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Top 3 Ways to Make Your Automotive Shop Grow

Margaret Soriano

Updated: May 5, 2021

The automotive industry is undoubtedly one of the most lucrative industries today. But with the numerous automotive shops that are leading the industry, you might ask yourself, “how do I make my automotive shop grow? We will show you how to make your shop grow through 3 concrete ways.





Demand for maintenance and repairs is rising. People need shops to fix their cars and to make sure that they run smoothly. But with the numerous automotive shops that are leading the industry, you might ask yourself, “how do I make my automotive shop grow? How do I compete with those in my industry?”


Here are 3 ways you can grow and be a step ahead of the pack.


Establish your online presence


Research shows that younger millennials are more likely to have their vehicles repaired compared to older millennials and non-millennials. These are the people that are most active on the internet, so presenting your business online is crucial. Aside from having your own website, follow these steps to establish your online presence.


Yelp and Google My Business

65% of people refer to Google My Business for information about a business and reviews on their services. Second to Google is Yelp, with 45% of customers using that resource. Since these are the two leading sources for information on businesses, putting your businesses on them and gaining high reviews will definitely boost your popularity and credibility.


Here’s how to make your Google My Business and Yelp pages. Remember to track feedback from customers and reply to their reviews. If the review is positive, show gratitude for their patronage. If their review is negative, tell them that you acknowledge their complaints and what you will do to make them better. In an industry where customer service is the foundation of trust, high reviews are essential, but so is showing your sincerity,



Social Media

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat offer ways to connect to new and existing customers who would like to take a look at your business. Show photos of your finished work, good reviews from customers, and what happens behind the scenes. Social media is also a great way to interact with customers. You can reply to comments, answer their questions, and feature your patrons. You can also use Stories to create polls, ask questions, and make live videos. When people see outstanding service on your posts and get curious, they can immediately send you a message. Social media makes your relationship with your customers more personal. That should be the goal of social media platforms – to be consistently relevant to your customers, not merely to sell your services and products.


To make your posts effective, adopt a consistent brand voice and design pattern. It’s not difficult – just use the same type of font on your stories, the same 2-3 colors on your posts, and the same style of pictures/videos.


Use Facebook and Google Ads

Nowadays, you don’t have to contact an advertising agency or consultant to do online advertising. It’s that easy. When you create a Facebook page for your business, you can immediately start making Facebook Ads. They will teach you how to create an ad step-by step. If you have an Instagram account connected to your Facebook page, it will also show your ads on Instagram. On Google, it’s just as easy. You just have to type in your business name and website, and then Google will follow you through the rest of the steps.


When you start running ads on either Facebook or Google, be sure to check your Return on Investment (ROI). If you’re getting sufficient sales or website traffic, that’s a sign that your ads are doing well. If not, try to review your advertisement, see what you can edit, or make another kind of ad.



Establishing your online presence ✅ Track reviews on Yelp and Google My Business ✅ Post consistently and engage with customers on social media ✅ Run Facebook or Google Ads



Boost your reputability


In the automotive shop industry, building trust with customers is crucial. You can show off your good work online, but your customers’ sentiments on your services will depend on how you treat them and their vehicles. From thereon, word will spread either online or personally about your business, and will lead to a long-term increase in sales.


Make your services as convenient as possible

Excellent customer service will increase loyalty to your shop. Not only will it be convenient for your customers, but the right tools will make it easier for you as well.


Automate your booking process. By automating your booking process, customers can easily see your available hours and won’t have to go through the whole process of calling your shop. What’s more, it will make it easier for you to track how many appointments you have secured and organize your schedule accordingly. There are many tools that can help you, but Supertap is one of the easiest ways to do this. They provide you with your own website where customers can easily book a service, and your own personnel app where you can keep track of bookings and manage your staff.



Update them through text. Make it convenient for your customers to stay in the loop by sending them updates for their vehicles’ regular maintenance, booking schedule, and special offers. You can also easily collect feedback through text.


Invest in word-of-mouth marketing

According to research, 92% of people prefer recommendations from friends and family over other forms of advertising. When you focus on improving your service, the next step is to increase word-of-mouth marketing efforts through these steps.


Incentivize referrals. Give special discounts or cashback on future appointments when customers refer their friends and family to your shop. That way, they are more likely to refer people to your shop.


Incentivize leaving reviews. Give special discounts or cashback on their current or future appointments when customers leave reviews on any of your channels. Combined with the power of Yelp, Google My Business, and social media, this will cultivate trust in your services and bring in loads of new customers.



Boost your reputability ✅ Make your services as convenient as possible ✅ Invest in word-of mouth marketing



Engage with your local community


Let your local community know who you are by engaging with them personally. This is a form of networking, which is developing your professional and social contacts through interaction.


Partner with schools. By now, you would know that there is a shortage of automotive professionals. You can partner with high schools and community colleges to conduct seminars on the benefits of working in your industry. Not only will this potentially bring in people to work for you, but this will also boost your eminence and bring more people to your shop.


Partner with local businesses. Find non-competing businesses in your locality that you can partner with to give people good deals. For example, you can partner up with a restaurant, so that when customers eat there, they get discounts on your services as well, and vice versa. You can also partner with a cleaning company, so that when customers make an appointment with you, you can give them a flyer and discount code for the cleaning company, and vice versa. The goal here is to cross-market your services for the benefit of both companies.


Engage with your local community ✅ Partner with schools ✅ Partner with local businesses









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