Find Your Ideal Customer

Meet Holly. 

Holly is 38 years old. She’s married to a dentist and together they have two kids (3 and 5 years old). Holly is a stay-at-home mom. Their household income is $120,000. 

Here’s the thing: Holly isn’t real. 

Well, in a sense, she is. Holly Symmes is Alan Symmes’ wife and the inspiration for the name of his ideal customer avatar. 

Symmes, the owner of Revolution Auto in Norwood, Mass., a German service speciality shop with an annual revenue of $1.25 million, average car count of 100 per month and ARO of $1100, named his avatar after his wife, since she pretty much met the description of his avatar. 

What is a customer avatar? It’s a mockup of your ideal target customer. Name the person or not, it’s important to have one. Why? 

“It allows you to operate your business in the way you need to in order to be profitable,” Symmes says. 

Symmes isn’t the only one who feels this way. 

Troy Kaplan, owner of TGK Automotive Specialists (12 locations in Minnesota), who projects $24 million for 2020 between all of his locations with 5,238 average ROs per month at an average of $350, didn’t always have a target customer, but, now he knows that quality is better than quantity. 

"We’ve done many things marketwise that bring in the coupon-shopper. They’re just coming in for a $19.99 oil change—they’re not looking for a commitment. You need to market to the right people,” Kaplan says.   

Kaplan and Symmes each have a target customer and are here to help take you on your journey to finding yours. They, along with Anne Lazo, CEO of Motorhead Advantage and Jennifer Filzen, owner of Rockstar Marketing, share a map for finding your very own “Holly.” Although she—or he—may not look the same as, follow these steps to find who to target.  

Start Here: Identify Your Target Customer  

“It’s about finding out initially who your target audience is and who you want to work with and then designing yourself to appeal to that customer,” Symmes says. 

Symmes knows exactly who his ideal customer is, and it helps to be married to her. 

Symmes didn’t always target such a specific demographic. Like many, he was a technician turned shop owner and, although he knew cars, he was unfamiliar with the business side. Symmes met Cecil Bullard, CEO of the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, and while sitting in on one of his training sessions, he had a lightbulb moment where he realized he needed to start thinking like a business owner, and part of that was the way he approached targeting customers. 

Rethink your approach.

Stop targeting the masses. Take a more purposeful approach to find the right fit for your shop. In 2017, Symmes started doing this and now has a very specific approach to the way he targets his customers and because of that, he’s been able to cut his marketing budget back from an average of 12 percent to 8 percent last year because the right customers were coming in and spreading the word themselves, saving him money through beneficial referrals. 

Visualize your ideal customer.

When Flizen speaks about target marketing, she has attendees close their eyes. She then asks them a series of questions to help zero in on their customer. She asks questions like:

•     Is this person male or female? 
•     What’s this person’s family life like?
•     Does this person have kids?
•     How old is this person? 
•     What’s this person’s income level?
•     What is his or her job?
•     What kind of car does this person drive? 

Then, she asks the audience to get a real picture of this ideal customer in their head. “Can you see this person?” she asks. Then, she has the audience open their eyes and she asks, “Is it me?” which always gets a laugh, she says, but it’s true. The majority of shops she works with target someone very similar to her demographic—a professional woman in her 40s.  

Kaplan is an example of this. His target customer is the same for all of his locations: a female age 30-45 within 3-5 miles of his location and a household income of roughly $80,000. Symmes’ customer avatar is also very similar, but it’s important to find who the best fit is for your shop. Luckily, the key to figuring out who your ideal customer is already right in front of you. 

Utilize your data.

Both Kaplan and Symmes looked through their customer database to find customers that were spending the most and coming in the most often. Then, they figured out similarities that those customers had and by doing that, were able to hone in on who their ideal customer was. 

Reach Your Target Customer 

Now that you know who you want, you need to figure out how to get them to want to come to your shop. Once your avatar is complete, it’s time to find where they are in order to get them to come to you. 

Find a mailing route.

The easiest and most direct approach to connecting with your customer is by finding out his or her physical mailing address and, luckily, that information is easy to obtain. 

Lazo says the post office is a great resource. On their website, you can select carrier routes and it will tell you the average age and medium income within that route, making it easy to target which mailing routes will actually reach your ideal customer. 

Figure out where they spend time.

Symmes has an insider track to what his ideal customer does since his wife is his ideal customer. He’s able to ask her questions about what social media outlets she uses and even takes business cards with them when he goes somewhere with her, since, chances are, they’re going to a place that customers that fit his profile will be at. 

