Know-How Exchange : Strategy

You can gain a similar effect to endorsement by third party independent bodies by offering some form of guarantee about your work.

When you think about why people might take their vehicles to the "official" manufacturers branded service depot, which is probably aligned to the sales channel, it is simply because they are used to the notion that you take it back to where you bought it because they offered the promise to look after you when you bought the vehicle in the first place.

In fact branded outlets tend to model their business plan so their sales arm feeds their service arm, and often the service arm makes much more money.

Which makes them a soft target for a focussed operation lke yours. You are specialising in the service aspect, and if you use your buying power to drive down parts costs, and your size to promote high quality training and QA standards, you should be able to deliver a comparable or better product at similar or lower price.

The only question in a consumer's mind is FUD... Fear, uncertainty and doubt about whether you will be any good or not. So... offer a massive guarantee to remove the doubt (and risk) from the equation in the consumer's mind. E.g. confirm that if you stamp the service book instead of Valley Cadillac or whoever, the warranty on the new car will not be invalidated, and you guarantee that fact, as you guarantee all parts and labour for say three months, just like Valley Cadillac...

Sure, go for ISO 9001 or other independent recognition. Most consumers don't realise ISO 9001 doesn't mean you are particularly good, just that your systems and documentation mean you are consistent...

Hope this helps...

Chris

Hi roopapraveen,

To get some examples, you might try doing a search on these links:

https://www.asashop.org/takingthehill/

https://www.business.com/directory/automotive/reference/standards/

best of luck.

- Steve