Now let's look at how this applies to a vehicle repair facility. Gone are the days when a shop did not need to do a whole lot of marketing, or advertising, or promoting to stay busy. Although word of mouth is still a primary force for getting new customers, word of mouth alone is not enough anymore.

Today the independent has competitors with very deep pockets, who as a group can spend millions of dollars on slick marketing campaigns and promotions. How does the independent business owner compete with this? Following are some tips to help you in your marketing efforts.

1. Identify your target audience or specific public. Who do you want to service? Who are you in business for? What kind of work do you do, and who would benefit from your goods and services? Who do you want as a customer? If you are a general repair facility it's fairly straightforward. Anyone who operates a vehicle that you are willing to service is your public. If you are a specialty shop the picture changes. What do you specialize in? Who owns, or operates these kinds of vehicles? What do the owners of these vehicles need and want from your kind of shop? Are you working with insurance companies, or doing fleet work? Insurance and fleet are very specialized publics with different needs and wants.

2. Survey (get input and organized feedback from) your public. Trying to guess at what consumers need and want is a waste of time and potentially very expensive. Most people in our industry are not consumers of vehicle repair, and therefore do not necessarily think like the consumer. So in order to know what consumers are looking for you've got to ask them. A simple survey can tell you a lot about your customers and potential customers.

A common example is a shop that promotes and advertises LOW PRICES, thinking this is what the customers need and want. This might get people in the door, you could even get very busy, but I have seen too many shops almost go broke with this strategy! Most good customers want service–service–service! They want the vehicle serviced and repaired on time, and done right the first time. Consumers most always complain about the high price of auto repair, but they tend to complain no matter what you charge! So base your advertising on service first, price second.

3. Do not forget to market to your regular customers. This is the area that I see as the weakest point for most shops when it comes to marketing. A shop's current customer base is a gold mine. Yet I see too many shops ignore their regular customers assuming that they will come back. THIS IS REALLY BAD THINKING! Remember earlier in this article I mentioned the Big Dogs with the multi-gazillion dollar advertising budgets? Well they are out there and they have no problem servicing your customers.

It is easy to lose customers and not even know it. It starts with simple services. You lose your customers' minor service work. Then it gets into the lucrative maintenance work, and you lose that too. Then the only time you see your customers is when they have a big problem, a drivability problem, an intermittent short, or some other mind-numbing situation with their vehicle. This happens when a business fails to keep a line of communication alive with customers. IF YOU DO NOT KEEP YOUR NAME IN FRONT OF YOUR CUSTOMER, SOMEONE ELSE WILL!

A shop owner who yells, "They're stealing all my customers!" is actually saying, "I don't know how to market my business!" Following are some basic and simple marketing/advertising actions that need to be done by all shops to ensure regular customers keep coming back.

• Service Reminders. These are cards or letters that you send to your customers to remind them that it is time to bring their vehicle back for a service. Oil Changes, Transmission Services, Cooling System Services, Air Conditioning Services to name a few.

• Recommended Repair Reminders. This is when the owner of the vehicle has declined to get a repair or service done that should have been done. To assume your customer will automatically bring the vehicle back to get the additional repair done is a mistake, and bad service to your customer. Within 10 days of their visit you should send a reminder out to the customer that the vehicle has additional work that still needs to be done, and have the customer call for an appointment.

• Thank You Cards. This is an action that needs to be done by all shops, but it takes some judgement. Thank you cards should be sent out to new customers primarily. Include a business card or two along with a coupon good off of their next service.

• Follow-up Calls. The owner or the service writer should not do these. Most people are well intentioned, and hate telling someone they know bad news. Have someone who the customer is not in contact with do the call. This could be an outside salesman, a relative, or someone else. You are more likely to get the truth this way.

• Seasonal Mailer. In most parts of the country there are seasons, which give a shop the opportunity to get a special in the mail to bring the vehicle in for that season's special. This can be done in conjunction with a newsletter. Newsletters can be very powerful when done right, but don't waste them on people who do not know you. Newsletters are best used as a tool to keep in touch with your regular customers.

Putting your first newsletter or an effective mailer together can be tricky. There is a lot to know about what should be in the ad or the newsletter and how to design an ad that captures the consumer's interest and attention. This is where you might seek some professional help.

4. Continually seek new customers. A shop has to have a program in place for attracting new customers. Most shops get new customers via word of mouth. If this is true for your shop capitalize on it. If you do nothing more then give each good customer a couple of business cards and actually ask for business, you will get new business.

• Welcome Wagons and Marriage Mailers–These are other actions a shop can take to get new customers. Find out who is new to your community by joining the Welcome Wagon program that most town councils or chambers of commerce have. Contact one of the marriage mailer companies and get your coupon in with other businesses in your area. This cuts way down on the cost and they work. This is another area that takes an in-depth knowledge of design. An owner needs to know the components of a good ad otherwise a lot of money can be wasted on bad ads and coupons that do not work. But you need to know how to track what works in your market. Some actions work well in one part of the country and fall flat in other areas.

Marketing is a vast subject and there are a lot of things you can do. The problem most shops have is the time to get these things in place. This is where professional help can make a big difference. The cost of professional help is a drop in the bucket when compared to the amount of money that is wasted on advertising that does not work, or worse -- an empty parking lot.

If you are currently not doing any marketing GET SOMETHING, ANYTHING GOING! It is that important. Watch for the next article where I will tie sales into the picture. I hope the above helps. Good Luck!