wanting to go full time?

[gbj]

Hi Everybody, I'm gbj. This is my 1st time on the forum. I've been doing windshield repairs part time for several years, and I want to go full time. I live in a small town of about 2000 and I was wondering how do you find enough customers to work full time and how do you plan out a route I hear people talk about? Thanks gbj

[ChipperFixer]

Welcome gbj. to the forum.....Your in the right place....I too am a part timer going full time.... but I've been at it over 20 years....First thing to do is put your work pants on and get ready for a fun ride.....just keep your ears tuned and your eyes open on this forum and you will be sailing soon .......V.Z.'s

[StarQuest]

Plan on driving 150 miles plus per day and leave "no stone unturned"! That means you have to introduce your service to every business and person in every small town.

I know of techs who live and operate in small local areas that do very well but they have very little or no competition to deal with.

If you are a sales friendly person and can provide a quality service to other small locations during the week, you have a good chance on establishing lifetime business bonds with these people.

What you have to do first is make sure somebody else hasn't already been providing the same services to them for years. If they have, it may become difficult to get them to change.

Best advice is to do some serious research first before investing to much into this new venture!

[mrchip]

gbj..where are you..it would be nice if you filled out profile..so how many repairs per week have you been doing?..would you have to double to survive?....starquest gave some good advice

[S&W Glass Repair]

Welcome! I've been doing repairs for 18 1/2 years. The advice so far is solid. You must be friendly, not afraid to have a door closed on you and get discouraged. Take a look at my post for "Sales Letters", these may help you out. You can use them as they are or take my idea and use it to form your own ideas, this may help and that's a good thread for you. I do fleet work and car dealers, I just got into insurance work, I would think in a small town you need to make sure everyone knows who you are, period and then be willing to travel out to take care of customers. Every vehicle is a potential customer, period. I prefer fleet work, I have to do more repairs then some of these guys who do insurance work but I love what I do and if you love what you do that's a start. Some basics:
1) Do you have business cards?
2) Do you have a logo?
3) Do you have sales letters?
Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me anything, I will do my best to help you. You can always call me as well, I'm available generally after 10 AM, EST. (Edited By Forum Moderator - Terms and Conditions #31 E-mail addresses or phone numbers are not allowed in any post.)

Cheers,
Scott

[toab]

I am looking at diversification as well as a location to survive.However a location as I am learning means big time increased overhead.

[Bois]

gbj, if you've been doing repairs part-time for 2 yrs. and live in a small community, you should have established yourself by now or at least are well known. If not, join some local civic organizations & chamber of commerce. Make sure your vehicle has signage. Advertise at local schools (I'm always getting calls to place ads to support sports). Do anything to get exposure. Next, expand your service area to increase your population base. I live in a town of 1,500. Yet, I service a 30 mile radius which includes the entire county.

[Chips-B-Gone]

gbj, I also am a part timer. Somethings I do to drum up business is to place full page ads with pull off (that include my phone number and website on them) in grocery stores, quick lubes, Dairy Queen's or anywhere that has a public bulletin board. This has been working well in places like Kroger. Also, one of my best form of advertizment is word of mouth. I repaired a local truckers windshield about 2 years ago and he was so impressed he has sent me about 7 or 8 more jobs. Just imagine if every customer did that!!! I ask EVERY customer that I service how they heard about me. Thsio is the best way to determine what form of advertising is working and where your advertising dollars are being well spent. I also do headlight restoration. There is a definate market here for it and little competition. With windshield repair I have about 5 competators. Just my 2 cent. Good luck.