Someone just moved into the neighborhood. They don’t have a go-to repair shop yet. So, when their car starts making a grinding noise when braking, they’re looking at the nearest shop with the best reviews.
Will that be yours?
Getting found locally
Most of your potential customers find you the same way they find their new favorite restaurant or a plumber: they search on their phones.
This falls under local marketing, which includes your Google Business Profile, ads, social presence, reviews, and a website. Most shops try to do all five at once, but that’s a lot to manage, especially if you don’t have a marketing team to help.
Google Business Profile, reviews, and website
If you can invest your time in a few, start with handling your Google Business Profile, reviews, and your website. Make sure the information listed in your Business Profile is filled out accurately, and don’t let reviews go unanswered. A shop that responds, whether that’s to a good review or a bad one, is more trustworthy than one that doesn’t. A website where customers can book appointments themselves frees up your service advisors for other tasks, and it lowers the chances of no-shows.
AI call-answering tools
Your service advisors aren’t glued to the phones. This means it’s likely they’ll miss a call or five throughout the day. Calls that come in after closing are missed too, and most customers don’t even leave a voicemail. They just move on to another shop. Some shops have started using AI call-answering tools that pick up the call and book appointments. You have a new customer on the calendar, and they have a shop that actually picks up their calls.
Once you’ve got those three handled, work through the rest one by one.
Social media presence
To stay relevant in your customer’s mind between visits, social media works best. You don’t need any fancy equipment; your phone will do. Pick a platform you’re already familiar with. When your techs are on a break, film a quick, playful behind-the-scenes clip. Short videos explaining basic mechanics keep people engaged, too. As a shop owner, you can also give people a peek into what goes on at a repair shop, like a day in the life.
Paid search ads
Do you have the budget and capacity to run paid search ads? Then, go for it. But make sure it’s around a specific service and your city, something like “brake pad replacement Bozeman.”
Targeting car symptom searches
Already have a website? Skim through it, and you’ll probably notice that the content is centered around repair-order language, with words like coolant flush or alternator replacement.
Truthfully, your customers don’t care about any of that. They see that something is leaking out of their car or a light keeps flashing, and they know that it’s time for a repair shop visit. So, their searches are based on these same vague questions. A page that answers this type of uncertain question with an easy button for booking should reach them faster than your competitor’s.
Partnering with local insurers and credit unions
Your customers already have good relationships with their credit unions and insurance providers. These organizations regularly partner with local businesses to offer perks to their customers, like a gym membership or a discount for movie tickets.
A repair shop showing up as a featured member discount reaches people who are already ready to trust these recommendations because it isn’t coming from a stranger.
Reach out to the credit unions and insurers in your area about offering a certain percentage discount to policyholders.
This is a relationship that keeps working in the background as you grow your business, not a campaign you have to spend all your time on.
Using mobile services
Sometimes a low-commitment service works like a trailer before a movie release; it gives a customer a preview before they commit to something bigger.
Good candidates for mobile services are usually quick jobs that don’t need a lift or bay, such as oil changes, battery checks, and basic diagnostics that are offered to a few specific groups. These can be new residents (you can find them through your HOA newsletter), small business owners who can’t easily step away to sit in a waiting room, or even existing customers who declined a bigger repair.
Even one tech running a few mobile appointments a week can work as a steady funnel bringing new customers into the shop. You have to make sure that the tech does the job well without any redos, or you’ll lose more customers than you started with.
Making retention systematic
Every shop has a customer who said no to a brake job last spring. Maybe it was the cost, maybe the timing. Either way, nobody followed up, and now that job is waiting to get done somewhere else.
It’s the same with reminders. Don’t hope your customers remember their oil change is due. You should remind them before they’ve even thought about it.
Tracking declined jobs, sending reminders, pulling real-time reports, and getting a customer’s entire history are actually possible with a single tool: shop management software.
Gaining loyalty
Once you have a customer base that can reach out to you, the next step is turning one-time visitors into regular customers you can recognize by name and face.
Getting involved in your community activities is a great way to build loyalty. You can sponsor a local event, team up with a nearby business, host a fun live event, or just show up at the same event every year. These don’t require a huge budget, but they need to be consistent.
Some other ways to keep them coming back are giving them a discount on their next oil change after their fourth visit, a reminder paired with a seasonal offer before tire swaps or AC checkups, or a special customized gift on their birthdays.
Conclusion
None of the above strategies have to be complicated. Pick the one that fits your shop this month, whether that’s finally answering your reviews or calling the credit union down the street, and get that running well before you move to the next.
Want to know how we can help? Get in touch with us today!
FAQs
Start with what’s free, like filling out your Google Business Profile and replying to reviews. If you already own a website, make sure your customers can easily book appointments.
A few methods to do this are placing a clear, well-lit sign that says, “Walk-ins welcome,” that is easy to spot from a distance, being accurately placed on Google Maps with the correct business hours and partnering with local businesses.
Social media is one of the best ways to promote your shop. You can start posting a few low-effort posts on a platform you’re already on, then branch out to others. You need to be consistent if you want to be discovered.
