Brian Bates, AAM  is the owner of three Eagle Automotive in the Southwest Denver area. He began his career in 1996 working as a technician in a local dealership.  Brian is an ASE L1 Master Technician. He earned a BA Degree in Business Management in 2000, and bought his 1st shop in 2004. Look for Brian’s other episodes https://remarkableresults.biz/?s=brian+bates (HERE).

Vinnie Lucido has had his hands in the automotive industry since 1996, starting in High school as a CSR at one of the last 76 Full-Service Gas stations in Reno. He found a passion for helping people through their most prized possessions, their automobile. Vinnie and his brother Anthony partnered together & opened CoAuto in 2014 and have been nothing but success in their new undertaking. Vinnie is ASE certified and has operated in every capacity of the automotive repair field. Throughout his career, he has been a customer service representative, a service writer, a technician, a manager and now an owner. Ultimately, he finds he is happiest when he is in communication with his clients and gets the opportunity to get to know his guests. Vinnie spends his time building relationships and networking and in turn, the shop continues to grow. Listen to Vinnie’s previous episodes https://remarkableresults.biz/?s=%22vinnie+lucido%22 (HERE).

Jeff  Rudnick has been involved in the Automotive Industry since 1993. He spent 9 years as a Manufacturer’s Representative selling Automotive Parts and Accessories to clients in the Pacific Northwest. During that time, he worked directly with dozens of Manufacturers and Importers of Parts and Accessories to find distribution across all levels of the Automotive Industry.

Jeff founded The Rudnick Group in 2002 calling directly on Automotive Repair Facilities to serve their marketing needs. Initially, The Rudnick Group focused on Reminder Mailers utilizing CustomerLink’s services; this relationship continued until CustomerLink sold to Intuit. Quickly, The Rudnick Group added Brand Development, Website Design and Management, Web Marketing Services and a comprehensive Direct Mail offering. The Rudnick Group became Pit Crew Marketing in 2006 when eWardMe Auto Shop Rewards was launched.

Jeff is an avid skier, backpacker, mountain biker and traveler. Jeff’s home base is currently The Big Island of Hawaii just outside Hilo.

Key Talking Points:

A client loyalty program will not fix broken systems, processes and a weak selling system

What is the end game? What are you trying to do?

Recruiting

Retention

Bring in declined work

Community fundraising

Rewards to drive down the cost of repair

Many clients are loyal. These programs wrap your arms around them.

Find every competitive edge to build a relationship with your client

What is loyalty?

People who trust you and you trust them

Ideas from this episode:

Christmas cards to ‘best’ clients.

Best is relevant to your situation

Christmas poem is created with a staff picture with ‘cash’ coupons

Vinnie sent out $160,000 in Co-Auto Cash. Good toward labor only

Different version every year to see how long they’ve collected

Co-Auto works with:

Military

Hippies

Art

Education

Women

He partners with a restaurant for $20gift cards for a referral program

Veterans car giveaway each year. For Vinnie and his brother, it is about how it makes them feel rather than the publicity he receives

A rewards program does not replace doing quality work. Don’t include a loyalty program if you don’t have great processes and system that are producing quality repairs.

We are hyperlocal businesses and you need to consider that your rewards program can have a flair of supporting the local community

Talking about your charitable programs must be talked about at the counter

People do business with people

Design your program to make a real connection

Data collection on your loyalty program is...