Your best customers are the ones who keep coming back to you with more business, and who provide you with good referrals. But customer relationship management is almost non-existent at many body shops, and marketing is often an afterthought. That's because collision shops only see their typical customer once every six to seven years, and insurance companies often act as a buffer between the customer and the shop.

"Customers don't want to do business with a body shop," says Hank Nunn, industry consultant with H.W Nunn & Associates. "We sit somewhere between a dentist and a mortician in terms of who you want to do business with. We have to overcome that."

But how do you build a relationship with a customer that you may only see once every few years? And how do you get those customers to provide referrals?

Providing excellent service is a large part of this process, but there are a number of other opportunities for body shops to build lasting relationships with their customers, as well as their customers' friends and relatives. The key to staying top-of-mind with customers is to have an effective and consistent marketing plan in place.

"The challenge for most shops is that most of them have no marketing plan that's directed toward the customer relationship," Nunn says. "There's no plan to maintain contact with the customer base, but customer referrals are the biggest opportunity that most shops have for increasing sales."

The customer experience

A marketing plan goes beyond just placing ads or mailing flyers. Relationship building starts when the customer walks in the door.

"When the customer walks in, you want them to see a professional environment," says Troy Aldrich, manager at Freeman Collision Center in Santa Rosa, Calif. "They get a friendly greeting and a professional estimate."

Customers should be waited on promptly, and calls returned quickly. Estimators should go over the repair estimate with the customer, and send a thank you letter after the estimate has been completed. Estimating systems and shop management systems can make this easier by automatically generating these letters and mailers.

"Following up the estimating process with a thank you letter and providing them guidance to help them make a decision about having the car fixed is very effective," says Lou DiLisio, president of Automotive Industry Consulting. "That used to increase my close ratio by 20% percent.”

Once you have the job, communication reinforces the customer relationship. Go over the repairs with the customer before handing them back the keys. Send a thank you letter the day after the car is released that is properly packaged as a direct mail piece, followed by a thank you phone call. Make use of a customer satisfaction indexing (CSI) service.

Afterward, you can continue to use direct mail and birthday cards to keep your shop's name in front of those customers.

"We stay in contact with the customer throughout the repair process," Aldrich says. "When the car is completed we send out a letter asking them if they're happy with the repair and if not, to please inform us. We also do follow-up calls and have a CSI program."

Direct mail

You database of customer information is a powerful marketing tool. In addition to birthday or anniversary cards, you can also send existing customers coupons or seasonal offers. Even if those offers are for a basic service you may take a loss on in the short term, those customers are more likely to turn to your shop for major repairs later, or refer their friends and family. You also can offer promotional items to customers that send in referrals. Just don't overdo it and bombard your customers with piles of junk mail.

While Aldrich has utilized newspaper, magazine and radio ads, he says the best return he usually gets is on direct mailing of special offers.

"We took in an additional $100,000 in work just from the mailings so far this year," Aldrich says, adding that Freeman uses the marketing components of the Mitchell ABS system to track leads.

"Most shops don't understand that marketing is an ongoing thing," Nunn says. "Shops will try radio or an ad in the paper, and it doesn't work, so they quit. Shops have to have a strategy to maintain contact with those customers, and it might take a year before you start seeing results."

Online opportunities

Carolyn Coquillette, owner of Luscious Garage in San Francisco, takes a slightly more environmentally friendly approach to her customer marketing. Luscious is an independently owned mechanical shop focused almost exclusively on hybrid vehicles. While mechanical shops have an easier time keeping in touch with customers, because they come in more frequently, Coquillette has leveraged technology in ways that collision shops could take a lesson from.

"We're running a green business here," Coquillette says. "Staying in touch implies sending flyers or other soliciting business in a way that is not particularly soft-footed on the environment or the customer."

Since flyers and mailers use a lot of paper, Coquillette keeps in touch with her 500-plus customers using an e-mail newsletter as well as a blog on the company's Web site.

Sent monthly, the bulk of the newsletter deals with general automotive and environmental issues, in addition to providing service reminders and promotions. Dealerships (and a few body shops) have used this method to keep in touch with customers. In the collision space, this type of newsletter might include information on insurance issues or car care tips.

"You have to be careful about what you include," Coquillette says. "People will block your newsletter if they think it's junk. You are compelled to do a promotion because it brings people in, but on the other hand people don't want to feel like you only communicate with them when you have a promotion."

That said, the return on in investment can be high. "The newsletter is a great marketing tool," Coquillette says. "For $30 a month, I can send a newsletter to all of my customers. If two or three people make an appointment, that's a great return."

She also relies on word-of-mouth, particularly through online sites like www.yelp.com that include business reviews. Encourage your satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on Yelp or Angie's List, and monitor those sites for negative feedback so you can address customer service issues.

Get involved in the community

Shops also should network and stay involved in community activities.

"Just put on a grass roots effort locally," DiLisio says. "Sponsor little league teams, sponsor town functions. Get involved with the local schools and chambers of commerce. You have an opportunity to be in front of other business owners who have access to an entirely different group of potential customers."

Open houses also can help. Although these events are usually held to herald the opening of a new or remodeled shop, Aldrich said Freeman holds these events several times a year.

"We have a 43,000-square-foot shop, and we invite our customers and business partners in for a catered lunch or dinner and a tour," Aldrich says. "Sometimes we'll have a local car club come in and display cars. It generates a lot of interest, and shortly afterward we always get an influx of new business from that."

That personal touch can go a long way toward building a strong relationship with customers.

"People aren't necessarily aware of the things we do to the car," Coquillette says. "What they remember are the things they directly participate in – what happens when you check in, how do we stay in touch with you, and what the car feels like when you leave."

"If you go over and above the call of duty, that person is going to tell their friends and family about you," DiLisio says. "That's where the effort pays off. Word of mouth marketing is the best you could ever ask for."