Embbio Innova

Archive for the ‘Repair Shop’ Category

On the surface it would appear direct mail, as a staple auto repair advertising strategy, has long since seen its heyday. Twenty or thirty years ago, a shop owner could send out a few letters and actually expect a response. Today, amid the thousands of other advertisers, the return on investments has left many asking if their message was lost in the mail.

During our normal screening process we ask each of our clients: “What response do you typically see from your mailings?” The answers have become highly predictable, as almost 94% say they send out mailers every so often, or not at all, as they see almost no response.

That’s not too surprising. Ask any group of business owners in any industry, and you will probably get roughly the same feedback.

What is surprising is that the remaining 6% report seeing anything from a 9% to a 22% return on their direct mail. What makes those repair facilities so special?

The answer is simple: They didn’t stop at one mailing.

Repair facilities seeing the highest rate of return, in almost every case, use sequential mailings with a clear message and a time sensitive call to action.

Before I continue, I would like to clarify something: the direct mail I am referring to is for new business development. These are the letters shop owners send out to get the car count up. Mailings to existing clients are a completely different animal, and we will cover that category a bit later.

Auto Repair Advertising – 5 Steps To Breathing Life Into Your Direct Mail

1: Use Postcards. Postcards do not require opening. A letter requires time to open, unfold and actually read. Consequently, a letter will, almost 10 times out of 10, end up in the recycle bin. Unopened.

An even better advantage is that postcards cost less to make and mail. In some cases you can save over 75%!

2: Have A Clear Message. Use An Attention Grabbing Headline. With each mailing the message you communicate must be clear.

Remember K.I.S.S.? Keep It Simple, Stupid. Less is more when getting your point across.

Also, your headline should address some sort of concern your prospective customer has. Don’t be afraid to be a bit extreme. People respond to the idea of life or death situations.

Example: “What Happens If Your Brakes Fail? Is Your Family Safe?”

3: Make ‘em An Offer They Can’t Refuse. Offer Value. Most people are starving for value. So many companies offer so little in return that when someone actually does, consumers are almost programmed to ask, “What’s the catch?”

Don’t have a catch. Be honest, open, and full of value.

A good idea would be to give them something free with no strings attached. But watch out! Never offer something that will eat up your time and cost more than it’s worth. The trick here is to find that hidden value, that mysterious gem your new customers will flip over. It must also be easy and low cost to produce.

Example: I will never forget Les Schwab, the tire guy from my childhood in Oregon. This man was insane enough to offer “Free Beef With Every New Set Of Tires!” Who in his right mind would do that? To this day, I can’t tell you how beef fits in with new tires. But even though I have not been back to Oregon in 15%2B years, I DO remember Les Schwab and always think of him when I see a set of tires.

4: Have A Call To Action. Make It Time Sensitive By creating a sense of urgency, you create a feeling of scarcity in the recipient’s mind. And by having a call to action, you give them a clear message of what they must do to take advantage of what you offer. Example: “Limited Time Only: Free Brake Inspections For Every Car before (DATE)” Just remember to give your prospective clients enough time to pick up the phone!

5: Don’t Pull The Trigger Once… You Need To Keep Shooting! Much like the scenes on C.O.P.S. where some guy is wigged out on crack and has to be shot 50 times before he goes down, the same can be said for the American consumer. In almost every advertising instance, frequency, clear communication, and repetition are the only 3 elements that will work. But they must be used together. Having a clear message and only sending it once doesn’t cut it. (That’s like a flesh wound to the crack head. He won’t even feel it.) You must have a clear message and send it multiple times to the same people.

Try This Schedule:

1st Mailing – Have a special time-sensitive offer and an invitation for the person to call/come in (AKA Call To Action)

2nd Mailing – 15 days later. Have a “So sorry we missed you” feel to it, and maybe offer an additional incentive to coax stragglers out of hiding.

3rd Mailing – 15 days later. Be bold. State “Last Chance!” “Offer Will Expire Soon!” Don’t be afraid to be a bit extreme.

4th Mailing – 3 to 5 days after the expiration date. This last mailing will have more of a “Congratulations! You won second prize!” feel to it.

