June 2nd 2006

In my MBA courses, I was taught that every business needs to advertise.

So every now and again I get the advertising itch.

When I broach the subject with my office manager/accountant she smiles gently and nods understandingly with very little
enthusiasm.

This year we made up a brochure and had it distributed in a very small, very local, area by the Welcome Wagon Inc.
My philosophy being that people moving into the area would probably be in need of a good garage to service their car(s).

We offered new clients an hour of technician time free of charge on any  major repair work ( i:e not on an oil or tire change).
The result after 500 brochures had been distributed?
Nothing.
Not a sausage.

My office manager nodded sagely with that "I told you " smile she always gets when I advertise.

You may have noticed that independent garages almost never advertise and their listing in the yellow pages is as cheap as possible.
I have come to the conclusion that our industries' really bad reputation as scoundrels and villains has so psyched out the public that
no matter how much you try to convince them of your honesty, integrity and technical excellence, they just don't trust us - any of us,
dealers included.

So referrals, word of mouth recommendations, are golden.

Every client that comes through the front door has to be treated as royalty. Not that regular clients are treated any differently, but a
first time client has no track record with you and the suspicion may be mutual.

Not only that, but the regular client that referred them to you needs to know that his trust was not displaced.

So, just like the restaurant business, the garage business obviously relies strongly on word-of-mouth recommendations to replace
those regular clients that have moved away, bought a new car and swallowed the "bring it back here or your warranties not worth the
paper it's written on" bullshit , or have quietly passed away.

Unless a widow lady remains we never get to find out what ever happened to so-and-so.

What family would think to let us, or the dentist know about the bad news?

In this part of the world, rust and corrosion eventually get to become a problem that has to be addressed.

Since we're not a body shop, we need to refer people to a good location as a customer service. Fortunately, we've found one we
trust implicitly and they even service our own vehicles.

And again, with automatic tranmissions, we deal with a shop that is approved by the Automobile Protection Agency (APA) and we
have never had anything but good reponsible reactions to our clients transmission problems from them.

Equally, finding a good tow truck service with a cheerful attitude at minus fourty degrees on the worst day of winter is a referral we
need to be able to rely on. Our towing subcontractor can get cars out of the most incredibly difficult situations and in ten years, he
has never damaged a car.

So we plough along, advising customers that the repair they need is still warranted at the dealership, so go back to them.
Or finding parts for a Daewoo or a Lada when no one else can and we continue to hope that the work we do becomes the subject
of positive conversation around some dinner table and another referral  tip toes tentatively through our waiting room door.

Memo to office manager- " I promise, no more advertising"