Contact fleet managers...
Posted: July 19th, 2013, 8:40 am
Hello to everyone!
I've been reading the forum for awhile now, and would just like to say that it has been a wonderful reference for me as I begin to dig in to the WSR business. I purchased a kit last September with training, and have since been logging hours on my practice glass and doing some repairs for friends. The forum has been an invaluable resource along the way, and I have found the answers to most of the questions that I have had come up. I would like to thank all of you for your contributions here, as I would have been lost without this forum! I am starting to feel more confident in my repairs and feel that I am about ready to start exchanging my repairs for actual money! In addition to the practice, I have also been working on marketing, business cards, website, licensing, insurance, and all of the less fun, however necessary, administrative tasks that go along with running the business side of things.
I plan to target fleet work primarily, as I live in a large metro area with plenty of potential clients. I also want to go after whatever retail business I can find, but want to build a good foundation of fleet work to hopefully provide a consistent base that will help to fund my retail marketing efforts. At the moment I plan to just chase after cash repairs, as the insurance work seems to be quite a hassle in some form or another, especially for someone just starting out in this business. It seems that insurance work would be pretty sparse anyway, at least until I build somewhat of a solid reputation for quality work. I despise the pushy, sales oriented car wash guys that run around with an injector and a lighter doing cruddy repair jobs that look like junk. I like to take my time, be professional, dependable, and at this point work on quality over quantity. I believe the quantity will come when the quality is there...
So, all of this being said, I can finally get to my question for all of you seasoned veterans out there that have already helped me out so much by posing on the forum. I'd like to thank you all officially, just so you know that even though this is my first post, you have all been helping me tremendously for months now!!! Now for my question:
I would like to know what your most successful methods for gaining an audience with fleet managers are. I am having some trouble getting in touch with the right person at several companies. I am targeting plumbing, HVAC, construction, pest control, etc. fleets, and when calling on these companies, whether in person or on the phone, you inevitably have to break through their first line of defense, the receptionist. Many of them say they will pass along my information to their manager, but I often question whether this ever happens, and I have not received any call backs. I like to visit in person and drop off marketing materials, as I know then at least they have something tangible to hand to the manager if I can't get through to see them. But many times I feel like my marketing collateral meets the trash can long before it goes on a managers desk. I go in with my best professional and friendly attitude, dressed nicely, and have never had a problem with any hostility, as I like to be very low pressure and go in looking to make a friend before looking to make a sale, even offering a few free demos just to get my foot in the door. I admit, I don't have much sales experience, but I know that I am a friendly and approachable person, and have no problem chatting it up with people. I think my biggest challenge is finding the balance between being assertive enough to make a sale without coming across as "salesy", as that is a huge turn off to me, and I always go for the "treat others as you want them to treat you" approach.
Does anyone have any tips on getting through to the people who make decisions on fleet maintenance? I know that I have to be persistent, and just continue contacting them without pestering them. Maybe I'm hoping for things to move along more quickly than they are, and I know patience is a virtue, it's a marathon not a race, etc.... You all have been so much help at this point, so I though I would toss it out there to see if I gain gather some thoughts from your collective experience... I am looking forward to speaking with all of you and posting more on the forum as I go along. Again, thank you all so much for the help!
I've been reading the forum for awhile now, and would just like to say that it has been a wonderful reference for me as I begin to dig in to the WSR business. I purchased a kit last September with training, and have since been logging hours on my practice glass and doing some repairs for friends. The forum has been an invaluable resource along the way, and I have found the answers to most of the questions that I have had come up. I would like to thank all of you for your contributions here, as I would have been lost without this forum! I am starting to feel more confident in my repairs and feel that I am about ready to start exchanging my repairs for actual money! In addition to the practice, I have also been working on marketing, business cards, website, licensing, insurance, and all of the less fun, however necessary, administrative tasks that go along with running the business side of things.
I plan to target fleet work primarily, as I live in a large metro area with plenty of potential clients. I also want to go after whatever retail business I can find, but want to build a good foundation of fleet work to hopefully provide a consistent base that will help to fund my retail marketing efforts. At the moment I plan to just chase after cash repairs, as the insurance work seems to be quite a hassle in some form or another, especially for someone just starting out in this business. It seems that insurance work would be pretty sparse anyway, at least until I build somewhat of a solid reputation for quality work. I despise the pushy, sales oriented car wash guys that run around with an injector and a lighter doing cruddy repair jobs that look like junk. I like to take my time, be professional, dependable, and at this point work on quality over quantity. I believe the quantity will come when the quality is there...
So, all of this being said, I can finally get to my question for all of you seasoned veterans out there that have already helped me out so much by posing on the forum. I'd like to thank you all officially, just so you know that even though this is my first post, you have all been helping me tremendously for months now!!! Now for my question:
I would like to know what your most successful methods for gaining an audience with fleet managers are. I am having some trouble getting in touch with the right person at several companies. I am targeting plumbing, HVAC, construction, pest control, etc. fleets, and when calling on these companies, whether in person or on the phone, you inevitably have to break through their first line of defense, the receptionist. Many of them say they will pass along my information to their manager, but I often question whether this ever happens, and I have not received any call backs. I like to visit in person and drop off marketing materials, as I know then at least they have something tangible to hand to the manager if I can't get through to see them. But many times I feel like my marketing collateral meets the trash can long before it goes on a managers desk. I go in with my best professional and friendly attitude, dressed nicely, and have never had a problem with any hostility, as I like to be very low pressure and go in looking to make a friend before looking to make a sale, even offering a few free demos just to get my foot in the door. I admit, I don't have much sales experience, but I know that I am a friendly and approachable person, and have no problem chatting it up with people. I think my biggest challenge is finding the balance between being assertive enough to make a sale without coming across as "salesy", as that is a huge turn off to me, and I always go for the "treat others as you want them to treat you" approach.
Does anyone have any tips on getting through to the people who make decisions on fleet maintenance? I know that I have to be persistent, and just continue contacting them without pestering them. Maybe I'm hoping for things to move along more quickly than they are, and I know patience is a virtue, it's a marathon not a race, etc.... You all have been so much help at this point, so I though I would toss it out there to see if I gain gather some thoughts from your collective experience... I am looking forward to speaking with all of you and posting more on the forum as I go along. Again, thank you all so much for the help!