Attracting More Clients During Crisis Sending Message of Trust

Your business needs to keep running even amid a pandemic. A few weeks ago, we covered the best ways to market your auto repair shop during the outbreak, and it all boils down to making auto shop information accessible and relevant to your patrons. To further help you market your shop, JMC Equipment shares another important aspect of marketing during a crisis: trust.

There are golden rules in building trust among auto customers, like investing in quality equipment and maintaining transparency. A crisis like this, however, is a game-changer: common practices are just the bare minimum. You have to elevate your game to appeal to a more alert and cautious buying public. We can’t deny that during an outbreak, customers become more self-interested and wary of their safety.

Your goal now is to assure customers that your shop and products are all safe and sanitary. Only by assuring them of their safety can you encourage more shop visits and sales.

Assure Customers of Sanitary Shop Practices

To build trust, your customers should feel you have their best interests in mind. Their safety is a priority, even if it means sacrificing your efficiency.

Social Distancing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly recommends social distancing, which means people in your shop should be at least 6 feet apart. This slows down the spread of the virus. So you’ll have to alter the layout of the shop to follow protocols and then make these changes loud and clear to customers. Through shop signages and markers, inform clients that they have to follow social distancing measures to keep everyone in your shop — including your workers — out of harm’s way.

Minimal Contact. Announce if you’ll accept online payments to minimize cash exchange. Hand sanitization and cloth face covering protocols should be clear, too. Make sure your website and social media accounts reflect these new shop regulations.

More Stringent Sanitation. Let your customers know of the sanitary practices in your shop, too. For example, disinfection of car tire changer machines and car lifts are now twice as frequent. Seats, doors, and other touch-points are regularly cleaned. Tell customers if you have upgraded air filters, which, although not proven to slow down the spread of coronavirus, can keep indoor air safe and reduce the risk for people with existing respiratory issues.

In all announcements of new protocols, reiterate that you’re doing these for the safety of your clients.

During Cold Calls

In another blog post, we recommended calling previous clients and seeing how they’re doing. If you’ve been following through, then you’ve already established a positive connection, even if it’s just a short conversation about how they and their family are doing.

Even if you’ve been providing them valuable information, we have to stress that what’s valuable changes over time. Developments on the pandemic happen quickly, and these are all uncharted territory. Staying updated on news and events will help you provide the information they need.

The key to assuring trust during cold calls is to be armed with the right kind of information that clients may need.

  • Clients who are medical frontliners need serious information about vehicle disinfection
  • Clients who travel far need information about the additional car tools they should get
  • Clients with little kids need hotline information or recommendations in case of a roadside mishap

Being ready with specialized knowledge will increase the trust of the person on the other side of the line

A crisis calls for a proactive response. Even if auto shops are essential in keeping everybody mobile, doing the bare minimum is not enough to attract clients. To keep your bottomline stable, foster trust among clients and assure them that their safety is your priority.

For further advice on how your auto shop can thrive, crisis or not, call us on 800-562-4791.