Any of you fuckers do offline stuff??

LMSInc.

LMSInc.

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Oct 21, 2009
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I've dabbled with some one-on-one shit here and there for offline businesses, but it isn't my strongest field.

Long story short, a super close family friend has been in the automotive biz for fucking decades, and he made a bad biz decision 2 years ago and lost a lot of his shit to a shady ass partner. He got a new place going, but things are slow as fuck for him.

I wanna take a week off and see if I can help him out.

He's got a site, and a few hundred snail mail addresses from past customers (not nearly enough), and that's literally about it...

I haven't looked into keywords and searches yet, but I'm assuming placement wouldn't really help this kind of business, at least not in the typical sense.

Maybe some mobile shit?

Anyways, just wondering if anyone had any experience with this kind of business, or something similar... I could really use a few useful ideas to get my wheels turning, because I'm at a loss at the moment.

Appreciate it, and tits for the help. :)

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most automotive biz will be word of mouth advertising will do more for his business then any site would. Especially if he is a auto mechanic not saying that a site is a bad idea though. Most people are going to ask thier family and friends who is trustworthy and won't screw them over with cost regarding labor and auto parts.

you could try FB PPC which would allow you to target your audience of course by age, demographic, gender, etc.

so you could do some advertising in your local area on FB then send them to his site.

that is my two cents.

good luck
 
Auto repair is very geo-specific as well. Is the shop in a high traffic area? Word of mouth is important but proximity is also very important. Google Places optimization could be your best friend here so get a good listing and good reviews.
 
not sure if you have valpak in your area but you can get a coupon in that envelope and target a certain area to distribute it to.

Lure the customers in with a big discount on that coupon,
1. it lets them know that you exist
2. a small oil change can lead to bigger repairs

My plumber friend does that alot in plumbing, he low balls alot of bids and ends up upselling or finding bigger issues.
 
If he does repair hit me up in a PM. I've done some stuff for repair guys and social CAN work - just have to do it right.
 
1. Find a easy to up sell loss leader.
2a. Convert the snail mail to email.
2b. Retrain the customers with email (oil changes, tires, rewards for referrals, etc...)
3. Clip out cards. (The card where a customer get a stamp every visit every 4th oil change free etc...)
4. Online videos showing him doing basic repairs that have auto related ads (think Insurance, AAA etc...) Geo target out of area visitors to Adsense or some other revenue source.
5. Build the mail list and sell to them car wax, road maps, air fresheners etc...
 
Auto repair.

Off the top of my mid

- local reviews
Google places,yelp,yahoo.

- craigslist ads

- Local Seo should be fairly easy with social bookmarks.
 
+ Adwords for local people looking for auto repair and an optimized google local listing.
+ Re-activate past customers through postal letters announcing new location and give them a special discount on an oil change or something for coming in again and getting reacquainted.
+ Target local people through Adwords that are typing in slews of different car problems for the makes and models he can fix using adwords ip targeting.
+ Bid on most popular local competitors names through adwords and take their potential customers that are researching them.

Be creative and think of all the different ways locals are looking for what he offers and get him in front of them online. Also, develop a customer referral system for him.
 
Lots of good ideas in the thread.

+1 on customer referral program. (e.g. $100 if they refer a friend who buys). I'd go beyond just sending it in a letter (which should have handwritten envelope with name instead of company on return addy & 1st class stamp). Have a personal story in there or something to make them want to help. I'd use the word "help us" in the letter artfully. I started using that word (e.g. thanks for your help and have a great day) closing out any request for customer service request I make and people started bending over backwards for me instead of getting the usual "we'll get to it when we get to it" reply. Call people a day after you suspect the letter arrives, starting from highest value customer on down and personally invite them. Mail them some business cards as well to make it easy.

Next thing I'd do after that is mine his customer database for people with cars over X years old and went for higher-end cars (I don't know if he does new or used, so you'll have to ask him what the typical rate is before they are ready). You want cream-of-the-crop customers here.

Shoot them a "dollar bill" letter (or $5 but the dollar amount isn't important, it's an attention getter) playing up how special they are, etc. Dan Kennedy has a pretty cheap book on amazon about selling to the rich, and the usual suspects like Influence or Cashvertising would help here. Letter invites them to a private showing where he'll give away something to an attendee. e.g. short-term lease on a car or a pack of free services on their car - whatever makes sense. Service may not matter if the car is under warranty so deciding what is up to you.

Use handwritten address, preferably mailed as fedex letter, though you could drop down to priority mail.

You'll then know exactly when the letter will arrive. Call each of them one day later (no longer) to ask if they got the letter and chat them up for a bit, making them feel special about being invited to the private viewing. Invite them again personally. Mention the drawing again but they have to be in attendance. Don't hard-close them.

