The cheapest car in your bay is one that was already there.
You have a record of every vehicle you have touched, with mileage, last service, and what you told them they would need next. Most shops never use it. A reminder sent on the interval, to one vehicle, is the highest-margin marketing a shop has.
What passes for follow-up in most shops.
"We send a postcard sometimes."
The good customers had already come back. The postcard went to the ones who moved away.
"My system has a reminder feature."
It does. It's switched off, and the template still opens with Dear Valued Customer.
"I don't want to spam my customers."
Nobody minds a text saying their Highlander is due at 90,000 and there's a Tuesday open.
Timed to each car in your database.
Based on mileage and interval
Reminders fire off the vehicle's own service history and estimated annual mileage.
Whichever channel they answer
Text or email based on what they responded to last, with an opt-out that works the first time.
Written about their car
"Your 2016 Tacoma is due for a transmission service" beats "Spring maintenance specials" by a distance.
Booking inside the message
One tap to a request form with the vehicle already filled in.
Suppression that holds
Anyone who came in last week doesn't get a reminder this week. Nothing burns a list faster than that mistake.
The database is the work.
Week 1
Pull and clean
Export from your shop management system, merge the duplicates, fix the phone formats. Usually the messiest step in any engagement.
Week 2
Set the intervals
Which services, at what mileage, how far ahead. Your call, based on what you recommend at the counter.
Ongoing
Send and count
Reminders go weekly. Bookings from them are reported separately in your monthly briefing, so the return stays separate from ad spend.
What shop owners ask about this one.
What if my customer data is a mess?
It usually is. Duplicate vehicles, dead numbers, the same customer entered three ways. The cleanup happens once, and it's worth more than the reminders are.
How often is too often?
Two or three touches a year per vehicle for most shops. Interval-based sending handles that on its own without anyone deciding.
Do I need consent to text customers?
Yes. TCPA rules apply, so setup includes a documented opt-in at the counter and a working opt-out in every message.
Other ways to keep the customer
- Review Generation A steady drip of Google reviews, asked for automatically.
- Reputation Management Every review answered. The one-stars handled first.
- Declined-Work Follow-Up The estimate they walked on, brought back in 30 days.
- Direct Mail New-mover and lapsed-customer drops, tracked by phone number.
- All services The full menu, grouped by what it does for car count.
In twenty minutes, you'll know where your car count is going.
Bring your last month of ad spend and your car count. We'll tell you what we'd change first, whether you hire us or not.
Got it. We'll call you.
Expect a call from us within one business day, at the time you picked. Have last month’s ad spend and car count handy.
Got it.
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