Serving community
Can someone explain to me why a business would think that a guy dressed in a matted-down, sweaty gorilla suit waving at passersby would get them to stop and shop at their store? Making matters worse, they may put the gorilla in their ads that predictably offer lame advertising slogans like, "Don't monkey around and come in" or "Don't be a chimp –– We wouldn't think of Cheeta you."
On the other hand, I suppose this kind of promotion, as well as guys clothed in sandwich boards with desperation phrases such as "Last Chance," "Closeout" and "Prices will never be lower" work to move "slightly damaged" mattresses and nogahide couches.
But I digress. If you're going to grow your business, or even stay even, you need to get the attention of the fickle public. Although this is not where this editorial is ultimately going, it's important to point out what will entice consumers. Whether it's Yellow Pages or any other type of ad or promotion you can think of, you need to communicate five essential things about your business.
- Your philosophy: "We'll fix your vehicle correctly the first time at a fair price."
- Quality of your employees: "We employ experienced, certified technicians who undergo continual training to stay current on the latest repair techniques and technologies."
- Quality of the parts you install: "We install name brand parts that will probably exceed the performance and durability of the originals they replace."
- Your guarantee: "We guarantee our work and our parts — unequivocally."
- Respect for time: "We know how busy you are so we will take you to work and pick you up afterward."
In the scheme of things, those five retail consumer offerings are easy to achieve as compared to your community involvement. In short, if you want to secure your place in your community, you have to be an active member of the community.
First, look at the community services you can directly host from your shop. Free car care clinics for motorists are one of the most effective ways of obtaining new customers and holding on to current ones. You can teach basic maintenance techniques which, in the long run, could help you secure more business. The theory, of course, is the better you educate your customers, the more likely they will take care of their cars. And unless they want to make a big investment in time and money, they'll turn to you to handle the more difficult tasks.
If not clinics, how about driving classes for new drivers or free inspections of used cars (which you may wind up servicing)?
As for community involvement per se, there are no secrets that I can tell you. There's an endless stream of worthwhile causes that need attention. So go ahead and support local charities, parks and recreation, schools and their sports teams. Sponsor a bowling team or Little League team. Join the chamber of commerce or Kiwanis.
You may very well be running the best shop in town and don't need any more business, but if you're not working as a part of the community, your shop will never reach its true potential. Plus you risk losing your elite position over time. More times than not, the community that you support will support you.
