Effective business management and top quality customer service are a crucial part to running a successful garage business, not only to help bring in new customers, but to ensure they keep coming back.

Here are our top tips for garages wanting to guarantee an outstanding experience for every driver.

Make sure you’re searchable

Online visibility is critical to building trust.

Being searchable shows that you are reputable, and also means you can publicise your capabilities and specialisms so drivers can find what they’re looking for.

This is doubly important in the current climate, with the shift to digital accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taking advantage of free-to-use marketing tools such as social media, and setting up listings on sites such as Google Business and Maps, is an easy way to tap into this trend, and to build a strong online presence.

These platforms are also the ideal space to share photography of your workshop, so customers know exactly what to expect when they visit.

And encouraging existing customers to leave Google Reviews is a great way to give new customers the confidence to choose you.

As well as opening your garage up to audiences you may not have had access to before, these platforms can also encourage conversations and recommendations, bolstering your reputation further.

Having a strong online presence doesn’t have to mean setting up your own website; it just means finding ways to build your brand identity, so that customers can go straight to the source when looking for information.

If you do want your own site, less is more.

A site that’s easy to navigate, with details of available services, prices, and how to book can be a powerful tool for generating business leads.

Would you visit your own garage?

New customers will form an impression of your workshop as soon as they walk through the front door.

This means that ensuring your garage is welcoming – which can be the difference between securing repeat business, and deterring drivers from coming back next time.

The smallest changes have the biggest impact. A dedicated waiting area with seating, for example, demonstrates the customer is front of mind when they arrive at your garage.

Ensuring staff are on hand to greet and serve customers on arrival is also key to building trust, and assuring them that they and their vehicles will be well looked-after.

Don’t overlook the importance of training

So-called ‘softer’ skills are just as important as technical training.

To help garages ensure they’re on a level playing field with dealerships – who often have dedicated customer-handling staff – we offer three customer service programmes through our AutoEducation Academy.

Our courses cover areas such as marketing, social media and web design, harnessing customer data to drive sales opportunities, and implementing payment plans.

Each is priced at £399 per candidate, but garages that book on to all three as a bundle benefit from a reduced price of £899+VAT.

We also offer a business management course that covers the fundamentals of financial management, how to drive return on investment, and how to generate new opportunities.

Make tech work hard for you

Technology has a huge role to play in underpinning the customer experience.

Using garage management software like CarSys is a great way to keep track of where customers’ vehicles are up to, so you can proactively contact them when a service is due.

The nature of that contact will also be slick and professional if you use the software to do it – and it’ll be consistent with the documents you send when it’s time to quote and invoice for any work.

Many of your customers would readily admit that they’re not experts when it comes to maintaining their vehicles, which can make them feel vulnerable or exposed when they bring them in for servicing and repairs.

They’re putting their trust in your garage, and might well be faced with quite a sizeable bill depending on what’s required, so the more you can involve them throughout the process, the better.

Systems like VIEWMECH enable garages to send their customers video footage of any work required to their vehicles, with the option to add a quote and accompanying note for any repair work.

This can help to encourage customer retention, referrals and work conversions through top-quality, transparent service.

At the moment, we’re offering our workshop customers a free 12-month subscription to VIEWMECH, worth £599.