Knowing how to properly retain your customers is a fundamental aspect for any economic activity. Therefore, even the workshops must improve the management of the customer, in order to build loyalty. In this article we will see some valuable tips, to be put into practice immediately.
- What is loyalty?
- Why is loyalty important?
- What to do to build customer loyalty in the officina?
What is loyalty?
The modern economy has, within it, a very high number of economic actors. Competition is very high: this entails the need to improve the quality of the service provided.
Every single workshop must try to improve customer management, even with precise marketing actions. In fact, if we have a workshop in a large city, the customer does not necessarily come back to us at a later time. There are infinite aspects that lead the customer to choose one workshop over another . This is why it is important to know how to manage the customer correctly.
Customer loyalty is therefore the set of marketing actions, which aim to keep the customer over time.
Why is loyalty important?
This "set of marketing actions" is essential for any business.
Probably the most important reason is building a solid revenue base for the months to come. In fact, if a customer enters our workshop, and is happy, he will probably come back a second time. In this way, a possible chance encounter can become a constant economic input over time for the workshop.
Furthermore, a satisfied customer speaks well of the workshop to his friends. This creates positive zero-cost advertising. Reviews given to other friends have a very high impact, in support of any business.
In fact, when we hear that a friend of ours is happy in a particular shop, we are curious to know that particular economic activity. We can probably go there for a simple intervention, to test the friendliness of the workshop already on that occasion.
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Retaining a customer also allows you to reduce the costs for finding other customers. In fact, once the customer entered our workshop, somehow a relationship was created between him and our person.
The costs are therefore minimized, and a significant increase in the profit margin can be achieved.
Another aspect to consider is the increase in ROI. This parameter, known above all to economists and defined as “Return of Investment”, is evident above all in the medium-long term.
Its formula is very simple:
Return on investment - Cost of investment / Cost of investment
What to do to build customer loyalty in the workshop?
Given the complexity of the subject, we can say that there are infinite "tricks" to retain customers.
Marketers could write whole books on this subject, but we don't have that much time and will therefore try to highlight the main points.
Some people may think that this is a costly and time-consuming process. In fact, good customer loyalty must be personalized: this implies an ad hoc "processing" of the individual customer by the workshop.
In fact, each customer is different from the other and must therefore be managed in a unique way. We can't handle an eighteen year old boy the same way we can a 70 year old person. Everyone has special needs, even in terms of car management. The boy probably can count on a support scooter for the repair period, while the retiree probably doesn't have that privilege.
Therefore, the services that the workshop makes available may also vary according to the age group or even for a series of other parameters decided by the owner of the workshop.
Regardless of these aspects, however, there are some bulwarks that must always be considered within a loyalty process.
The first is certainly an efficient customer care service. Whatever the customer's problem, the latter must be treated efficiently and flawlessly in the shortest possible time.
The customer must feel pampered and loved. Currently, people are not looking for businesses that make a good product, but businesses that make a good product with a good customer experience.
The second key aspect is professionalism and trust. The customer must be able to trust their mechanic. This feeling must be conveyed in an area of professionalism and quality.
The relationship must be transparent and direct, and nothing must be hidden from the customer. The mechanic must immediately set the record straight if there are any problems with the car. The customer must be made aware of the details of the car.
To build customer loyalty, it is also necessary to carry out personalized promotions and programs. Offering discounts or special promotions, for example to customers who have already entered the workshop, therefore allows the workshop to have a continuous economic revenue over time.
Given the high competition, it is always advisable to expand the range of services. The workshop must be a place where the car is best managed. When a customer brings a car for maintenance, it is advisable to ask if they need other services, such as cleaning the interior or polishing the bodywork.
These services clearly please the end customer, but they must not be offered in an obsessive and overwhelming way. The customer must feel free to choose or not, to then have a form of bond with the workshop.
Another fundamental aspect is web marketing.
Nowadays people very often choose the workshop based on data from the web. Having a good web page therefore allows you to be positioned correctly, and creates a greater possibility of getting in touch with potential customers.
YouDriver.com is the solution to this problem, as it provides a web page to all Italian and European workshops. In this way the customer can find the workshop more quickly and have an immediate series of information on the services provided.
YouDriver.com allows you to upload a variety of information, but also photos and a description of the workshop.
In moments of active promotions, YouDriver.com highlights which are the workshops that have active promotions in the area. In this way the customer can choose from the best promotions active in the area in which he is located.
This is why it is essential to build customer loyalty within the workshop. We will continue this column within YouDriver.com in the coming days and weeks.
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