Note: After each mailing you MUST remove those who respond from the list. Sending them advertisements for the same offer after they have already come in is not only annoying, it gets expensive. Why Does This Work? Multiple mailings tend to make people feel your offer is more valuable. A single mailing is easily dismissed as a potential fly by night gimmick, and will more than likely end up in the trash.

By repeating your offer, and adding an increasing, time sensitive pressure, you help emphasize the importance of your message.

Beyond even increasing your overall return, multiple mailings reinforce your facility’s credibility in the eyes of local car owners.

Auto Repair Advertising Final Note: How Many Should I Send? If, for example, you are currently hitting 1000 homes and neither desire nor can afford to send that same number multiple mailings, consider shrinking your list.

You will do better sending 250 homes sequential direct mail rather than sending 1 mailing to 1000.

Today’s vehicles are made with many different types of fuel-saving materials like lightweight alloys and plastics. It is important for an auto body shop to be aware of the different materials and techniques used for repairing them.

Auto body shops and collision repair services refer to manuals for instructions repairing bumpers. The different material types require various finish materials, removal and installation procedures.

Bumper Repairs

When a plastic bumper is cracked or has a small hole it can be repaired to look as good as new. Replacing the bumper is wasteful and it creates unnecessary debris for our landfills. A good, eco-friendly auto body shop will only recommend replacing the bumper if the damage is severe enough that repair time would be considered unreasonable and quality of results would be unsatisfactory.

The cost of repairing small abrasions, cracks and holes in plastic bumpers is often much cheaper than replacing the part. Of course, many collision repair technicians would rather replace the part and charge a fee for their labor plus mark-up on the price of the part because they lack in cosmetic repair skills and it is easier to warranty the work.

Working with Plastics

The first step to repairing plastic bumpers is to identify the material in order to choose the method of repair. Auto body shops use ISO codes on the parts to identify the various families of plastics. They cross-reference the codes with charts from the suppliers or by accessing reference materials on the internet.

It is important that the collision repair technician determine the type of plastic they are working with so they know the proper welding procedure to use to avoid damage to the part.

Some plastics can be welded with an airless welder or hot-air welder; others require a hot glue type of procedure. Tests must be performed and welding procedures have to be done correctly to avoid adhesion failure. Some bumpers will melt with a slight color change and they will remain tacky in the area where they have melted.

Adhesive Repairs

The bumper repair technician must identify the type of plastic they are working with in order to be successful with adhesive repairs. Failure to properly identify the plastic results in adhesion-related problems.

Flexibility

Some repair materials are based on flexible and rigid plastics. Using the wrong material can cause cracking when the part is flexed or it may not provide the correct strength for the repair area.

Cleaning and Prep

Proper cleaning and prep is critical for proper adhesion and finish. Whether the technician is repairing or replacing the bumper, the part will need to be cleaned. The bumper being repaired is likely to be dirty from the road; the new replacement part can have contamination on it from the manufacturing process.

Auto body repair professionals should use a low-VOC surface cleaner or a special plastics parts cleaner to help prevent solvents from going too deep into the plastic. If solvents are too harsh, they go deep into the plastic and cause adhesion problems after repairs are done.

This is an overview of the process of working with plastics. Time is money in the auto body industry; therefore, many collision repair technicians choose to replace rather than repair plastic bumpers and other parts.

Technology allows us to repair many items that are often replaced. As resources become scarce and landfills become over-full, we really should consider repairing rather than replacing when possible.

What you are about to read may alarm you. If you take your computer in for repair, your personal information is at risk of getting into the wrong hands and you can become a victim of identity theft!

Most people don’t think about it, and some take it for granted, but really how safe is your personal information when you take your computer in for repair.

Hi, my name is Bill Arnoldi. I own my own computer repair company and have over 18 years of experience in I. T. management.

This is a question posed to me by both my consumer and corporate customers over the years.

Not every computer repair tech or company adhere to the industry ethical practices of not snooping around on a client’s computer. There are some steps that you can take to minimize your exposure to your personal information and confidential data being compromised, but in general, there is always some risk.

Here are some tips on reducing the chance that your personal information and personal identity stored on your computer will get into unscrupulous hands.

There are really two major components to consider when addressing procedures to increase the security of your personal information when you place your computer in the hands of a computer repair technician or service provider.

The first component is limiting the amount of personal information that you place in computer service provider’s possession when you give them your computer to repair. You can do this by utilizing one or both of these procedures.

