- CLEANLINESS IS CREDIBILITY:
All of these shops are clean and brightly lit. The dirty, disorganized shed-shops I've seen in town are not doing well at all. I think it scares off business. Many people think of their cars and other belongings as something they want to keep like new. A dirty or messy shop just looks unprofessoinal. Clean looking personnel are important too. I dont want to leave my car with a guy who looks like a street racing gangster or a disgusting dirty hillbilly or a burned-out on-the-job-chain-smoker. A mechanic should be appear to be a trustworthy craftsman, since the vehicle is an essential part of family life and safety. Uniforms (even matching shirts) help. Sure there are some people who dont care if a shop is dirty, but nobody's going to get turned OFF by a clean shop.
CERTIFICATION IS CREDIBILITY:
Successful shops around here all deal in products from well known vendors and have various credentials like ASE certs and Tire-Rack approved installer status. They are endorsed by association with credible brands.
A NICHE IS GOOD
Specializing is not just picking something you'd prefer to do over anything else. It means either providing a service that nobody else provides, or investing in the resources required to do something noticeably better than the competition does it. This can mean getting a superior alignment rack, equipment for building bottom ends, a TIG welder, shot peener, vacuum former, a dyno... etc...or just having a unique and rare skill.
WORD OF MOUTH IN THE RACING COMMUNITY
Not the street racing community...the sanctioned road-race, autox, cirlcle track and drag racing communities. Tapping this market is instant customer exposure. Going to events is advertisement and trust-building. Your local racers are serial gearheads, and everyone they know asks them about where to get work done on their cars. Trading service for advertising is the simplest way to market.
SECURE, INVITING LOCATOINS
Hardly any of the successful shops have convenient locations, but they are all in areas of town that are not crime-prone. A defined, accessible customer area is common to all the successful operations in austin, while the not-so-good ones almost look like private closed garages.
NOT CHEAP
None of the successful shops I know of are cheap. They range from reasonable to expensive, but not cheap.
