Building Your Retail Windshield Repair Business

[Coitster]

Hey guys,
I have a question. Has anyone had any good experiance with direct mail??? I am not talking about val-pak.
David
Coitster

[gold star wsr]

David, I have done direct mail, and it was very successful for me. The first letter I sent out yielded 17% return. My only mistake was that I followed conventional wisdom and did a 'sample' mailing of just 125 to test the market ! Who knew? This was the 'fishing letter' that I sent. Well, the nature of the letter and the fact that our local newspaper thought the 'bet' described in the letter was real, I was not able to repeat the mailing. Oh, well... I proved that it would work (hubby and I had a real bet going that that 'silly letter', as he called it, wouldnt draw in any business). I have a new letter planned for the beginning of next year.

I also publish an annual business directory that is mailed to the entire valley where I live. This is the second year I have dont this, and it is very well received. For this project, I have a partner .. the gal who does the printing. We have plans for next year to include our business card magnets, and to also offer our advertisors the option of sending discount coupons in the same mailing (for a price, of course). The directory has been so popular that the local business association wanted to take it over ... actually tried to bully us into giving it over to them ... that didnt happen, though LOL ... and we managed to keep on very good terms with them too.

A few years ago, I did several special mailings ... I called it "The Mountain Mailer". That featured about 20 businesses, including my own, and the format was similar to val-pac and the like. That also was mailed to the entire valley, and the response was very good on that as well.

I am in a rural area, where people support the local businesses whenever they can. In addition, advertising opportunities are limited to the local newspaper which comes out twice a month, bulletin boards and brochure racks around the area, and my Gold Pages directory. So, people do read the ads in the paper, and they do read the bulletin boards, and they do take brochures from the racks. Things that might not work any place else seem to work here.

An important thing to remember in marketing is to know your market. Dont baffle them by talking over their heads, or offend them by taking down to them. The simple, straight-forward approach seems to work best, at least in this area.

[Coitster]

Hey everyone,
I wanted to put another post on the forum about making more money. We are in the windshield repair business. Thats our bread and butter, they way we make our money. How do we make more??? Well I know a lot of people do this, I am sure you all have had people ask you about the price of a new windshield or can you reffer them to a replacement company. If you can't repair a windshield I sure hope that you have a agreement set up with a replacement shop because its a great way to make money not having to do anything. You seel the job, and someone else does the work (replacement company).

The key is to find a reputable glass company.... easier said then done. A company that does a complete strip and tear down (thats a glass term for doing a good job) and not a quick set, and treats the customer right. If you are doing your job and going out and finding business you should be able to sell a few replacements a week. Now granted I personaly do not go after that business. It kinda falls in my lap, I should do more because I first started selling replacements with a lot of the techniques I have shared in this forum, in many different posts. Ideally what you want to do is find a glass company that will pay you between $30 to $50 for every replacement you reffer to them that they install, or better yet, set up a deal with them that everytime you reffer a job to them, they have to give you or reffer you a windshield repair. I prefer the latter because you will make more money, you now have a customer you can send info to, or upsell them on any other service you should be selling to begin with.

One last thing, is if you are going out in the field and you don't want to have to take time away from your chip selling to sell replacements have the glass company you are working with agree to print up some flyers that have a sticky on the back of them, kinda like a post it, that sells windshield replacements. Have a special code put on it, so they know that it was you who did the leg work and then put it on the driver's side door window so that they are sure to see it. You should be able to put out at least 50 a day, trust me you will get calls for cars you wheren't getting money for before. Hope some of these idea's help.
David
Coitster

[WIN-1]

I haven't gotten square w/ Safelite & Lynx yet, so I've only done 1 actual billable repair til now.
The Coitster trained me to reeeally make an impression on the customer. I noticed by washing their windows allows me to get in and see more chips, bad repairs, etc, etc.
Anybody think offering to squigee clean a windsheild in order to examine a CLEAN windshield might pay off?
Would people think I'm just an old bum on the streetcorner intersection panhandling or what?
Ken

[Coitster]

Hey, its worth a shot Ken,
Never tried that, if you try it let me know how it works. Carry a squeegy with you for that.
David
Coitster

[Coitster]

If the chip is really small then you won't have to worry about getting water in the break because the impact area is not open enough. If water does get into it, I recommend takeing a q-tip and wetting it with denatured alcohol and rubbing the top of the chip (impact area) and letting the denatured alcohol evaporate. That should take care of your moisture problem. Then you can drill and fix the chip.
David
Coitster

[DaveC]

It is the time of the Gathering, where the stroke of a sword and the fall of the head will realease the power of the quickening. In the end their can be...... only one.

I take it, then, that you tend to prance about like a Spanish Peacock?

[Coitster]

Another great way to develop retail business is to set up affiliations with other companies. For example, if you know a person who manages a tire store, or maybe a lube shop (that doesn't do repairs). Basically any place where people that work there are around the cars and get a chance to look at the vehicles. Get to know those people and see if they would refer business to you. I personally know lots of guys who when they see cars with chips in them they let the customer know that it is free to get those repaired and they give them my number. This is a great way to get extra business.

Now I am not saying go out and find a bunch of people, and spend all your time hunting down people that will refer business to you. Lets use common sense (which unfortunately isn't all that common now days), when you are out and about in your everyday normal lives and you run across people like this. Don't be afraid to approach them and introduce yourself. And don't start off telling them if they would refer any business to you. Start off by asking them what kind of customer do they look for or what is the best type of person they look for so if you know any you could refer business to them. And if they are anytype of good person they will offer to return the favor.

Remember to develop win/win relationships. That is your best bet to developing long term retail business. Hope that helps.
David
Coitster

[Coitster]

Common Guys,
Some of you have to have methods of getting retail business. I know I am not the only one......
David
Coitster

[c_mackowski]

"I walk the parking lot outside of a small complex where I know the vehicle parked out front is owned by someone inside. It would be a small company where everyone know's what everyone drives. I find which cars in the lot have chips in them and then I walk in and enquire as to who owns that particular vehicle."

I just wanted to post my 2 cents. First of all, I have not actually started. David (Coitster) and I have spoken and I have seen him in action. He's helping me get up and running and training as well. He really does just like it is in print. He has this down pat.
So I started really paying attention while I was driving to find these types of places. When I followed David around, we went to a "business park". Looked like a strip mall except no retail business. So I was really trying to locate "business parks" on my side of the metroplex. The Fort Worth part of DFW is not nearly as dense (in terms of business real estate). So I was finding a business here and there but not really the big business complexes that David might easily find. I spent a lot of time driving and searching. I started to get worried, until I realized that I am an I.T. professional and summoned the power of the internet...........
I spent some quality time with the yellow pages on Lycos. I searched for the word business and corporate within 30 miles of my house. I had to weed through a lot of garbage but I was able to find various business parks, plazas, centers, etc, etc all in my area. I printed off about 30 different business complexes. Not too bad while I'm stuck here all night at work....