Videos showing accidents and the results of unsafe driving are obtainable from most Departments of Motor Vehicles or the Auto Club. Plus having a heavy hit in the shop to show and talk about serves to make holding a safe driving class fairly simple.

Naturally the class will include some propaganda on why selecting this specific shop will result in the safest, highest quality collision repair. Young drivers who receive this message at the beginning point in their driving life are more likely to remember it and to come back to a shop where they feel familiar and comfortable.

Customizers

Another factor in several of the zones was a local emphasis on customizing vehicles. One local dealership shop manager I spoke to said they always did at least $25,000 a month in accessory sales and installation. We could see in the Asian community, many young drivers were into customizing their cars to the max. In the rich, elite zone, customization ran more to pin-striping, special automated running board lifts for senior citizen car owners, special lighting, customized interiors and pet restraints.

The shop owner we were assisting didn't want to get heavily into selling and installing accessories (although we recommended it), but he was willing to consider working with good quality accessory shops in each of the zones. We set about checking out accessory shops in the surrounding areas. Once again, we were looking for endorsements from the Better Business Bureau and the Auto Club.

From our first good contact we could see that an excellent mutual referral system could be worked out. The accessory shop had opportunities to refer collision repair business to the shop, and the shop estimators could pre-sell some of the products available at the accessory shop.

Multiplying reaches into each zone

These marketing efforts were only a beginning, but already we could see that a personalized message worked well in each of the zones. All we had to do was take the time to go there, ask lots of questions, and find out what vehicle drivers and owners in each area really valued.

By helping the shop zero in and specifically target prospective customers in each zone, we saved the owner a lot of potentially wasted money, and got him a far better bang for every marketing buck.

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 .