Michael operates a successful collision repair center in the Las Vegas metro area. As his auto body shop started to grow, he realized that his marketing wasn't attracting as many higher end collision repairs that his shop's equipped for and authorized to repair. He also had a significant percentage of the centers auto repair business coming from insurance companies.
Don't get me wrong, Michael knew that the insurance business is and will always be an extremely important part of his business. However, he also understands the first rule of business. Don't have all of his eggs in one basket. He also understood he needed to diversify his collision repair marketing.
Michael realized he had two issues that he needed to resolve if he wanted to achieve his goals.
- Attract more luxury, exotic, and high-end vehicles as part of his collision center marketing campaign.
- Increase the percentage of business that's acquired through the shops own collision repair marketing efforts.
Michael knew that if he didn't get these issues resolved, his auto body shop was not going to be nearly as profitable as it is equipped to be. Also, his shop was going to be exposed to more risk from some of the larger service centers that were starting to enter the local market. Michael also understood the sooner he was successful at accomplishing these two goals, the sooner he would achieve his dreams of opening more shops, expanding into other markets, and owning the real estate that his shops are located.
The problem was Michael didn't know where to turn or who to trust.
He searched how to market collision repair, and even researched some industry review forums and just about everything in between. He quickly understood that the internet is where he needed to be. His traditional advertising that worked so well in the past simply wasn't having the same impact anymore. Sure, he was getting new clients from the door hangers, billboards, commercials, radio, and print ads but they just weren't having the same impact that they used to.
The writing was on the wall.
He knew if he kept heading down this path of advertising and marketing, he was going to have to continuously spend more money every quarter to get the same results that he acheived the previous quarter. He had enough! It was during a casual conversation with Dean, a local Geico Insurance agent that Dean was sharing with Michael how his business and some other Geico agents were booming because of an online marketing strategy they were using that was getting results.
Click to see more of Michael's success story.
As with any good marketing strategy, they have to start somewhere. That somewhere is understanding your buyer's journey. Let me introduce you to buyer personas.
Why?
Because, buyer personas are the first and an often critical step for most online marketing strategies to succeed. Unfortunately, it is this single step that is often missed by many so-called digital marketing experts for collision repair shops. A rock solid buyer persona(s) created for your auto body shop, will help your collision center attract the clients you want to work with while repelling the consumers you are not as interested in servicing.
Fortunately, Michael started following Dean's advice and started implementing a focused online marketing strategy for his auto body shop. He reached out to the same marketing team Dean was using to help him implement and execute a new plan for marketing his collision repair business. Michael knew that if he didn't get this next step right, get the right people in place to execute this plan he wasn't going to be able to accomplish his dreams within the extraordinarily short amount of time he set out to do.
With the valuable insights Michael and his team gained using buyer personas, they quickly became the cornerstone of his auto body shop marketing. Michael was able to start realizing his dreams in just a few short years.
In 2015, Michael's company, New Look Collision was recognized as the thirteenth fastest-growing company in the state of Nevada and named to the Inc 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing companies with 204% growth in 3 years. He has since opened two new locations in Las Vegas (West of the Las Vegas Strip) and Henderson (near Green Valley Ranch) and will be expanding into other markets starting in 2016.
When is a good time for you to take your service center to the next level? If now is the right time, download our FREE Buyer Persona ebook and you will be off to a great start.
The foundation you start to build by using this ebook will dramatically improve your existing automobile internet marketing campaign. If you currently have a marketing company or marketing manager in charge of your online marketing, share this ebook with them today and join Michael by taking your automotive service center to the next level.
If you would like to know more about the incredible success Michael has achieved, click here and read about it in the November 2015 issue of Fender Bender Magazine.
