full time

[GlassStarz]

The Car buisness is like that everywhere one of the dealer newpapers says 35% of used car dealers will be in BK this year I know in my area thats the case already.
This buisness is still very profitable you just have to expand your offerings and work a little harder

[ghost rider]

What are the best ways you all have found to solicit insurance companies?

I've been set-up with Data Tranz on the Lynx system for about 2 weeks, but so far I've just been innundated with faxes (lots of duplicates) stating that the price structures of various insurance companies has changed.

There aren't any other mobile glass repair vendors in my area that I have found, and I've discovered that most people go to one of the two glass replacement shops in town who tell them that they need new glass if a star break is larger than a dime, or that a crack stemming from any type of chip requires new glass.

I've talked to a few insurance agents who I know through BNI, church, etc., and they've put me in touch with a couple adjustors, but none have really seemed to be interested. I think these are qualified leads, but they don't even ask questions and barely acknowledge that I've been there. They just say 'thanks, I've got your card' and the meeting ends. I've had a lot of sales training... I ask open-ended questions and listen carefully.

I'm relatively new to the glass repair industry. I've done 75-100 practice repairs and 20-25 repairs for friends and customers. I'm ready to market the service heavily, but don't know where the best place to begin is.

I'm a MARS owner-operator with a retail shop, so I can go mobile for fleet service and/or service retail customers and other drop-ins. I really like doing glass repairs, and believe that they can grow to be the largest segment of my business, given the economic conditions in my area (SW Virginia).

If any of you can make any suggestions, or help me minimize wasted time in my marketing efforts I will greatly appreciate it!

70 to 80% of my ins. work comes directly from the agents. Heres how I do it. First you have to do the very best repairs in your area. Then find agents who are hands on with their customers,, not the ones that just say "call the 800 number". this is the same agent that sent you to the adjuster. Somehow you need to get them to see a demo repair, preferably on their own car or someone in their office, family member, neighbor. This next part I don't recomend unless you have a ton of experience- I have won over a lot of agents by re-repairing a crap repair done by a competitor-don't try this unless you are sure you can pull it off. If you can get this far, gently remind the agent [he already knows it] that he cannot make his customers use a certain shop, but for his customers that ask, he can recomend a shop, preferably yours. assure the agent that you will take the very best care of his customer. always remember it is the agents customer first. This should get you at least one or two repairs - You are on trial. The follow up is to do an excellent repair and ask the customer to let their agent know if they were satisfied. This is the key, agents never hear about good jobs, only complaints. If you get customers to call their agents with good news, you are in. I have agents who are absolutely stunned by the callbacks thanking them for refering my shop. I even have agents that "bend" the law by "highly recomending" my shop. Good luck