Managing a tent location

[jayjacque]

I'm also flirting with the idea of setting up a tent on Saturdays and perhaps another day of the week. Might not happen for another year down the road, but still am interested in the do's and don'ts of what works the best. Thanks maxryde and Starquest for your good input. I've seen a set-up or two that looked "cheap". Then I remember one that was set up very nice and that made an impression. Of course word of mouth good work will be the best advertisement I imagine.

[GlassStarz]

I know what you mean about the boring thing I dont do the tent thing but recently struck a deal with a local Carwash to place a guy there at a percentage 3 days training him in sales drove me nuts I dont know how they guys do it. about 5 or 6 hrs of a 8 hr day are spent doing nothing sure there is some good money there but its not for me.

[Bois]

I operate a tent location on weekends, weather permitting. There are days when I don't have a single customer. And, there are days when I'm swamped. I've been at my location for 3 years and people know that I'm there - just as if it were brick & mortar. I have a small sign with my name & phone number so customers can call for an appointment when I'm not set up. I've found that if I set up every other weekend I lessen the risk of having no customers. (So far I haven't found another good location for the alternate weekends.) I pay $50 a week rent whether I set up for 1 day or 7 days. Winter is not good for me. Although I will do repairs in bad weather by appointment, I just don't want to sit outside or in my truck if it's below 50 degrees or 20+ mph wind - typical for northeast TX Dec - Feb. If I'm uncomfortable, I may hurry and not do a good repair job.

I have a busy location at a traffic light on a state route with easy access to my site. There's been a lot of continuing road contruction within a 10 mile radius for 3 years which helps. A mechanic/tire shop next to me gives me referrals - free. I do their employees w/s for free.

[maxryde]

Originally Posted by Bois

I operate a tent location on weekends, weather permitting. There are days when I don't have a single customer. And, there are days when I'm swamped. I've been at my location for 3 years and people know that I'm there - just as if it were brick & mortar. I have a small sign with my name & phone number so customers can call for an appointment when I'm not set up. I've found that if I set up every other weekend I lessen the risk of having no customers. (So far I haven't found another good location for the alternate weekends.) I pay $50 a week rent whether I set up for 1 day or 7 days. Winter is not good for me. Although I will do repairs in bad weather by appointment, I just don't want to sit outside or in my truck if it's below 50 degrees or 20+ mph wind - typical for northeast TX Dec - Feb. If I'm uncomfortable, I may hurry and not do a good repair job.

I have a busy location at a traffic light on a state route with easy access to my site. There's been a lot of continuing road construction within a 10 mile radius for 3 years which helps. A mechanic/tire shop next to me gives me referrals - free. I do their employees w/s for free.

Good job,
IMO, you may find a better location in time but if your doing the right thing then continue!!! It will come!! Best to ya, Scott

[splitpit]

Bois.....there are days that you sit the entire day without a single customer?

How do you fight the boredom? It would drive me crazy to sit in one place with the intent of earning $$ and end up with nothing. Just think of all of the productive ways you could be increasing your income instead of wasting entire days.

[Clarity Glass]

I've been doin' the tent thing almost 5 years now. Some days are crazy busy and others are slow. The slow days are starting to wear on me so I've decided after tracking sales by days of the week and busier times of the day, I will go out and network. Eventually, I'd like to be mobile monday thru thursday and work the tent biz on weekends when mall business is busier. Most people think I'm only there on weekends anyway. In addition,this year I will be adding other services to appeal to a broader audience.

The tent setup on a regular basis is good because people see you over and over and begin to look for you. Yesterday I repaired a chip for a local real estate agent who had been approached by two other techs in parking lots who saw his chip. They each asked for the sale and he told them no, I'm goin' to the guy I see everyday in the mall parking lot.

When you work a tent, lots of potential customers will tell you they don't have time today. It is imperative to let them know you will do a mobile repair at their home or workplace. You may have zero repairs at the tent that day but the next day you'll have three repairs scheduled.

[Blind Squirrel]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I should mention that I do not at present operate a stationary (tent) location. I tried it about 4 years ago and didn't like just sitting around so much. I'm like the buzzard that says to the other buzzard, "patience my ass, I'm gonna go out and kill something".

Therefore, I much prefer going after sales. I've built a good business in fleet accounts here in Denver. However, I don't like the ups and downs of it either.
Somedays I run my route and make a lot and come home feeling great and other days I run it, sames miles and time, and make only a little. So, when you average it out, it don't look or feel so good.

This is why I'm putting a new emphasis on retail, (cash and insurance). One very good reason for this is preparation for the possibility that I could lose my biggest account that makes up 75% of my business. I've been doing their repairs for 5 years, I know they've been approached by many other techs/repair/glass companies but they've been loyal, but I never know when a management change might result in a change of who does their repairs.

