After over 20 years of handling the marketing for many successful auto body shops, I have proven that one of the most effective ways to bring in business is to build strong relationships with people that can refer business to you. For Auto Body Shops, the best source of referrals is still the insurance agent. In spite of some Insurance Companies using call centers to handle claims, many Insurance agents and their staff still provide the service of taking calls from their insured whom have had accidents and helping them deal with processing their claim. These agencies are the most important businesses to build relationships with because they have the ability to refer thousands of dollars worth of work to your door.

          Insurance Companies and their Direct Repair Program managers are also very important, but they are notoriously difficult to reach. They usually already have enough shops on their programs and refuse to add any more. With over 2000 shops in New Jersey all trying to get on DRP lists, these managers get so many calls asking to be on their program, that they often don't have the time to respond. Although it helps to be on an Insurance Company's Direct Repair Program, taking the time to build a strong enough relationship with your local agents and their staff can become more important than being on their DRP list. If your shop is on the program, agents still refer more when they know the shop enough to feel comfortable referring. They usually still have choices of several DRP shops and are much more likely to refer the ones that take the time to visit and build a friendship with them.

          Repetition can be the single most powerful idea in successful marketing. It typically takes 9-12 months of sales visits to build a referral source. If done properly, repetitive visits make marketing effective.

Why? Agents and their staff have many things to do besides remembering your shop. Like you, they are busy running a business. They will refer shops that they feel have a good business relationship with them. This is why a professional that knows how to promote your shop needs to visit local agencies to properly represent your shop approximately once every month for many months. This will ensure time to build relationships that result in referrals for your shop.  Most shops don't have the budget for a full-time marketing professional.                    This is why using an outside marketing service for just a few days a month makes a lot of financial sense!

To find out more about how this works, and other shop marketing factors, call me at 973-493-2421 now!

Bob Coleman

RC Marketing, LLC

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