Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DoorRocket
In a few years, I will be finished with a double major in Business Administration for Finance and Marketing. I am still unsure of where I would like to go from there. There are some options that I am looking into and considering, this being one of them.
I am interested in the automotive industry. Cars intrigue me. Everything about them. The mechanics of everything to the design. I am interested in POSSIBLY opening up a performance shop. If I am going to do this, it's going to be well thought out, no half way doing it. No 99% thought out kinda thing, it will be 110% thought out. I'll have a location picked out that is "attractive", a building picked out, the finances figured out, the marketing done, ect...you get the point.
So, my question is, what advice can you give me? How did you start out? I would love to talk to someone about this. You can either shoot me a pm or post here. Thanks.
|
There are many ways I have seen such shops become successful, but you need to pick a specific aspect to focus on. Do you want to be an online retailer with maybe a small store-front? Do you want to be a shop that builds cars for customers? Do you want to focus on one type of vehicle or be an, "everything" shop? You can't just start out huge, you need to exploit a niche, then grow from there. Make a name for yourself. If you are going to be a retailer or focus on one market, you will want be heavily involved in that community, especially online. If you want to be a local place for various types of vehicles you want to be present at local meets, track days, etc. You need people to trust you with their cars, you want them to know YOU. A good way, if you are trying to attack a specific market as a shop, is to hire and/or work with a well known, trusted tuner.
Make friends with the trusted people in the market you're going after. You want people to refer their friends to you. Take special care of customers you know are involved in the community because they WILL be talking to other that they will refer to you or steer away. What I have found is that the retailers and shops I've dealt with that bend over backwards to please me, even if their products are slightly more expensive, are the ones that keep me as a customer.