One change I've made is setting up to use A.C.T.'s "Rapid Pay" program. As everyone knows, insurance company payments are from 2 to 8 weeks. This makes cash flow management dicey. This payment program from ACT will pay insurance jobs in 7 days. This means everything I send in this week will be EFT'd into my bank account the following friday. Some of you won't like the fees but it works for me. Go to ACT's website for details.

The other big thing I'm preparing for is when insurance companies stop paying for windshield repair. Because of the negatives of the hacks and other riff-raff that came into windshield repair to milk the system, some of us, me included, would at least like to see a moratorium on insurance repairs, at least a year and believe this is what will drive the unethical fast buck hustlers out of the business. My biggest axe to grind with these guys is that someone with enough money to get set up with the networks, set up locations and buys equipment, tents and banners, goes out and hires guys off the street and after a couple days of learning how to call in a job and do the paperwork and a couple hours on how to repair a windshield, they're out on the corner.

I want to make 2 things clear about this. First, there really are some good techs out there doing repairs with tents and some of them are on this forum. The honest ones know who you are and won't take offense to this. The second is I will never fault any person who is at least making an honest effort to make an honest dollar, regardless of their level of experience.

Back to the subject of tents. I feel very strongly that you have to have a busy location at a maximum rent of 10% of gross. This alone is probably a pipe dream. But realistically speaking, as mentioned already, what do you do with the time when you have no customers? One idea is to bring along phone books and other lead source material to make sales calls on the phone. Or write letters. Point is to be prepared to be as productive as possible.

[Clarity Glass]

Blind Squirrel, the riff raff are already out there and they have the money. I made the mistake of buying in with them. My training was 3 days/4hrs. each day and I was supposed to be competent enough. They at one time were trying to set up in Salt Lake City.
The mall I'm at they want a flat fee and 15% if you supersede certain sales. Free time...reading the business and local section of paper to be up to date on local happenings. Soon to be promoting new services to passers by hoping to reduce downtime this Spring/Summer/Fall. Are you introducing yourself to agents? Even if insurance goes by the wayside, people still will call their agent. I will be introducing myself to any business related to auto or glass. Time to stop being lazy and diversify my biz. Also planning to join a couple morning networking groups.

[Bois]

Splitpit,

It can be boring sometimes waiting for customers. Boredom is broken by people stopping by to ask questions (usually people who need replacements) or wanting my business card, etc. And, I keep several magazines handy. Classical music helps soothe the time.

During the week I service my dealers and fleets (few) and handle appointments. I do headlight restoration, too. I don't do h/l at the tent location because I don't have electricity (too cheap to buy a generator for the few h/l's that I do). Cold calling on Saturdays is ineffective since people are not at work and I don't want to walk the mall parking lots (ineffective, too). Anyway, I try to keep a presence at the location as best I can. At least I don't loose money on high rent.

[StarQuest]

Blind Squirrel,

I'm currently living in the situation that your now becoming concerned about (losing your largest account). I recently lost my largest fleet account with 14 locations last September due to upper management. The fact that I had loyally serviced these accounts weekly for over 6 years and was highly respected for the quality of work provided by both local and regional managers, it didn't help change the final corporate decision outcome.

Bel-Safe (who already had the replacement contract with them) offered them $29.95/$10/$10 on repairs and got the work. My fees were $35 flat with fee weekly maintenance and no additional charges. Bel-Safe doesn't provide a weekly maintenance, it's all by call and you can be assured they always have a windshield ready to pop in if they can sell it over a repair! So...go figure?

From keeping in touch with some local managers I already know since they booted me that overall glass expenses has went up 25-40 percent. I have a good feeling that I'll get this account back in the future but for now it's a little disappointing for me. It was one of my daily base accounts which provided a steady daily income.

If I had been offered a chance to competitively bid for this account, that would be acceptable but that's not what happened. As a independent, I wasn't offered any fair opportunity to compete!

Some more information as to why I'm considering a tent or stationary setup.

In 2006, I averaged 5-6 insurance referrals daily through Harmon, Lynx and SGC. In 2007 it dropped to 1-2 daily and so far in 2008 it's at 1-4 per week. Something is going on here. Either my market has became so saturated with new repair techs that rotations are getting spread so very thin or the glass owned networks are starting to take control of everything! With Lynx it could be their custom offer with repairs for Metlife, StateFarm and Allstate and others. In service shops might be offering much lower rates than I could provide for a mobile.

I like many others am not very fond of sitting around waiting for work but I do believe a nice stationary setup will at least provide one thing. That's advertising and a consumer choice! Not sure if it's going to work out for me but I'm ready to give it a try! Can't be much worse than waiting for a referral call or spending gas money driving around all day getting little in return.

My ideal site is one that would have access to a wireless feed to my laptop. Might also consider setting up a Wii system to get some exercise while sitting around. I plan on having a free demo set up, free mobile signage and "No cost or low cost windshield repair banner" available.

We'll see how it goes this spring!