Automotive
Marketing for garages and car dealers
Nobody looks for a garage in advance. They look when the car will not start, when the annual test is due, or when the weather turns. Our work is to be found nearby at that moment, to get the call, and to make sure somebody picks up.
In a garage the call is the sale, so the first thing we check is that calls are recorded. Repairs, tyres and selling cars are three different businesses with different customers and different timescales. So we do not merge them into one message.
Where the customer is lost before they reach the ramp
The search happens one-handed, with the car at the roadside
The driver looks at who is nearby, who is open and who will answer. If the number cannot be dialled with one tap, the next name on the list wins.
The season arrives all at once, and capacity does not
Everyone changes tyres in the first cold days and waits for hours. October stands empty, November runs out. Advertising belongs before the wave, not in the middle of it.
The test and the tyre change are put off until the last minute
What can be postponed is postponed until there is a deadline. The annual roadworthiness test is a deadline that reaches every customer, and a reason to call first.
A used-car buyer fears more than they want
With a second-hand car people are not chasing a good deal, they are avoiding a bad one. History, inspection and what you put in writing weigh more than the price.
The listing starts the conversation and the website loses it
The enquiry begins on a marketplace, but the buyer then checks the company's own site. If the cars, the prices and the faces are not the same there, trust drops.
What changes in the order of work for an automotive business
The order of work is described on the How we work page, but in the automotive business servicing and car sales are planned separately: the garage needs to fill its schedule for the next few days, while sales guide the buyer through a long comparison.
Goal
We work out what needs filling: the bays, the tyre schedule or the cars on the forecourt. Each has a different capacity, and the goal is calculated from that rather than from a number of enquiries.
Check
We check that calls, bookings and enquiries about a specific car are recorded separately. One missed call on a busy day costs more than the click that produced it.
Channels
For the workshop, local search and the map listing carry the weight. For tyres, advertising starts before the wave rather than in the middle of it. For sales the listings lead, and the website is the check the buyer runs afterwards.
Report
Reporting is kept separate for repairs, tyres and sales, and compared with the same month last year, because seasonality makes month-on-month comparison meaningless.
The services that matter most for an automotive business
One trade, several different customers
The motor trade holds a fast repair, a seasonal service and a large purchase. Those decisions run on different clocks and for different reasons, so we separate them in the structure of the site.
Two of those clocks are not yours and bring customers every year: the annual roadworthiness test, and the winter period from 15 November to 1 March, when the law requires winter tyres or enough tread depth. Whoever reminds the customer first gets the slot.
- A breakdown: Decided in minutes and by phone. What counts is being nearby, the opening hours and whether somebody answers, not the advertising message.
- Scheduled service and the annual test: It has a deadline and is postponed until then. A reminder before the due date costs less than the advertising for a new customer.
- Changing tyres: A short job with two peaks a year. Booking in advance and tyre storage turn a seasonal customer into a regular one.
- A used car: Considered over weeks, and almost always with a friend who knows cars. When you sell as a business, the buyer gets more rights than in a private sale, and few dealers ever say so.
- A new car: The buyer arrives decided and visits few places. The website and the listing now do the work the showroom used to do.
- Parts for a driver: They search by registration or chassis number, because they are afraid of ordering the wrong thing. The search box is the product.
- Parts for garages: A different customer with different expectations: availability, contract prices and delivery today. What decides it is whether a bay would otherwise stand idle.
Sectors with the same type of decision
There the customer also chooses somewhere nearby, but the decision is usually shorter than buying a car.
Customers choose fast and nearby
What comes first in the order of work when customers choose within their own area.
Dental clinics
Clinics where patients call when in pain or compare clinics before planned treatment.
Beauty and cosmetics
Salons where a free slot and photos of finished work decide the choice.