5 Tips To Help Grow A Successful Auto Business

Like with most industries, the auto business space is very competitive. Setting up shop and getting in hoards of customers is not as easy as it used to be. There’s a whole lot more that goes into standing out from the competition.

Adaptability is crucial. It’s easy to be left behind and see your sales plummet, especially with emerging technology. Whether you’re an auto dealer or a small auto repair shop, business growth is the goal for all businesses. So, given the right tools, you can absolutely expect to see growth in your business.

Read below to learn 5 tips to help grow a successful auto business.

Create A Well-oiled Sales Machine (Pun Intended)

The quickest way to grow is through marketing and promotions. The first step is to distinguish your business from all the others. That’s the foundation of effective marketing. Here are a few ways you can achieve this:

Define Your Brand:

What makes your company different? Why should people buy from you and not from the shop next door? These are simple but profound questions. You don’t even have to be a large, insanely profitable business to stand out. Branding is about taking unique traits and making them shine through, ultimately giving people a reason to become your customer.

Ask your loyal customers why they’re so loyal and use that in your branding. Rethink your logo if you have to, or even hire an expert to rebrand your business. Do not underestimate the importance for people to feel connected to what your business stands for.

Know Your Customers:

You need to know what makes your ideal customer tick. What are their needs? What do they think of first when they run into an issue with their car? This all has to do with the ‘’client avatar’’ concept. This describes a detailed profile of the type of person who would buy from you. What are their pain points, what drives them, and how do they behave?

Have Clear, Well-Defined Sales Goals:

Running a business is not simply about getting cash in exchange for providing a service. If you haven’t already, familiarize yourself with concepts like revenue, profit margins and forecasting. To grow, you need to understand where you are to accurately project where you need to be. You can even hire an expert to help!

Establish A System To Manage Your Sales Reps:

Your workers are the life-blood of your business. They are at the front-line of sales and impact your reputation. To influence their performance, create systems to keep them motivated and also monitor their performance. This will really benefit your business in the long run.

Diversify Your Revenue Streams

Another way to grow is to not put all your eggs in one basket. You don’t have to succumb to traditional advertising like billboards,, radio and tv ads. In fact, these really don’t come cheap! Consider the alternatives below:

Car Flipping With The Help Of License Plate Search:

This entails purchasing cars at a low price to sell for a profit. Just be careful to do a license plate lookup prior to any purchase. This protects you from inheriting the previous owner’s problems. This is a means to use the VIN number of a car to search for certain details. You can, for example, check for prior weather-related damage or if the vehicle has been stolen. A license plate lookup is a great way to protect you from future issues arising from that purchase.

Creating A Website:

Every business should have a website. The internet is another source of potential customers. Providing an alternative way for people to access your services is a golden rule of business growth. Make use of it!

Content Marketing:

This entails providing information to the public. It doesn’t have to lead directly to a sale though. The trick with content marketing is to provide value. If you establish yourself as the expert in all things auto-related, you instill trust and cement your brand. This eventually leads to sales, sales and more sales! Examples of content marketing include press releases and blog articles.

Smart Use Of Perks & Amenities

Customer retention is a crucial part of business growth. Leave a lasting impression by providing perks like in-house financing and fresh, quality coffee. Consider providing a vehicle history report on all the cars you have in your business. A vehicle history report is typically something car buyers would do on their own. Imagine how impressed they’d be if this was part of the sale?

Reviews And Referrals

To take a quote from Ted Rubin: ‘‘A brand is what a business does, reputation is what people remember.’’ Having bad reviews is not good for your bottom line. Here are ideas on how you can get good ones:

• Make it effortless for your customers to leave reviews. Create clickable links on all your communications. In addition, boldly ask for a review face to face too. Just don’t forget to smile as you do it!
• Timing is key. People are forgetful creatures so follow up soon after they do business with you. This proactive approach may seem annoying, but it’s proven to work. Strike while the iron is hot is an apt adage indeed!
• Actually, make people want to leave good reviews. Providing the best service possible leaves customers referring you to their friends and family. Referrals are such a powerful marketing tool. The end result is growth in sales and reputation.

The ‘forgotten’ Demographic

Women are becoming large consumers of auto-related services. This is a fact that has been too often ignored in the past. Men dominate all spheres of life and no less the auto industry. How many times do we find only male-related magazines in waiting rooms, not-so-clean bathrooms, and insensitive behavior by mechanics? Far too often!

Simple, creative tweaks can be made that will make your business far more attractive to women. Consider adding female-friendly additions to bathrooms, displaying women-friendly magazines, or providing arts and crafts for kids. In a nutshell, make your place of business aesthetically pleasing and female-functional.

There are even certifications you can get that authenticate you as female-friendly. Imagine how powerful that looks to potential female customers! Knowing you care and cater for them is a win-win. Try it.

There you have it: 5 tips to grow your auto business. Don’t let these tips gather dust in your memory bank. If you apply them, you really should see a difference in your business. Whether you have heard of them or not, implementation is the key to success. Go on, you can do it!

About the Author:

Ben is a Web Operations Executive at InfoTracer who takes a wide view from the whole system. He authors guides on entire security posture, both physical and cyber. Enjoys sharing the best practices and does it the right way!