You go to the private viewing and wear something smokin'. Make sure all the rest of the employees who attend do as well. Make it classy - some cool apps, imported beer/wine/champagne, whatever.

Tweak to your own situation - never tried this in cars but works in other luxury markets.

online side, how are his google local rankings? Check out bluesteele (creaturelocal) - they've done good work for a few clients of mine.

Another idea is a crazy-low loss leader oil change or other basic service on a daily deal site and using that to build up his snail & phone email list. I don't think that would be the highest-quality prospect list though so use at your own discretion/peril. SRDS and lists.nextmark.com going after high end interests is another idea though would save that until you've had a direct mail success.

@ oldgym - Interested to hear more about your buddy's approach with the valpak - I've never heard anything good coming out of inserts w/ Valpak from anyone who doesn't mail for a living.
 
Unless your mechanic is fixing Mercedes, BMW, Jag don't do the fancy beer. People expect mechanics to be dirty not wearing a suit and tie. They also want car repairs to be cheap and most people are smart enough to know that if they get their car fixed there they're going to be paying for that fancy beer and champagne.

1. Loss leader oil changes. "Oil change only $18.95!*" *up to 6qts
2. Freebies "Free air filter and 60 point inspection with any service"
3. Put a big ass banner out front advertising both of these. I mean huge so you can pick up on traffic passing by.
4. Google places and some local SEO (should be easy). Avoid adwords we never had much luck with it. He got a few customers but the costs were too high because the bigger shops have huge advertising budgets.
5. Word of mouth, offer customers a referral. $75 for everyone they bring. Offer this same $75 off for repeat customers.
6. The ol' "let me cut you a deal." A customer comes in and needs $850 worth of work done. Total it all up, Lets say to $935 then say "let me help you out, I can do it for $850 if you want it done this week"
7. Ads in the local paper worked really well for him. Advertise common services like transmission repair, A/C repair (in the summer) etc ...
8. Learn from the parts stores. Offer things like "free diagnostic check" and "free battery replacement (labor only of course), "free light bulb replacement". Add about 15% to the cost of the part to cover your 20 minutes of time.
9. Start a blog, let customers know about it. Fuel saving tips, how to keep your car in top shape, the importance of regular maintenance, etc ...
10. Don't bullshit women. A lot are smarter than you think and if they aren't or get a bad feeling they're going to ask someone that knows more than them. If you aren't being honest they'll know and label you a theif forever.

The other commenters are right most business comes from word of mouth so treat them right, don't try to upsell shit they don't need and generally just be their "neighborhood mechanic" that they can ask any questions about cars.
 
re: my previous comment - I assumed "automotive biz" was a dealership. Some of the comments said repair. Can't find where the OP mentioned that but if I missed it and it's anything else but a dealership, ignore my entire post.
 
Get his Google Places set up 100% and contact some of his best customers and start dropping good reviews on Yelp etc ... the reviews need to be a gradual thing ... good reviews go a long way to establish credibility in the neighborhood.

JQ
 
If it's a repair biz, make sure he gets some reviews and testimonials up on the relevent review sites pronto.

The biggest two questions people have when hiring a new mechanic "does this guy know what he's doing?" and "is he a crook or not?"
 
This I have learned from a friend. He was a partner of a soon to be bankrupt car/mechanic shop. What he got on the tilt was like $5. What he did, he stayed at the shop from 8am-12nn. Then, from 1pm-3pm did some marketing. He asked some friends, to have their cars fixed by him. At 4pm, he would be back at the shop to check if there were some cars that need his help (since he knew how to fix cars, too). By 5pm, all cars will be dispatched. As much as possible, cars would be out of the shop in the afternoon. This was applicable for cars being brought in during mornings. If there were some customers who came in the afternoon, he suggest to them to come back in the morning and not leave the car overnight. This was his technique since they only have limited space.

When money start to sink in, he ventured into car washing. This has given the soon to be bankrupt car shop the opportunity to have money daily aside from repairs. The kind of service he had given to the people was superb. All of them are 100% satisfied. Why? He was honest in dealing business. He was after repeat customers and not ripping off one-time customers.

I think it would be much better to start off with what he have, start rebuilding connection to his previous customers before. Start from there.
 
I found my current mechanic online and chose them because they were one of the few that had a decent website about the services they offered. He's a bit pricey, but the service is great and he goes the extra mile.

I remember starting at google and searching for something like "auto repairs <my suburb>".

I think for an auto mechanic website, you won't get alot of visitors but the visitors should be good leads.
 
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