Community Involvement and Rewards

By David Prange

Getting involved with the community where your business is located is cheap advertising. It also allows your neighbors to get to know you and your employees’ better, building comfort and trust. This will make it easier to get first timers to drive in and existing customers to feel better about the relationship they have with you. When you support them, they tend to support you. One way is to give educational talks.

I think everyone should have a PowerPoint presentation available that takes about 30 minutes to show. It can be about the “green” impact you have by recycling and controlling hazardous wastes through proper disposal. Getting better mileage from their vehicles is always a plus, and who doesn’t want to learn how to prevent costly repairs and extend their vehicles’ life? Preventative maintenance is a helpful and powerful message that may lead many to try you out next time. Tell them things they can do between visits. Offer coupons and other incentives to test you.

So what groups should you target? Many groups are hungry for guest speakers to help fill their meetings and inform their members and attendees. Civic groups like Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, etc. are good starts. Branch out to your fleet customers; their employees may have cars that aren’t part of the program. Show it to your local media outlets. Who knows, they may like you so much you could become an automotive expert for them on a regular basis.

Another good group is schools. Super-Lube, a Tallahassee-based chain of lube centers in Florida, teaches one full day of driver’s education once a semester for each Leon County High School. They teach basic car maintenance. What a great way to get the word out to the next generation of customers. This relationship also has lead to a loyalty card program that rewards everyone.

Tom Chambasian, Aimann Hafez and their company have created the Super Rewards Program. This rewards program benefits schools throughout Florida. The program is simple and there is no cost to the school board. They provide Super Rewards cards for the school or organization — PTA and athletic booster clubs, for example. The organization distributes the cards to its students or parents. When the card is presented for any type of service performed at a Super-Lube, the customer is rewarded with an 8 percent discount off of their service. The rewards card can be used over and over.

The generosity doesn’t stop there, either. In addition, Super-Lube will provide the school or organization a check for 7 percent of the total dollars the parents or students spent each quarter. This adds up. For example, Leon County Schools just received a check for approximately $1,400.

What do you do in your community to build goodwill and good business? And remember — you are a part of many communities. Your industry is a community that needs your involvement too. The Automotive Oil Change Association represents everyone in our business with training, certifications, technical updates, marketing ideas, networking, government affairs and many other benefits too numerous to mention. Are you a member? Get involved with one of the many committees; we need your expertise and time. Not a member? Call me and I will help you get a free taste of the benefits membership provides.

DAVID PRANGE is with ITW/QMI, suppliers of Full Throttle and Heartland products to the fast lube industry. He is available for training on a wide variety of topics and can be reached at 800.378.7891 or: daveprange@aol.com