40 GEARS May/June 2007

This article is an excerpt from our new management semi-nar called Playing to Win. You

won’t want to miss the Playing to Winseminar when it comes to your area; in the meantime, you can get started by reading and using the ideas in this and upcoming articles.

Shop owners often ask me if I have a secret formula for increasing car counts. I’ve given it some thought and here’s my answer: “Get more people to come into your shop, keep coming to your shop, and telling their friends about your shop, and the car count will increase, too.” Cars don’t drive themselves in, and cars don’t buy auto service… people do.

It really is just that simple: The more people that come into your shop, the more cars and jobs you’re going to get. It’s about creating relationships with customers that result in repeat sales from loyal customers and their referrals.

So the real question should be, “How can I make favorable impres-sions and build lasting relationships?” As an industry, we spend an inordinate amount of money and time trying to get new customers, and we don’t com-mit enough time, money or energy into keeping them. It costs 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. In fact, because of the high acquisition costs to get a new customer, many businesses actually lose money on the first transaction… the profit comes from future sales and referrals.

Years ago, I coined the acronym

FRAP to describe the potential refer-ral network represented by just one customer. FRAP stands for Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Parents. The typical person has a FRAP that totals about 200 people. This is determined by the average attendance at a funer-al… only a person’s FRAP shows up at their funeral.

The answer is in what I call a Bulls-Eye Marketing System (BEMS). The secret formula in BEMS is basi-cally summarized in 4 key steps:1. Have something important to say.2. Say it to the right people… your

target customers.3. Say it well.4. Say it often.

First, you need to identify and understand your ideal customer. There’s no reason to spend money marketing to anyone else, so make sure you know your best customers… their needs, wants and interests. These people, their FRAP, and other people just like them are your BEMS targets.

Targeted marketing isn’t just about reaching your target customer; it’s about saying the right things to your target customer. Say things that are important to your target customers. Don’t water down your message; others will get it, but your target customers must get it! The more accurately you identify your target customer, the less costly it is to advertise to them effectively.

Now say it well. Saying it well means that it’ll get the results you want. Here’s another acronym to follow to make sure you say it well, called the

AIDA formula:• A = Attention — You need to inter-

rupt the target customer by grab-bing their attention.

• I = Interest — Quickly peak their interest with one or two compel-ling points to draw them in.

• D = Details — If you’ve interrupt-ed them and piqued their interest, they’ll want the details.

• A = Action — Tell them what to do next… phone, stop by, visit your web site, etc.

While all aspects of the BEMS are important, saying it often is perhaps the most important and the most over-looked. Even a poorly written and mis-directed message will eventually make an impact if it’s said often enough and long enough.

As a rule, it takes 9 impressions to make an impact. An impact is a suffi-cient impression to cause a prospective customer to take an action or to remem-ber you. An old marketing saying is that you’re better off telling 1000 people 100 times than to tell 100,000 people one time. With that in mind, most advertisers don’t have the patience and money to accomplish either of these objectives.

The more targeted your advertis-ing is, the fewer impressions it’ll take to make an impact. One solution is to get the customer involved in some way. The easiest way to get the customer involved is to put something in their hands. It’s better if what you put in their hands is something they’ll value, keep and remember. And it’s even better if

Tap the FRAP with Tap the FRAP with the Bull’s-Eye the Bull’s-Eye Marketing SystemMarketing System

by Thom Tschetter

PLAYING TO WIN

40tschetterplay.indd 4040tschetterplay.indd 40 4/19/07 1:43:20 PM4/19/07 1:43:20 PM

GEARS May/June 2007 41

it’s something they’ll talk about and tell their FRAP about.

Here are some common examples of things businesses give away:• Business Cards and Brochures or

Flyers — Business cards and flyers get tossed.

• Calendars / Day-Planners — Calendars and appointment books expire.

• Refrigerator Magnets, Pens, and Notepads — Trinkets are soon for-gotten or lost and have little or no perceived value.

• Show Tickets, Game Tickets, or Restaurant Gift Cards — Free din-ners and game or theater tickets are nice, but also lack lasting value.

• Discounts or Cash Cards — Discounts or Cash Cards have very little lasting impact.

• Complimentary Vacation Gift Cards (see last month’s issue of GEARS for details) — High per-ceived value with lasting impact.

In last month’s article, I shared the idea of giving away Complimentary Vacation Gift Cards. If you missed that article, I suggest that you read it now, because the idea works well with BEMS.

For the money, there is perhaps no better example of BEMS and a way to Tap the FRAP than to mail them some-thing on a regular basis… the more frequent the better, but at least 4 times per year.

We all intuitively know that send-ing thank you cards or letters is a good practice, and that service reminders work for shops that have added mainte-nance to their service menus. But sea-sonal greeting cards and birthday cards are also great ways to cement your relationships with customers. With the advancements in computers, using your database of customers to reach them and their FRAP frequently with highly specific, targeted messages is easier and more affordable than ever.

Getting your customer retention and follow-up system set up is just the first step. The real challenge is to sus-tain the process once it’s put in motion. Like so many programs we try to do on our own, things that are less pressing tend to get put on the back burner when

we get busy. Unfortunately, the very things that we put on the back burner when we get busy are the things that helped us become busy. Customer fol-low-up is a prime example of this.

You might consider outsourcing this task to a CRM specialist. Fortunately, there are companies that will do all of the work for you. Since their only focus is managing your customer reten-tion and follow-up program, you don’t have to worry about it being moved to the back burner… your back burner is their front burner. They also have great techniques for getting your existing customers to refer their FRAP to you.

CustomerLink is one of the spon-sors of our Playing to Win management seminars, and they provide custom-designed mail programs for the auto-motive service industry. I used their services in my shops and I was very pleased with the results. While ATRA doesn’t recommend or endorse spe-cific companies, be sure to include CustomerLink in your list of consid-erations if you decide to look into out-sourcing your customer retention and

follow-up system.• Tell me, and I’ll remember it for a

minute.§Radio§Face-to-Face or Word-of-

Mouth• Show me, and I’ll remember it for

a while.§Print§Direct Mail§TV

• Involve me, and I’ll remember it for a lifetime.§Put something in their hands.§Send them thank you cards,

service reminders, and greet-ing cards.

§Give them a gift they’ll keep.

If you’d like more information about the Playing to Win management seminar or have questions or comments on anything related to business man-agement or marketing, you can contact me by email at thom@atra.com, or by phone at 480-883-6404.