You, as the owner, are the one who positions your detail business for bigger profits.
It is all a matter of looking at what is going on and taking specific actions based on what you see – ANTICIPATION.
The starting point is deciding with whom you want to be ranked as number one. You cannot be number one to everyone; you can be either something special to somebody or nothing special to everybody.
This all begins with customers and suppliers. Within each group, there are segments, clusters of people who can and do make a big difference in how much and what kind of detail business you are able to attain.
So, focus on the most important group first – your customers.
- Who are they?
- Where do they come from?
- Where do they tend to live?
- How close are they to your shop?
- If you’re a mobile operation, where do you tend to work?
- How old are they?
- Are they mostly one ethnic group or another?
- Are they mostly male or female?
- How did they hear about your detail business?
- Are there any other common denominators?
After answering these question then look for clusters of people with something in common. Be open-minded and be creative. You will be surprised at who the most important segments are. If you want to be right, do not guess, count it, track it.
Once you have defined the segments, look at how much business you get from each one. You will find that the vast majority of your business is coming from a small number of segments, maybe just one. If they are not obvious at first, keep looking until you find them. They are out there.
Once you have identified your key customers, find out what is important to them. You cannot shoot for an advantageous position until you know what scorecard your customers are using. Find out what they consider most important about having their vehicles detailed. Ask them, survey them, and have them complete a questionnaire. Boil things down to the top one, two, or three aspects. Concentrate on defining what is most important.
When you have completed these steps, you already have a jump on the majority of detail businesses in your area. You have identified the biggest sources of your profits ― your key customers.
