The bodyshop manager often feels the pressure to be competitive in his pricing. The dealer principle usually wants more body shop sales volume. The solution that is often defaulted to is discounted pricing. But is discounting the secret to increasing dealership bodyshop sales? In a word, NO.
Unlike when purchasing a car, the customer is not driven by price when purchasing collision repairs nearly as much. First of all our customer is not usually spending his or her own dollars for collision repairs. Normally our customer is spending insurance company money. Quality is a big concern to a customer who may still have several years of payments left on his car.
In selling collision repairs at a dealership it is good to review the unique selling propositions (USP) of the facility. In other words, the reasons why a customer should choose your facility over a competitor. You and your bodyshop manager should sit down and together compile a list of USPs.
Unique Selling Proposition Sample:
· Are You The Selling Dealer?
· The Particular Equipment You Have
· Protection of Warranty
· Parts Availability
· Brand-Specific Trained Technicians
· Anything Else That Gives You A Competitive Advantage
The list can go on and on but nothing is more powerful in the mind of the consumer than being the selling dealer. Other competitors are forced to sell on some other basis, such as price.
Being the selling dealer is or should be a collision repair salesman's dream. Almost every car that comes to you is a legitimate prospect. The customer is actually a buyer, not just a shopper. If your bodyshop estimator starts to play the price game he is actually weakening his position. Never forget, the real customer is the car owner, not the insurance company. There is no law which requires the customer to get more than one estimate.
Another tool to help you realize where gains can be made is a sales log. I recommend that you set up a simple tracking mechanism that gives you accurate information on batting average. Simply keep track of total dollars of estimates written versus actual repair orders written and figure the percent of capture. Notice I say figure this in dollars, not number of estimates. A reasonable batting average in the dealership world is 70%. That is to say that 70% of all dollars in estimates actually turn into repair orders. If this is not happening then your estimators simply do not know how to sell. I am often amazed that the typical bodyshop estimator has never really had any sales training. Do not guess what your batting average is. Track it and then set a minimum acceptable standard. By simply having your estimator(s) present your USP's, asking for the sale and by your keeping score, you will not be forced to play the price game.