As we know we are in a very competive industry .Whats the best advertising glass shop owners have used and worked.Please help.

Hire someone to go out and talk to bodyshops, dealerships, used car lots, fleets, repair shops and State Farm agents (forget the other ins. companies-they generally don't refer)-Forget newspapers, radio or TV-

Word Of Mouth....
Quality workmanship...
Fair Price....
Educate the customer....

Word of mouth

I do some "out of the box" advertising. Small newspapers - community things, Very inexpensive for the coverage you get, and it's very effective. Also, check out internet advertising, EVERYTHING seems to be going that way.

Make it a habit of putting a card on every damaged windsheld you see.

Hey selling glass email me i will show you a great program. Proven...

You can leave a card, but watch they dont say it wasnt broke before you put the card on it.
It's a sick world we live in.

The business card idea is a great one, but everytime I have ever brought it up I get the same response as above. I think that it has reached Urban Legend status at this point...everyone seems to know a guy who was sued this way. I say its their word against yours...even if someone ever took it to small claims it would be a long shot.

Think its an urban legend, come try it in my tri-state NY,NJ,CT area. There are lawyers here for everything.
Actually there's probably one keeping track of what I type.

i agree with fredo
it takes more than hard work to get ahead sometimes you gotta brown nose

Word of mouth takes alot of time but the most effective by far!

Thank for all the emails :) i will get back with everyone just got done with a good monday!

We have good luck with radio but the secret is how the ads are written.

I've considered a local radio station as advertising. Its not cheap, but their coverage area is awesome. They cover about half the state! As I said its not cheap, but then its not as expensive as a lot of the other radio stations either. Its a christian music station that is set up as a ministry...so it is listener funded. They also have business partners which receive on air ads in return for their donations.

There ya go AGN, your on the right track. We are in an area where people still use the pages,,, we have one of the best ads, and it doesn't cost us too bad. We've done radio, tv, but we find the more we can reach people directly the better they remember us. We do about 6 parades for ALL the local towns. we spend about 2k for the summer to do it but people know us! Tv, is getting to be a better buy than radio,, but alot of people still listen to the radio while driving,,, so we focus on weather wheels, cause we also rely on weather conditions. It started at about 1.75 per 15 sec ad and has gone up to 6 per ad so we dropped it. It's all about how long, how many, and the best bang for the buck,, and be a pit bull when it comes to your ad $$$$. Still comes down to ya get what ya pay for,, but we are now looking at a direct mailing where we can spend little time to educate the consumer of what to expect when they call in,( thinking it's their ins co, when in reality it is a network). I believe when the general public truely understands, the REAL choices, they will choose QUALITY. There's my 2 cents,,, good luck to ya

XXX, your mailer sounds like an awsome idea? Who are you going to pinpoint with this, Just the general public or what? That's a really interesting idea. There is a body shop here in town that does that on radio and he makes some really impressive points.

the problem with advertising is that you never know what works.

you have to be disciiplined and ask each and every customer and each and every phone call where or how they found you.

without that information, you will have no idea where to put the advertising dollars.

Ralph is right it's very important to ask your customers how or why they choose you, And Glass lady, we are trying to put together a flyer to educate the consumer. If you do this in a tri fold you can get alot of info in there. Like what to expect when they call in thinking they are talking to their ins co, and in reality may be talking to a tpa. Then give them the examples of how they steer. Then focus on quality, what makes for a quality installation, safety ect, and the diffence of your shop, and most importantly, who ever they choose to make sure it's THEIR choice. We are in a rural area but we will try to blanket about 20-30 miles of our shop. In a large metro you may have to target certain areas or stay closer to your shop. It's also a good idea to include something that keeps them from throwing it away, make it interesting and maybe a coupon, maybe a $10.00-$20.00 off on a chip repair or storm window repair, whatever, or some type of value to it. Then follow this up with a few ads, radio, tv of newspapers to keep them thinking about you. There's a few ideas,, good luck I think there was a thread about this a year ago or so, and a shop that did a real good job with this.

XXX, you couldn't be more right about asking the call where they heard about you. As soon as I find out the year, make & model and piece needed, I ALWAYS ask, my I ask where you heard about us? It's the very best way of telling where your calls are coming from!! They flyer sounds like a terrific idea!! Thanks for the info!

XXX, do you have to be careful about the wording of the direct mail when it comes to the educational aspect? With regard to enlightening the public about the networks did you consult an attorney to find out what you could and couldn't say, or were you just careful and used common sense? I'm afraid I'd insert in this case "PEN" instead of foot right into mouth and get the company in trouble, do more harm than good because we definetly could't afford a legal battle with the big boys. I'd find it hard come up with something that did not sound negative because like the reat of you we're tired of being raped, I know it's not all the networks, insurance is the driving force behind the price control. I suppose the trick is to get across the good points about your own company, more so than disparaging the competition (and I don't mean local competition), I mean one in particular I think we all know who I mean. They don't even have a shop within 60 miles of us, so they have stopped attempting to steer business from us. Or it could have been the signed letters from the insureds of one particular ins company that I sent to their corporate office's glass claims manager, who in turn made it clear to TPA that their insureds would be choosing their own PROVIDERS.

Good reply there Hawk! Always, Always, Always COVER YOUR FANNY!!!!

Hawk, yes you have to be careful, consulting an attorney isn't a bad idea if in doubt. All we do is explain what a tpa is, a third party who administers glass claims. we do not mention names, and we combat what they tell the consumer,,,,"xyz shop is not a prefered shop.( actually we are prefered my most all of our customers), we won't warrantee work,(our warrantee is ------ and when we were on their network, they didn't give the warrantee, we did), and if you choose a shop that charges more you will have out of pocket expenses,,( we do not charge more than what their ins co is obligated to pay)." so on and so forth, if you word things right it should not be a legal matter, but we do work for more than 1 attorney, so if we have any concerns we would run it by them. Main thing is ,, stick to the facts, don't mislead, don't use names other than yours! Spend less time on negatives, more time on safety, quality, and why they should choose you. By doing so you are not stepping on any toes, therefore should not be a legal matter, whatsoever!