Shakespeare once posed the poetic question, “What’s in a name?” and like most of the Bard’s verse, it still rings true today. For it may say Alan Cox Automotive on the sign, but Sherry Richardson surely is the boss of this suburban Atlanta repair facility.
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Her timing couldn’t have been better. Since the 1990s, marketing and customer service have become even more crucial to the automotive repair industry. To better realize these objectives, Richardson has attended many seminars over the years, both industrial and commercial, to the point where she now hosts some of her own Automotive Boot Camps at the shop to educate and inform the public about auto service and repair.
Under her auspices, Alan Cox Automotive now sponsors local sports and cultural events, regional auto races and car shows, and supports scholarships for the study of automotive repair.
Marketing and Goals
With the Internet gaining traction as a marketing tool, the shop is represented online by an attractive website employing a service that also does search engine optimization. Featuring service scheduling, client testimonials and bi-weekly blogs, the site is linked via the shop’s newsletter to Facebook and Twitter.
This newsletter, “Maintenance Matters,” is Richardson’s monthly bulletin to edify customers on current information. She also has published several articles locally on car maintenance and how to better communicate with a shop’s technicians. Outside the Internet, quarterly mailings are sent to 10,500 homes to help bring in new customers, and once these people come in the shop follows up with a personal thank-you letter.
Management has some new tools to play with, too. The RPM Toolkit program by Auto Profit Masters is used by the shop to measure productivity and track gross profit for parts, labor, sublet and towing.
The office personnel are required to listen to Service Writer Podcasts, also provided by Auto Profit Masters, while all employees have individual productivity goals that are looked at daily.
The R.O. Writer program allows the shop to build a customer database with information like the names of children and pets as well as vehicle info. It can also generate service reminders to stay in touch with customers, like calls to thank them after each service. “Thank-you postcards are mailed to each customer who spends over $150,” Richardson reveals. “A referral program gives (patrons) a free Mini service for referring new customers.”
Mini being one of the five levels of service that Alan Cox Automotive offers (along with Courtesy, Intermediate, Major and Pre-Purchase Inspection), first time customers also can use this deal.
Shop Focuses
The shop itself focuses on the repair of Japanese brands Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus and Mazda. “Our approach is to assure the customer’s safety and the vehicle’s longevity,” Richardson reports. “We use a 30-point courtesy check and our experience to assess the vehicle’s current condition, advise the customer and help set priorities. Customers appreciate this honest approach. The personal relationships we have with our customers keep them coming back.”
This well-equipped facility rivals some dealerships. To handle the undercarriage, Alan Cox Automotive has a Hunter Lazer Wheel Alignment machine, rim clamp tire mounter, Hunter Smart Weight wheel balancer, and Branick strut spring compressor. For removing an engine’s vital fluids, they have BG machines for flushing transmissions, power steering systems and coolant recycling.
A 20-ton hydraulic shop press is on-hand for special jobs. With Modis for diagnostics, the shop subscribes to Honda, Acura and Toyota manufacturer’s websites as well as Identifix for technical service bulletins and warranty information; the monthly shop
After being in business nearly 30 years, Alan Cox Automotive has many long-term relationships with suppliers, most of whom are OEM or have OEM-quality parts. “Quality is very important,” says Richardson. “We do not want a customer to have a problem because of an inferior part.”
Parts deliveries sometimes come twice daily to ensure a quick turnaround. Most vehicles are completed in one day; about 90 percent of all repairs the same day the vehicle is brought in.
In a well-produced video featured on the shop’s Facebook’s welcome page, Richardson promotes their own 18-month/18,000 mile warranty over the standard 12/12,000, at the end reassuring the viewer that “We are car people. We know them, we live them, we love them.”
Richardson herself proudly owns an S2000, Honda’s hot 2-seat roadster, the only rear-wheel drive car platform ever produced by the marque.
As a woman in a male-dominated field, Richardson is well aware of consumers’ feelings toward the automotive repair industry, particularly with women now constituting more of the customer base. Many of her programs attempt to bridge the gap between daunting technology and customers’ trepidation over it.
Sometimes all it takes is a change in perception, aided by subtle marketing. For as Shakespeare wrote (incidentally from “Romeo and Juliet”): “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
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