Part of being a business owner is knowing your customer’s wants and needs. If you don’t offer the services they want, it’s simple, they won’t come to you. Customers often come to body repair shops for either collision repair, painting services, or specialized body repair. When in competition with other local body shops, you need to consider the ways you can stand out from them. The only way to do this is to know what your customers are looking for in the first place. Our article this week will be on what customers look for in a body shop.

One of the most common things customers take into account when looking for a good body shop is what it looks like from the outside and inside. Customers aren’t going to want to store their vehicle at a facility that has a bunch of trash and unusable vehicles out front. Location is a factor in the facility too. Customers aren’t going to want to have to travel into a dark back alley to access your shop. You should also have easy access to parking.

The inside of your shop must be clean as well. Some shops even go as far as to have their shops professionally cleaned once per week. Even if you can’t fit professional cleaning into your shop’s budget, at least create a cleaning schedule for each day. It is especially important to keep your bathroom clean. Customers also look for amenities such as free coffee and a clean place for their children to play. Having a coffee maker with fresh coffee and a few toys for kids can leave a great first impression.

Modern-day customers will often look to the internet before physically going to a location. This is why it is so important to have a good internet presence. Usually, the easiest way to do this is to have a website professionally made. Online reviews are important as well. Reviews can be seen by potential customers on your Google Business page as well as Yelp and Facebook. Businesses need to be conscientious about responding to both positive and negative reviews. Always keep in mind that responses are visible to the public and some of them could be potential customers.

Customers also appreciate communication and transparency. New customers are more likely to sign on with a shop that can keep them up to date on progress with email alerts and text reminders. There are several new programs out that can actually automate these messages for you. Signing up for them can save you time in the future.

66% of customers always assume they are getting ripped off when going to any auto repair facility. You can eliminate this assumption by being transparent in pricing and estimates. Take an interest in the customer’s car and make sure you are estimating the cost of everything that needs to be done. While doing the estimate, you can also make note of anything else that you notice that can be repaired in the future. Customers may consider this an act of good faith and might come back in the future to have the other things you have pointed out repaired.