card

The following card text appeared in an earlier article this year:

"We appreciate your business."

As our way of saying "thank you" for being a customer of Anytown Auto Collision Center, we have arranged to provide you with a free rental car for up to three days - if you have damage on your vehicle again and bring it back to Anytown Auto Collision Center for repairs.

If you already have rental car coverage, we will treat this "thank you" as a $75.00 coupon that you can use as a credit against your deductible, to be deducted from a self-pay repair amount. Or you can reduce any towing charges that are not covered by your policy.

Additionally, if you refer a friend or family member for a repair, we will honor this "thank you" coupon for them on your behalf. If you or your company have company vehicles, we will further extend this coupon offer to the first three vehicles that are brought in to us. This will apply to the repair and refinish of any scratches, dents or dings on the vehicles that could be giving the company a bad image on the street.

Again, thank you for being our valued customer. We are pleased to offer these return visit and referred visit rewards. When you are in need of our services, call us toll free at (800) 555-1234. For towing, call 555-123-1234.

At Anytown Auto Collision Center, we appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to provide you with excellent service.

Sincerely,

Andy Shopman, Owner

Anytown Auto Collision Center"

This card is to be read to the customer by the estimator when the vehicle is delivered. The intent is to generate additional business! (Contact me for the full article if you missed it).

The customer satisfaction survey

The C.S.I. postcard is an excellent way to get fast feedback from customers. The postcard is pre-stamped. All the customer has to do is check off the appropriate boxes, from excellent to lousy, make a few comments, and drop the card in the closest mailbox. Some shop owners post up favorable cards where waiting customers and prospects can read them.

An even more important use of favorable customer comments is to capture them on a monthly postcard mailing to agents, DRP contact people, dealership principals, commercial fleet managers, and other potential referral sources. This steady drumbeat of favorable comments gradually builds a positive image in the minds of the recipients and increases your odds of getting that referral business.

The prior customer contact card

This card should be the workhorse business-building card in every shop. Prior customers should be contacted on a regular basis. Ten of these cards mailed each day, 50 cards in 5 days, in 52 weeks that's 2,600 cards to 2,600 prior customers. A 5% return is 130 customers. At 10%, it's 260 customers. At an average cost of $100 a month, no shop can afford not to do this simple promotion. By adding a coupon on the opposite side, this can also become a "Referral Reward" card. Here's the text that appeared in an earlier article:

Dear Friend & Customer:

If we haven't seen you in quite a while, we hope that means you haven't had an accident and that your car is running well. We wouldn't want you to have an accident just to come in and see us, but we know that many cars get minor dents and dings from inconsiderate drivers in parking lots. You might be surprised at the low cost of fixing those dents and dings at our shop.

Also today's acid rain can harm the fine paint finish on our cars. Ordinary car washes may fail to remove oxidation and contaminants from a car, but by using our professional buff and polish equipment we can do the job. Keeping you car in good condition will maintain the resale value of it and will give you greater pleasure from seeing it look like new.

So it may be beneficial for you to stop by for a brief estimate, and to meet some of our new personnel. Give us a call and we'll arrange an estimate at a time that is convenient for you.

Sincerely,

Unlimited postcard power

This is just an introduction to what you can do to promote your business with postcards, but just using even these few formats should greatly enhance the flow of prospective customers to your doors. And, given the low cost of this promotion, they should greatly increase your bottom line as well!

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