Don’t give it to them in the first place. If you can keep your hard drive, take it out of your computer and ask the service technician to use another drive of their own to perform the repair. This really only works when the problem is NOT with your hard drive, such as in data corruption, possible failure, or infection by virus, malware or spyware.

If your computer still boots and you can access your programs, clear all your usernames and passwords from all your programs, messengers, and web browsers. Move all your personal data files to an external backup device like a flash drive or hard drive. Then you can use a utility to securely wipe all the deleted information from your hard drive to make sure it cannot be recovered. Remember, just deleting the information once does not really delete the data, you need special software to completely make the data unrecoverable.

If taking your hard drive out is not an option, try hooking it up to another computer to remove your personal data to another drive temporarily while your computer is in for repair. Also make sure to delete all the temporary files that may contain your personal information, such as the web browser cache, and other temporary file locations.

If none of these procedures are practical for you, then you have to establish confidence and trust in your service provider.

The second component to ensuring your personal information is safe with your computer repair person is determining their integrity and establishing level of trust and comfort with them.

Here are some ways you can feel comfortable with your computer service provider.

Find out how long they have been doing computer repair. The longer the better. In theory, if they were dishonest and lacked integrity, they would probably not be providing services anymore.

What have they been responsible for in the past? If they have experience in providing service to large companies, then they probably have a good track record for protecting customer data because large corporations demand security for their data before they let a person perform repairs on their systems.

What procedures do they have in place to prevent data theft or snooping at their company? This does not necessarily apply to the individual technician where they are the only person performing the computer services, but is more applicable to companies with several techs. They should have policies and protections in place to limit the ability on someone absconding with a client’s data. in truth, these protections are not 100% effective but they can serve as a deterrent. Ultimately, in my opinion the only real sure method would probably be to strip search every tech before they left the premises. That’s not happening, so therein lies a bit of risk regardless of the protections in place.

Obtain testimonials and references. Google them on the Internet. See if there are any complaints about their handling personal information. Get recommendations from friends or seek referrals to a tech that someone else has used successfully.

The sum of all this is that you need to do enough research or inquiries until you feel comfortable handing over your computer with your personal information on it to them.

Utilizing these practices is not foolproof. I cannot stress enough that the only bullet-proof way to ensure your personal information and identity is not compromised except is to make sure the computer repair company does not have access to it in the first place. The reality is that in most cases, this is just not practical or possible, especially where correcting problems on the hard drive to restore functionality is what is required.

Finally, keep in mind that in general the majority of computer repair and service providers are on the up-and-up. There are a few sour grapes in the bunch, but the rest of them are pretty good.

When the light comes on and the smoke comes out from under the hood of your car, you know you’re in trouble. When the sounds coming from the engine become unbearable, or the car just stops, the time has come for your vehicle to get to a mechanic. Sometimes going to someone you don’t know could become a very costly mistake. So you’re left with finding a trustworthy place to get reliable auto service.

Flipping through the yellow pages will give you choices, but being able to determine if your vehicle will come out in tip-top shape at any of the shops listed there is incredibly vital to your financial security, not to mention sanity. The first step to finding reliable auto service and auto repair is to find one before you need it. Once you purchase your vehicle, you drive and feel great because it is fresh off the lot and does not need repair or maintenance. However, this is the perfect time to find a good place for your routine auto service and, with any luck, delay some major auto repairs.

First, you want to ask around. Word of mouth is more reliable than any ad on TV, radio, internet, or in the phone book. Talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family. Find people you know who have similar vehicles and ask them for help finding a good auto repair shop. The people you talk to will give you a few to choose from, so now which one will be the best for you?

The next thing to do is do some research on the ones recommended to you. One good indicator of the quality of a auto service shop is if they are members of well known automobile associations. Having that kind of national membership is a good indicator of quality as these organizations usually hold their Approved Auto Repair Facility members to very strict standards. In addition, check to see if the auto service shop hires ASE, or Automotive Service Excellence, certified mechanics.

Using an auto service shop that is nationally Approved or hires ASE certified mechanics is a high probability for finding a reliable auto repair garage. However, do not be afraid to do some more research. You still want to talk to the people in charge. Call and speak to the mechanic and ask for estimates and pricing information on routine maintenance. Do not be afraid to call around and compare pricing. In addition, the oldest garage in town is not always the best. So, do some work. Taking initiative and doing some research before you need major work done could very well save you from needing a major repair.