 Although this is an advantage, you can easily find this information. Many of you already have one or two customers that are your dream customers, and, hopefully, you have a good relationship with them—so ask, says Filzen. If you want to know whether or not it’s worth your time to do a targeted Facebook ad, find out if your ideal customer is actually using Facebook.

Take advantage of resources.

Kaplan works with Upswell (formerly Mudlick Mail), who helped him zero in on what customers to target. Symmes also works with a company that tracks every person that visits his site and then makes banner ads for his shop, Revolution Auto, on other sites that he or she visits. Although working with companies is an investment, it really helps narrow in your focus and can help bring in the right customer that will stay with you, which can eventually cut down your total marketing spend, as was the case with Symmes.  

Bring Your Target Customer In  

Once you’ve identified who your customer is, you need to find a way to attract that customer by sending out the right marketing. For example, if your target customer is a muscle-car enthusiast, sending out flyers with happy families jumping into a minivan is not going to appeal to them. Figure out what they want to see and revamp your approach.  

Appeal to what matters to them.

Millennials, for example, love a good cause, Lazo says. This demographic likes to feel like they’re giving back, so advertising something that your shop does in the community is a way to appeal to their interests. Or, if you know that your target audience is animal lovers, partner with a local animal shelter, Lazo says. 

Think critically about visuals.

Not only does the message matter, but the way the message is presented makes a difference. Kaplan sends out 10,000 postcards for each location of his shop each month. The postcards typically feature the owner and operator of each location with their spouse on the postcard. This is done intentionally to give it a “family feel” and appeal to his target customer. Jumping back to the animal lover example that Lazo shared, a dog jumping out of a car could be a way to appeal to this demographic, a technique that Subaru often uses to appeal to its outdoorsy customers. 

Find a way to relate.

Many auto repair shops send out coupon upon coupon and think that’s the best way to get customers to come in, but the truth is, customers get sick of being sold to. Kaplan tries to appeal to his customers on a more human level by featuring his staff online. He does spotlights on people that work in the shop on his company’s Facebook page, which helps humanize the business and bring customers in. 

“People don’t want to read about what a transmission does, they want to relate to other humans,” Kaplan says. 

Finish: Win Your Target Customer For Life 

You’ve identified your ideal customer, you’ve appealed to him or her and you’ve gotten that person through the door. Now, it’s up to you to give them an experience so memorable and enjoyable that they keep coming back to you. 

“Once you figure out who your ideal customer is and where they hang out, it is your job to wow them with exceptional customer service,” Filzen says. “You can spend all of that money to get them to walk through the front door, but if you don’t answer the phone or welcome them and educate them, I don’t care how much money you spend, you won’t seal the deal.” 

Make it easy and convenient.

When Symmes hooks a “Holly,” he does everything he can to make sure his shop keeps her. From making sure the phone is answered by the fourth ring to pick-up and drop-off services to available appointments within 24-hours, Symmes makes the booking process as seamless as possible. 

Leave a lasting impression.

When a customer comes into the shop for the first time, Symmes offers a shop tour to help them feel comfortable in the facility. It’s also a way to keep the shop very clean, as the entire staff knows that customers will be judging based on how it looks. 

The aesthetics are very important, as well. Customers will not want to come back to a place where they didn’t feel comfortable waiting. Kaplan has comfortable chairs, as well as high top tables and chairs with power stations so people that want to work can comfortably do so, as well as a coffee bar with snacks and beverages.  

Keep it consistent.

With multiple locations, Kaplan needs to make sure that his customers have the same experience at every store, but even for shop owners that only have one location, it’s important that each visit is consistent. Kaplan makes sure to always vacuum the front of the car and leave gifts for customers (such as a car trash bag or coaster) and to text a digital inspection to his customers each and every time. These processes help turn the experience into a relationship, explains Kaplan.  

Follow through with promises.

The No. 1 way to keep customers is by following through, Symmes says. Customers, regardless of who they are, want to know what’s going on with their vehicles and want to be kept in the loop. You need to set expectations, Symmes says, so your target customer comes to know what to expect when he or she comes back. Symmes says his shop gives customers times that they will call and be updated by, for example, if a car is dropped off at 8 a.m., the customer will be contacted by 10 a.m., even if that communication is to let them know that there’s no update. For example, “Hey, Holly, it’s Alan. I just wanted to let you know that everything is on schedule, hope you’re having a great day.”