The autobody business has changed dramatically the last few years. Consolidators are now even moving into smaller communities that few would have ever expected just a few years ago when they started in major metropolitan areas. Insurance companies are getting more and more aggressive in their efforts to control claims costs and repair facilities -- even to the point of getting into the autobody business themselves!
In the midst of all of this change, while competition is heating up and repair dollars are harder to capture, the shop owner and manager is forced to spend a greater amount of time and money on basic marketing just to keep his or her shop afloat. Only there isn't enough time in the day to both manage the day-to-day activities of a body shop and also have time to go out and effectively market and sell the shop.
Some shop owners set out to find a skilled marketing person to perform this task for them. A few find this rare bird. Most never do, and so they make a half-hearted effort to sell and market their own shop. But half-measures are never enough, and so they fail to be effective. Eventually they may lose out to the consolidator or competitor with big bucks who can afford endless trial and error efforts until something works.
Is there an alternative to this sad scenario? Yes, but it is necessary to apply some fundamental principles. It is also necessary to approach marketing for what it is: a highly specialized task, just as demanding of skill and expertise as perfectly straightening and painting a car so that it is thoroughly restored to its original state.
You're starting out with some very definite limitations:
• Limited time to market
• Limited money to market
• A need to squeeze maximum value out of every dollar and every minute spent on marketing.
There are three major approaches you can take to this problem:
• Maximize and multiply the power of your own resources.
• Link yourself to a bigger marketing machine or power source.
• Create your own multi-dimensional leveraged power source.
All three of these approaches call for using systems, tricks and tools that somehow make you more effective than occasionally going out and calling on a prospect here and there, one at a time. Somehow you must multiply and clone yourself and your marketing efforts.
Creating a marketing machine
Because you have limited time, first you have to multiply your time to gain a time advantage. In the world of physical efforts, we've created "machines" to perform large amounts of work that we, as individuals, couldn't do during our limited human lifetimes. Machines put up buildings, bridges, highways and cities that we could never have built without them. So might it not also be possible to create a body shop "marketing machine?"
Because you probably have limited funds to spend on marketing, you have to maximize the efficiency of the funds that you do spend. Efficiency is defined as: "The ratio of effective or useful output to the total input in any system -- especially the ratio of the energy delivered by a machine to the energy supplied for its operation."
If you are to create an effective "marketing machine," the output of the "machine" must be significantly greater than the amount of time, effort and/or money you put into creating and operating the machine.
The machine defined
To create an effective "marketing machine," first let's look at the definitions of "Machine:"
• Any system, usually of rigid bodies, formed and connected to alter, transmit and direct applied forces in a predetermined manner to accomplish a specific objective, such as the performance of useful work.
• A simple device, such as a lever, pulley, or inclined plane, that alters the magnitude or direction or both, of an applied force (also called a "simple machine").
• Any such system or device, together with its power source and auxiliary equipment, for example an automobile, aircraft or jackhammer.
• Any system or device, such as an electronic computer, that performs or assists in the performance of a human task.
From this we can see we need (1) a specific objective and (2) a system for getting there. Plus (3) our system must "alter, transmit and direct" our applied force (in the form of time, money and effort) so that it is "magnified" or "redirected" to perform or assist in the performance of our marketing tasks.
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