Out of the Crisis.Org

[Louis Altazan]

A friend complained to me recently that he spends a large part of his day giving price quotes. People call all day long, request prices and seldom have work done. I asked if he ever inquired where the callers get his name. Sure he replied, we have a large ad in the phone book.

His was a large half-page advertisement and near the front of the listing. It gave a good deal of general information, yet failed to discriminate who his business was designed to serve, in my opinion. He said the phone book representative had designed the ad for him. While this was an effective advertisement [the phone was ringing] it was not producing the type caller he could convert to a client. Worse, it was consuming a huge amount of his time that he could not devote to potential clients.

Perhaps a change of his sales approach may help, but a different marketing approach might help even more. I think effective advertising needs to do more than just generate calls. Ideally it generates far more calls from people who are potential clients. As important, it generates far less from those who are not in the market for what the business has to sell. I consider such callers not potential clients at this time.

These folks may be potential clients at another time or even with another vehicle. I do not wish to offend them so explaining my position can take a large amount of time. The fewer non-potential clients my marketing attracts the more time I have to spend with potential clients. Several years ago I discovered that I did not have the knowledge or talent to craft such advertisement.

I turned to a professional advertising agency. I was fortunate enough to meet a young man who could provide just what I needed. As luck would have it he was also seeking a shop to care for his vehicles. We struck up an arrangement which has been mutually beneficial for many years. For me the results have been amazing.

Marketing is somewhat like auto repair in that it is a very complex issue. Most shop owners are skilled in running a shop but may lack knowledge in marketing. I have also found there is often a reluctance on the part of most owners to pay for this type of help. I believe this is unfortunate. Just as there is a great deal of free automotive advice around, paying a good technician may be much less expensive than throwing parts at a problem. Paying for marketing advice can make just as much sense in many cases. Often free marketing advise is worth much less than the price paid?

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Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA

[Eric J.]

What is the difference in a client and a customer? I notice you always use the word client.

[Louis Altazan]