a post on another thread got me to thinking of what areas of work you have tried to expand into.

i have done a little of everything, but i'm wondering if overdiversification is a problem.

at one time everybody was talking about doing remote starts, and car stereo, there are already people in town that do that, and anything with more than two wires would sink me.

we already do some tinting, shower doors, replacement windows, just wondering if anybody has come up with anything else?

i have heard of a place that does tires, and another that does mufflers and the like. i have a tire store next door, he is trying to expand the mechanical end, because he says tires are so competitive, that tires don't make much money. sounds like the w/s business.

radiators usually goes well with auto glass

i have a radiator shop that has started to tint windows. they have put 2 radiators in my van, i guess part of the radiator is plastic. they definitely did not win any points with me when the first one they put in didn't last much over a year. that was a couple years ago, i'm still waiting to hear if they are going to warranty anything, i would guess since i haven't heard from them, i probably won't be recieving any credit. lol.

that is interesting that people would do radiator work, i know years ago, paint used to go hand in hand will glass. funny how things change.

My husband has been in glass industry for 25 year's and he is getting good discounts on glass. business is doing okay just the insurance jobs seem to be a problem when I talk to lynx and scg they tell me to go directly to insurance companies we have gone that way and they say to go through the networks to get jobs finding it to be confusing thanx for your help

I hired a auto detailer (car cleaning) cost was around 3000. for equipment $ supplies

we are also expanding into etching, sandblasting thinking about locksmithing thanx for all your feed back

detailing is interesting, although i have several people here that do it. my population base is just big enough, that i don't have a lot of possiblities to expand into.

we have a really good detailer here that sends me work, he really knows some neat tricks.

is your detailing working out well, are you glad that you tried adding that?

we rekey cylinders here, it is only for our own purposes though.

we had an old retired locksmith try and talk us into doing more of that kind of work 20 years ago. maybe we should have listened to him, he sure had a wealth of experience.

yes it has worked out .A lot people detail their cars before putting them up for sale. spin off work can`t sell a car with damage w/s .

i'm glad that detailing is working out for you.

part of my problem is that we haven't really been advertising at all. most of what we get is probably word of mouth.

in the past i have spent a small fortune on advertising and just haven't seen any measureable results. i'm not to keen on the idea of hiring a saleman although it might be a necessary evil. i'm not one of those salesmen type people, and it kind of works to my detriment.

its kind of tough when you employees to be responsible for, trying to keep them busy in the winter and all.

I get my kids to go to the mall parking lot. We put air freshners with a business card stapled to them on all cars with broken w/s.This is very effective.

hey bc guy,

i might actually give that a try, i have heard horror stories of putting cards on cars where people come to the shop and say since you left your card, you must have broke it.

that air freshner is a new idea, thanks for the idea.

I think i might print up some air freshners.

cards by themselves get tossed .Make sure you get your company & logo on air freshner ,even if you don`t get a job you get free advertisig

I know advertising dollars are limited but what about those cardboard sun shades that people use to keep their steering wheels and seats from getting too hot? Put your logo and phone number in big letters on some of those and it would be like having a billboard in the mall/grocery store parking lot.

It's a great idea webmaster. We looked into that a few years ago, but found it to be too costly for our budget. If we could find a co willing to take it on, on a larger scale, maybe it could be cost effective?