Sell Value and Not Price

Starting and running a mobile oil change business for six years taught me how to become a good salesmen. I had to learn quickly how to interact with people, build rapport, win their trust and close the deal.

I had to learn how to motivate myself to make cold calls, follow up, schedule meetings with fleet managers and figure out hot selling points that would push them to buy into our service.

Unless you are already good friends with a fleet managers of a gigantic company then you will have to do the exact same thing.

But, you must not fall into the trap that I did and many others do as well: selling on price.

Your job is not to beat Sears, Midas, Wal-Mart or Jiffy Lube. They simply have prices that you cannot compete with. They do not make any money off oil changes (even though they buy all their oil and filters in bulk) and are not trying to.

Their sole focus is to get customers in with cheap oil change prices and then sell them on more profitable additional services. The actual oil change would be what is referred to as a loss leader.

The assumption is that if you get a customer in for a $19.99 oil change you will be able to push him or her belts, transmission flushes, light bulb replacements, windshield wipers, tire rotations, breaks and so forth. How many people actual walk out of a quick lube with a $19.99 bill? Very few. Most of the time its closer to $130.

I have a buddy who is the owner of a mobile auto glass company and he tells me that his industry is no different. Many of his competitors offer "free windshield chip repair" so that they can eventually talk the customer into replacing his or her whole window for $250.

What's more is that every quick lube is doing mass volume. A Jiffy Lube on a bad day services 60 vehicles. The typical owner-operated mobile oil change van cannot come near that number.

So, you can understand why we cannot sell on price! We will always loose to the bigger guys who can offer our same service at much cheaper prices because they not only get items in bulk but they make up for slim margins by doing a large amount of volume.

Does that mean we are doomed? Do we even stand a chance? Should I just pack my bags and get a 9-5 job?

Absolutely not! You just have to change your outlook on who you are and what you provide.

You are a premium service that caters to fleets or high end individuals who value their time and want things done as seamless as possible.

Your company offers value and convenience and those two things cost more money.

Why try to beat those bigger companies on price. Not only will they surely beat you but you will not make any money. And, isn't that why we are in this business?

When talking to potential customers it is important that you talk about features and benefits. Tell them how your service will make their life easier.

Ask them what they are doing now and how they like it. Has a vehicle ever needed premature repairs because one of the employees failed to get the scheduled maintained taken care of.

Is it a royal pain to have a truck out of service for several oils to get work done it? Do they like the idea of having to pay an employee 1-2 hrs of company time to bring vehicles to the nearest quick lube?

You need to paint that mental picture to the fleet manager of him coming to work on Monday and knowing all his vehicles in the lot have been serviced and are ready to roll. Emphasize to him that once you put him on a quarterly schedule your company will come out like clockwork and make sure all the fleet cars and trucks taken care of.

Sell value, sell convenience, sell competence, sell yourself but do not sell on price.

Will they ask you about price? Yes, they will. But if the value isn't there then the price does not matter anyway.

If you have sold your service properly then charging 20-30% more than the bigger guys will not seem expensive. It will seem cheap.

Tell me that your service is personalized and tailored to meet the needs of each company you service. If something goes wrong then you will be out that day to fix it.

Have available your garage keepers insurance policy, your general liability insurance policy, your business license and references. This will make you look really legit and make it a no brainier for a fleet manager to do business with you. Put all these things in a professional binder so that you can flip to them with ease. He or she will not be expecting this and will knock their socks off.

Most people will have the impression that you are a "mickey mouse operation" doing business out of the back of an old beat up truck. That is the image they have in their mind. It was always my first goal to dispel that myth.

You may already do this but make sure you have a polo shirt with your company's logo clearly on it. Tuck your shirt in and wear a belt. Shave. Be clean cut. Do not look rough. Look business like. It might be a good idea to buy a little tool kit from Home Depot and wear it on the side of your belt. Image is everything. I know you work on cars but you do not want to show up as a greasy mechanic with dirty hands and oil all over your clothes.

Sell the image and the service. Tell them how your service will benefit them. Stay away from trying to win on price. That is foolish. That is like an American company trying to produce something that can be made 10x cheaper in China. In fact, many companies tried that and they failed.

Do not get sucked into offering $19.99 oil changes. You will barely make $6 an oil change and will be out of business before you know it.

Target fleets. They will provide you with your volume. There is not enough time in the day to go to ten different houses or parking lots and do ten different cars. You want to do multiple vehicles at one location.

There are people making over $100,000 in this business. I know one guy who is making close to $200,000 a year doing this so it is possible. Before I quit both me and my best friend John were each making $70,000 a year doing this so it is possible. But you will barely make $5,000 a year if you try to compete with Wal-Mart.