marketing your radiator shop

Starting Your Radiator Repair Shop Booklet

The equipment you will need is a hydraulic lift and test tank, after that most of it is hand tools and torches, some of the tools you will need are, medium size torch # 4 Propane tip, hot power washer, bench grinder with wire wheel, a exhaust fan placed at the very top of the ceiling ( not the wall ), a compressor with at least 5 hp and a 50 gal tank, and a medium sized rosebud torch.

How to get your accounts to buy from you, not your local parts house

There is nothing more irritating than spending 2 or 3 hours working on a radiator and having it turn bad, then having the customer not buy a new one from you after all the work you put into the old one, the method I have learned over twenty years is simple, (time is money), if its inconvenient for your customer to hunt down a radiator on there own at a local part house or salvage yard, then you will get the sale, follow these steps and it will make it more convenient to buy from you, if you get a customers radiator in the morning and you determine its bad or try to repair it and it turns bad never call them right then, if you do they will have all day to find a part on there own locally, always wait till 3 in the afternoon, call the warehouse before to check price and availability, call at 3 and give the explanation of why they need a new one and that you can have it tomorrow if they let you know in the next 15 minutes because the shipping deadline is at 3:30, this will leave them with no time to call all over town trying to get a better price or find a used one, if they don't go for it they really cant afford it or they have plenty of time on the job, also never tell someone there radiator is bad when they first walk in, let them leave it, take there name and number and tell them you will check it out and call after doing so, the purpose of this is not to deceive but to assure them your going to at least look and try to fix it, also if they go and buy a new one somewhere else al least you will get the old parts for free.

How to stay out of trouble with the city state and EPA

Paint booths are something I would never buy, I recommend making a paint booth out of ¾ in plywood and after a year of use, take it somewhere burning is allowed and burn it, this will prevent accumulations of paint anywhere in a shop, also boil out tanks as explained in the equipment not to buy section is not needed and full of bad chemicals that are caustic, A exhaust fan can also help keep officials from having a reason to fine you, if you have a large exhaust fan flush with the top of the ceiling the fumes or smoke will never be into you breathing area,

How to buy radiator cores, completes, plastic tanks and supplies at the Lowest possible price from warehouses that is closest to you

This part is about how to identify the thing about a particular warehouse that is there strength; almost always you will find several warehouses within 250 miles of you, that usually works out to be a day away for shipping, the warehouses are really hurting for your business and will jump through all kinds hoops to keep you happy, so get familiar with there products and shipping time and employees, doing so will help you to get the best of what they offer, this is a example of how to use both warehouses to your benefit, you need a price on a core or really anything, call one and get there price, don't look it up and trust there price list because its changes by the time the ink dries and most work off a hot sheet, so call one warehouse ask the price and availability, call the other and say you called the other and there price was x amount what's yours and after a couple times of that they will always just give you the lowest price they can or always ask if the price is from the hot sheet for the month, just to let them know your looking for a better price, also there is usually a difference in the experience of the people at each warehouse so take names of someone that sends the wrong part more than once or twice a year and don't talk to them, I had a warehouse that gave me great service for more than 10 years but there was a employee there who sent me the wrong part half the time, when I called I always asked for anyone but him, in fact in he answered the phone I would say I want to talk to anyone but you ( I wasn't his favorite person either ha ha ), delivery service is another huge factor, get to know how flexible each warehouse is, one of the warehouses I bought from the manager would drop it by FedEx on they way home at night if I called after ups picked up, these little things are the difference between getting the sale because you know which warehouse to call at 5 o'clock and still get it the next day, the best way to find local warehouses is the yellow pages or call any of the suppliers on the list I provide and ask for there local branch.

How to Beat the Competition

More than likely at some point you will have some form of competition, either another radiator shop, warehouse or auto part house, the things I learned over 20 years have giving me a edge of everyone around me, the first things I always recommend to a new radiator shop is to call all the competition to determine the charges for repairs, what kind of repairs they offer and to see if there prices are fixed from a price list that are non negotiable, with most repair competition your edge will be what you can fix or rebuild that he cannot, example is some shops still don't rebuild plastic radiators if that's the case with one of your competitors find out, and when your handing out cards to auto repair shops, body shops ect. and some mentions they send there work there, start talking about how you specialize in plastic radiator rebuilding, you will get both plastic and metal radiator from them the first time the other guy tries to sell them a new radiator instead of repairing it just because its plastic, as mentioned if your competitor has fixed pricing on new radiators and cores just call them and get a price on 2 or 3 items and figure there actual cost is about the same as yours, calculate to figure there percentage markup, you will always be able to know how to quote 5 dollars under what they will, on repair pricing you can get more if they need service, a example its Friday afternoon and someone brings in a plastic radiator you have a tank for, I always charged more on Friday most shops have a cutoff time, I never did and rarely said no I just raised the price the more difficult the request, if there not concerned about how long it will take and there all about the price, then low ball them with a patch job with no guarantee, if that doesn't get them to stay there real cheapos and more than likely you don't want them.

How to Market your Radiator Shop

Radiator shop marketing is basically two categories free and pay, the only pay advertising I have ever found to be cost effective is yellow page advertising, never let them talk you into a big ad, I have never found a big ¼ page add to do any better than the smallest ad, either way yellow page advertising works, I just suggesting to be as cheap as possible, absolutely argue to the last penny with them, because every year there back wanting more, the newspaper can work to announce a new shop for maybe a month and you will probably break even on the ad but get life long customers and accounts, the best advertising is ( free ), everyone you have walk into your shop or everyone you solicit ask them for there fax number or email address to let them know about your monthly specials and once a month send out something to them, faxing is free at least within your area code and email is free, you will need software to do this but once its setup its easy to maintain, I would suggest calling everyone in the yellow pages under these categories and letting them know of your services and getting the fax or email,
Auto repair shops, body shops, fleet services, diesel truck shops and dealers, farming tractor dealer and repair shop, mobile mechanics, and insurance companies that work through the local body shops, you will get work from other areas but these are where I concentrated most of my efforts, other free sources are the local TV stations and newspapers will sometimes come out and do a special interest story about your service to the community.