However, if you are in need of emergency repairs, do not settle for the first shop you can find. If you do not have a relationship with an auto service garage, follow the above suggestions. Take some time, as much as you can afford, in doing research. Ask a few trusted people and find out which of those suggestions are triple A Approved. Sometimes there is a reason why an auto repair shop is not busy and can take your car right away.

Without unmarked envelopes to hinder your messages, postcards are considered as an inexpensive and effective marketing tool. These prints let you advertise your business the way billboards do but without the skyrocketing costs. Designed with eye-catching graphics and persuasive text, these prints can gain immediate reaction. For your small auto repair shop, you can take advantage of these benefits. Even if you have very little budget for promotion, you need not worry because they are cheap to print. Also, you can use these as your tools for direct mail promotion and ensures that your advertisements only go to the right person.

Ways to Use Postcards to Market Your Business

o Gain loyalty by rewards – You can use your postcards to give back to your clients. One way of doing this is by including a tear-off coupon in your prints. Your clients can use the coupon to redeem any promotional discounts or free items from your auto repair shop. You can offer a certain percentage discount from any services that you offer; i.e. 10% discount on body repairs or 20% discount on engine overhaul. You can also offer freebies such as free brake fluid, engine oils or air filter replacements. These will give your clients reasons for repeat business as well as be loyal to you and your business.

o Open new possibilities for your business – For example, you are planning to offer small replacement parts aside from repair services. You can test your prospective market by sending out postcards. Create client lists consisting of your primary and secondary targets. Send out variety of messages and postcard designs then evaluate which among these are effective according to the responses. Based on the results of your testing, you can decide how you will go on with a bigger marketing strategy.

o Increase client traffics – If you are joining an exhibit or holding a seminar for auto repairs, you can invite prospective clients by mailing them your postcards. Let them know when the event is happening and what benefits they can get by going there. You can use one part of the brochure as an RSVP space that they can send back for confirmation. In case you are holding your anniversary, you can send these prints as an invitation for your clients. Tell them that cool freebies and promotional offers like free engine tune-up, wheel alignment, etc. await them.

o Creative means of establishing client contact – List down the names of your clients and know their special days like birthdays and anniversary. You can send them greeting postcards on these days. Design your prints with a special message together with your company logo and tagline. It would be better to hand-written a message to make it more personal. You can also establish rapport with your customers by sending them postcards saying “thank you” for entrusting their vehicles to your care as well as greeting postcards on holidays.

These are just among the ways on how you can possibly use postcard marketing to the advantage of your business. Remember that the key to success of any printed advertising are attention-grabbing design, persuasive message and correct distribution among the target market.

By now you’ve surely heard of antioxidants.

But have you heard of DNA repair promoters?

I hadn’t either, until the other night when I heard a news brief about it and then later that same night read about it in Genewize’s Lifemap Product Webinar PDF. Since each Genewize Lifemap nutritional formula contains 350 mg of AC-11, I decided to investigate this rising star therapeutic compound.

Here’s what I discovered.

AC-11, otherwise known as Uncaria tomentosa (or Cat’s Claw) is a South American vine. It’s outer bark contains a powerful, natural activator of DNA repair, critical to cellular health and vital to longevity.

AC-11 has been shown to:

* Decrease DNA damage and to increase DNA repair capacity in humans.

* Improve immune system functions.

* Prevent cellular damage (hello anti-aging!)

* Promote DNA repair.

Entire companies have based their product promotions on this one ingredient and claim highly desirable anti-aging outcomes by taking supplements containing AC-11.

Here’s what I think.

AC-11 is powerful. And people are just beginning to hear about it’s powerful anti-aging benefits.

I see AC-11 stepping into the spotlight with the ranks of Echinacea and Acai in the next 6 months.

And when you look at a company like Monavie, which did a billion dollars in sales in less than 4 years by promoting the therapeutic antioxidant benefits of the Acai berry, I get excited.

As AC-11 slows the aging and improves the health of many people, several companies will benefit greatly from marketing this health giving plant. As long as the harvest is sustainable, I’m looking forward to seeing the AC-11 market grow.