Know-How Exchange : Strategy

What region do you serve?
Who are your target customers? What types of cars do they drive?
When's your target season?
Do people simply ignore the problem if they're not aware of your service or do they go to a competitor?

Thank you for your response first off:

1) USA (typically midwest: Colorado, Dallas, etc)
2) Target customers: People who drive cars 10 year old and newer, with comprehensive insurance
3) season: April through October
4) People often ignore- I would estimate 10% of the target gets them repaired without any marketing awareness.

Why do people ignore it? 1) Is it not bothering people, and/or 2) They don't know it can be fixed, and/or 3) The cost for the repair isn't "worth it" to them?

Is your goal to convince comprehensive auto insurance owners that if they file a claim they pay little out-of-pocket/nothing to get their damage fixed and there's no risk of insurance premium change?

Do you have repair sites located in all the regions you're targeting? Or, are you getting a referral fee from auto body shops for sending clients to them?

I've never formally polled people why they often put off or never repair their vehicles, but from casual conversations with them and my sales staff over the years it's typically a blend of the following:
A) They don't have alot of money and the perception (improper one) of spending a deductible of $500-1000 to get their car fixed and waiting 1 week plus is too much of an inconvenience.
B) A large part of the population drives cars to and from work and views them as nothing more than transportation- nothing more. Comprehensive insurance is to protect them from collision in their mind- not loss of vehicle value or cosmetics. Hail damage isn't something that inhibits transportation- it's simply a cosmetic issue.
C) We travel to hail damaged areas (storm chasers). Sometimes we will occupy a leased space while other times operating out of a tent.

When people truly realize and believe
A) their insurance will not go up (hail is "an act of God" not negligence)
B) The repair is FREE to the client
C) Their vehicle value is often 20-40% lower with hail damage
they often opt for the repair.
BUT, many will not listen.
And to compound things insurance companies will send owners roughly 10-20% of the claim amount should customers initiate a claim and decide to keep it instead of connecting with paintless shops like ours or bodyshops. Insurance wants them to avoid fixing their car . They save money and have a better chance of denying future claims(less exposure for loss)

This is the challenge of the marketers in this space. Its quite an educational process and people can't be educated if they won't initially listen. The good news is almost the entire repair is profit (for us)- not bodyshops.

WE may offer referral fees from $250-500, and offer cash back "rebates" if there is enough profit and the customer is interested.

Another excellent response. Thank you. We normally do coop with related businesses such as detailers, car washes as well as roofing Companies who serve haildamages clients. The challenge currently is many of the former are shut down or running in a limited capacity due to Covid 19.
I think our most immediate challenge is verbiage to close people face to face.

Thanks Mod. I am looking into mailers and was directed to eddm.
Since the education process is somewhat lengthy a video is probably best
And yes education has something to do with it but the process isn’t common sense per se, and more industry centric.
Thanks again and if anyone else has ideas I’m always listening.
Good forum you have here !

Hi Everyone,

I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

Thanks for participating!

Shelley
MarketingProfs