Question

Topic: Strategy

How To Attract Customers To A New Business?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/5/2004 at 12:37 PM ET 125 Points
Hi,

I am thinking about opening my own custom paint and body shop, I currently am a painter at a restoration shop and really want to open my own soon. I am presently looking for garage space to lease. My worry is that once I sign a lease that I won't be able to attract clients to the business.

Can anyone give me some advice to attract new clients to a paint shop that is new and not well known? The clients that I would want to attract would be anywhere from early 20's to 60's middle income to high income, car enthusiasts, I am looking for anything from adding custom graphic's to cars to all over restoration paint work on older antique vehicles.

I will not have a lot of money for marketing, I plan on building my marketing up as I get clients and working a certain percent of all my revenues to go towards marketing, but the first thing I will need to do is customers in the door.

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Henry
www.liquid-fx.com
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 6/5/2004 at 5:59 PM Accepted
    Jim's comment about getting referencable customers is one I strongly agree with.

    If your focus is on restoring cars (versus repairing body damage), you could also try to work the car shows. If you could get cars that were restored by you to display information about your company, that could help. Or you could leave fliers about your company's service on the windshields of the spectator's cars
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 6/6/2004 at 1:05 AM Accepted
    If you've done any really exceptional work, why not try to get one of the car mags to write an article about your unique approach with feature photographs showing the process and end result?
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 6/6/2004 at 10:30 AM Accepted
    I tell you what, Jim, Peter and Chris give some great DIY advice.

    However, I would be willing to do a service exchange. I will give you a plan and limited marketing advice...enough to get you moving in the right direction, in exchange for some custom paint. I have some Harley tanks, a guitar, and lots of other stuff. I have a lot of biker buddies, musicians and people who like to "pimp their rides" in my inner circle and immediate family. Of course, all of them have 100 friends that are into the same thing.

    Look at Jesse James. How many people do you think are shipping him entire vehicles and paying 10 times what they should just to get his flames put on their stuff?

    Anyway, I agree with The others that customer testomony and industry magazine/TV show exposure is the way to go.

    Drop me an email if you wnat to talk more! (click on my name)

    Good Luck!
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 6/6/2004 at 8:28 PM Accepted
    Henry,

    I love watching a Food Network tv show called "Good Eats." The host Alton Brown has lots of unique things in his kitchen -- one item I especially covet is his high-end blender that has a custom paint job on the chassis! Looks like flames you'd apply to your dragster, not to a kitchen appliance.

    If you want to do artistic work, get attention, and do some promotional (free) projects, you might consider dressing up some SMALL objects for the people in your life who keep the objects visible. For example, I'd LOVE it if you painted my company logo on the lid of my laptop and on my mouse! Or on my cell phone!

    The side benefit of this approach might be that you can start building a grass-roots base of customers before you have to lease a full-scale garage.

    Say the word, and I'll fed-ex my phone to you tomorrow! You're in Virginia, right?

    - Shelley in Houston
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