A while back I was contacted by a local body shop to create a proposal for them to attempt to obtain a contractual relationship with a very desirable dealership nearby. They were pleased with the proposal write-up, but I never heard whether or not they got the deal. Nevertheless, I added this proposal write-up to the collection of files I include with my book, Top 40 Marketing Tactics for Body Shops.

Dis-solve: (verb) 1. To pass or cause to pass into solution; 2. To melt; 3. To cause to disappear or dispel; 4. To separate into component parts; disintegrate.

The past few years have been fairly good for most of my body shop clients. In fact, business has been so good it’s been difficult to get some shop owners and managers to get serious about marketing initiatives. They may get interested in an idea for a short time, but as soon as business picks up, that interest disappears. 

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.