Finding the right car garage can be a sticking point for many people in the UK – but with second hand car sales surging significantly, finding one may well become a necessity for a larger number of people. With an increase in potential demand for car services, your garage is in a perfect position to create new custom. But without employing the right techniques, your business could remain criminally overlooked. Here are some ways in which you can convince new customers your garage is the one for them.
Curate an Online Presence
In the digital age, your garage needs to have as much of a digital presence as a physical one – if not a larger one. Creating social media pages for your garage might seem like a futile move, given you’re unlikely to see much engagement – but volume isn’t the most important factor when it comes to finding customers online. With the right deployment and content, your garage’s social media will reach the right audience, increasing your potential custom versus showing an advert to someone who doesn’t even own a car.
You can also leverage Google’s My Business tool to upload your location and opening hours, appear on Google Maps and promote your garage to a wider audience; reviews can also be left on your business profile, enabling potential customers to see the quality of service you’ve provided previously.
Create a Professional Workspace
Customers will be less inclined to return to your garage if they see a disorganised and messy environment. Introducing a regular cleaning rota, and ensuring every tool and spare part is stored correctly after use can go a long way to improving the optics of your garage. Garage spaces are naturally going to accumulate grime and mess over time, but with the inexpensive solution of paying a little extra attention to cleaning, customers not otherwise accustomed to garage environments will feel safer leaving their vehicle with you.
Airtight Administration
Curating the external image of your garage is all well and good, but could count for nothing if you do not have the administrative side of your business straightened out. Motor trade insurance is a must for your business, ensuring that not only are you and your staff covered in the event of tragedy, but that your customers are largely unaffected as well. Keeping up to date on your obligations to HMRC are also important, giving you the peace of mind that your business won’t be affected by a sudden tax bill.
Comprehensive Staff Training
As a garage, it is naturally imperative that your staff are fully trained on vehicle repair – or at the very least in training. Aside from auditing the repair skills of your staff, there are other important factors on which your staff should be abundantly clear – health and safety, and customer service. The former makes certain that your business is a safe one for employee and customer alike, preventing injuries and the opportunity for bad press. Customer service training is crucial for return custom; training your mechanics on how to correctly speak to customers, and even to upsell certain luxury services, can go a long way for the longevity of your business.
A Cohesive Brand Image
Invest a small amount of money into some marketing consultancy. Have a logo made for your business, and create a staff uniform utilising the logo. Uniforms show your team to customers as a unified front, and representatives of your business – which can increase customer confidence as well as staff morale. These steps, some more simple than others, will mean your garage will be well on its way to defining itself as an established business with returning custom.
Stewart Thurlow
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