Get Your Message Heard: Executing an Effective Marketing Plan Hastings MN

Creating and then executing an effective marketing plan isn't easy. Here are some tips to help you succeed in getting your message out...and avoid wasting too much of your hard-earned money.

By Michael Quinn
7/1/2007

So, you want to advertise your business. Increase your sales. Create more customer loyalty. You say you have a shop that needs to stay busy.

Then obviously you need a course in Marketing 101.

I’ve been commercially marketing our 911 Collision Centers to consumers for more than eight years now and wasted many dollars on ineffective mediums. My goal is to help you navigate these choppy waters so you don’t waste too much of your hard-earned money.

Marketing vs. Salesmanship
“Marketing” and “salesmanship” go hand in hand, but there’s an important distinction between the two. Marketing consists of any and all efforts to get the customer to your door; salesmanship is getting the customer to choose your shop.

Marketing will not automatically increase business. It may bring additional business to your door, but good sales training will be needed to close that business. I learned this the hard way many years ago by spending a fortune on advertising and gaining no additional work. You need to work with staff to qualify and capture the additional business that an effective marketing plan will bring to your door.

The ever-changing and competitive collision repair industry landscape demands tha...