We will continue now with more specific on how to market to Body Shops. 

Sales Brochures:   The Sales Brochure is one of the most important tools you can use to sell your services, but you must structure and present it professionally to really make it work correctly.  A before and after pic isn't necessary on these, but it is necessary for most sales brochures. Be sure to print this on top quality, heavy gloss paper. Do NOT fold it. Give it to the manager or owner as a sheet. Folded advertisements end up getting trashed quicker than a sheet at Body Shops.  Do not make these brochures overly complex or flashy stay simple and direct. 

 

    Be sure to use some kind of Desk Top Publishing to do your flyers, don't have them printed. You will soon discover as you pass these out the need to fine tune them, or possibly have several different versions depending on the type of Body Shop you are selling to. If you print them you are stuck with them as is. Desk Top publishing allows you to change your sales brochures at will. Generally speaking, Word Perfect is usually suitable software to make a professional looking brochure. NEVER make a brochure too wordy. Most shop owners do not have time to waste and will see an overly detailed brochure as another demand on their schedule. It should be able to be read in 30 to 45 seconds max. If it takes any longer than this to read, your brochure may get trashed. Below is a sample of a body shop sales brochure I have used for years

 Always try to be available to talk about your brochure to the owner or manager instead of just dropping it off to the secretary. You need to speak with someone in charge so they can put a face to the brochure. Obviously you also want to be able to answer any questions they may have in depth. If the manager is too busy to talk, leave your brochure and follow up with a visit in a couple days. If they are hostile, or have been burned by PDR techs before, use the suggestion we talked about in the last article of this series. It works very well! Typically Body Shops will ask questions like:

 

Do you make them go away or just make them look better? 

How soon can you get here when I need you? Will I have to wait until the next day?

How soon can you get here for a complete paint job that needs PDR?

(you should always to do these the same day as turn around time on a complete paint is usually very important to a body shop).

 How soon can you fix a dent after it’s been painted?

 Can you fix body-line damage?

 Do you drill a lot? If you do drill do you ask permission first?

How big a dent can you do? 

 

You will also want to polish your presentation, and get somewhat familiar with body shop procedures and language by visiting several smaller shops before going after the larger or higher end shops. Visiting small shops first will give you the chance to get comfortable with Body Shops in general before going after the bigger fish.  The brochures for smaller shops , and your presentation should stress the cost saving aspects and getting on the fence customers, because these shops are always having to compete harder for their customer base than larger or high end shops.

 

   The high end shops will primarily be concerned about quality and service time.  Your brochure for these, and your presentation should stress quality and punctuality. Also don’t be to eager to market to these shops unless you