Marketing opportunities exist for your Auto Detailing Business thru your local Chamber Of Commerce and is often missed or neglected. Whether you operate a part time or full time Auto Detailing business you must have the mindset that every vehicle on the road in your service area is a potential customer. From the little old lady driving the 1994 Buick Century to the CEO driving around in his Mercedes 550 they each have a need for your services.
The niche that I am going to discuss in this article are actually low hanging fruit that are easy pickings once you have your game plan set up. There are actually numerous niches that you can easily acquire that can be very effective revenue generators for you. For this edition of ways to grow an auto business I will focus on how to cultivate customers through your local Chamber of Commerce.
Consider joining your local Chamber Of Commerce so you can get your business in front of other businesses in your service area. Do more than just join it, take advantage of what I will be outlining in this edition. Once you join you will receive a membership directory of all the other Chamber members. The directory will publish not only their business name but it could also include important contact names, their email addresses, web site and other information that could be beneficial to help you pursue potential business. You will need to execute a plan so these businesses know who you are.
Based on the business information that is provided for you in the membership directory determine the most proficient way for you to begin contacting these businesses to introduce you to them. Don’t cherry pick the list, start from the beginning of the list and learn as much about the business that you can. Most businesses today have a web site, be sure you visit their web site so you can learn more about what they do and review their company mission statement. See if there mission statement and your business’s mission statement has any common ground.
Try and determine how many employees they have. Do you they have a fleet of company cars and possibly service vehicles? There could be an opportunity for you to not only provide auto appearance services for their company owned vehicles but also for their employees. You can start off by emailing the contacts that were published in the directory. Introduce these contacts to your business and the goal would be to arrange for an appointment to meet with the contact and determine what their needs may be. They may have a spectrum of possibilities. The spectrum may include personal vehicles of the employees, company owned vehicles and even possibly service vans and pick up trucks.
If the business is a small business with only a few employees it still could be a great opportunity for you. Sometimes the owner or boss may pay for a Detail for an employee that may of won a contest. You can also encourage businesses to offer details as prizes for employee of the month or top sales person of the month. They probably have incentive awards so why not sell them a full car detail. Besides receiving cash, a car detail has always been a very popular contest award for employees. The business may even purchase gift certificates from you so have readily available and be sure you make it known that you offer them.
The Chambers should also offer you the ability for you to advertise in their weekly email newsletter and or their monthly hard copy newsletter that every member would receive. It would benefit you greatly to offer Special Auto Detailing Value Packages exclusive to the Chamber members and their employees. You can advertise these packages in both the email newsletters and consider having a flyer printed and inserted in the monthly hard copy newsletter. Change the packages every morning nth so your offerings don’t become stale like some restaurant menus do. Consider displaying an expiration date to encourage a sense of urgency.
Every detail job that you obtain that was generated from a Chamber member or their employee be sure you take before and after pictures of their vehicle and publish them on all your social media channels. Ask your customer to share those pics with their friends so more people can see your great work. The cost for a Chambers membership could be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to four or five hundred. Don’t let the cost of membership limit your opportunity to obtain more customers. A few details will pay for that membership fee easily. The Chambers will also host bi weekly or monthly mixers and other events where you can rub elbows with other Chamber members and even do some networking to help boost your business image among the other members. Always bring a stack of business cards and hand them out to perspective Chamber members.
Joining your local Chamber of Commerce has other benefits not mentioned above. Be sure to seek out those other benefits and determine how they can benefit your business. Besides having an informative web site for your Detailing business joining the Chamber of Commerce and taking advantage of what it has to offer would be a priority. Speaking of web sites, that will be the topic next time: Why Your Detailing Business Needs a Web Site. Published July 2017
Nick Vacco
Detail King
CEO/Founder