One of the most important aspects of marketing your new tyre
changing service is to getting the message out about exactly what it is
you are offering. If you're just looking to entice willing passing
traffic into your shop, then that's usually quite an easy task - simply
put some posters up or 'A' boards explaining your proposition (more of
that in a later article), but what if you want to get this tyre changer to pay
for itself quickly? How can you boost the amount of sales in a little
time and with only a small effort?
Well, the first thing to do is to work on your
existing customer. An existing customer is either someone who you have
already done work for, or it could be the person who has just driven
into the forecourt. Your task is to get these people to part with more
cash and to do that you need to tell them about your service - but not
in the way you probably imagine.
For many, the way to promote a new service is to
immediately push how cheap it is. Offers stating "30% off" adorn the
forecourt and yet fail to bring in any new business. This is the wrong
way round and they fail because they're not addressing the issue. You
may have already noticed some garages have changed their tack and are
using far more subtle techniques now that do work and can drastically
improve business.
The first thing to think about is what does your
service (be it tyre changer or otherwise) actually do for the customer.
Let's face it, many people walk into your shop because they have a
problem that needs fixing. They can't get the car going on a cold
morning or the indicators are not working. They have a problem, it
needs fixing, they choose you. However people may have issues that
they're simply not addressing or are not urgent and for these they
simply don't bother. In today's economic climate, many people are
foregoing a winter check or service to simply save cash.
So you need to impress on them the need to ensure
they get things checked out and fixed before they become a bigger
problem. In the case of tyres, there is even a legal obligation to
ensure their tyres have the correct tread and are not damaged in any
way.
This is how you promote your service then. Push the
fact that damaged tyres are not only dangerous, they are illegal and
can end up in a hefty fine. You are simply looking to fine the 'pain'
in the current situation and use that to persuade your customer to buy
from you. Simple? Actually, it is.
Customers are more likely to buy from a position of
pain rather than look to move towards a position of pleasure. There's
very little pleasure to be had in the purchasing of new tyres (unless
they are a particularly strange customer) and so you must look at the
pain aspect.
To promote this pain principle you must therefore
get the message right to your customers and you do this in many ways.
If you've been exceptionally good at farming your customer email
addresses then you have an easy start. Promote your tyre changer
service by emailing them.
If you don't have email addresses then you should
at least have postal addresses of all your customers so you can simply
post to them.
Look our for my other articles
on promoting your business through these methods and boosting your
sales by exploiting the techniques that other businesses have been
using for years.