PMM hears how one garage is reaping the rewards after turning to Garage Services Online to get them visible on the web.
Gateshead-based Team Valley Service & MOT Centre, the largest independent garage in the North East, has announced larger than expected interim growth figures to August 2021. The company, which specialises in providing an alternative to more expensive main dealers for vehicle repairs, servicing and maintenance, has seen turnover increase by £125k in just eight months. Owner, Marvin Campbell attributes the unprecedented growth to its new website launch.
He said: “As a leading independent garage, we’re continually looking at ways to invest in and grow the business whilst making our customers’ experience as easy as possible. This also means making it foolproof for them to find us online.
“It’s estimated that 70 per cent of UK motorists would rather use an independent garage than a main dealer, and given the best way to reach those customers is online, we knew we had to overhaul our website and make it really work for us. It’s safe to say it’s certainly done that. Business is snowballing.”
The figures
Within weeks of the new website being built and launched by motor sector specialist Garage Services Online, Team Valley Service & MOT Centre was seeing real results. The garage was getting three leads a day directly from the website – and converting 70% of them into sales.
Marvin continued: “The figures are there in black and white, we can’t believe it. In direct website bookings alone, we’re now doing over £1k a week. Then there are all the calls it generates and those new customers recommend us too. We knew the website would be a good investment but this has been beyond what we expected. I’ve had to take on three extra staff and invest in two more ramps.
“Appointing Garage Services Online to design, build and manage the website has proved to be a game changer for us. There’s always a leap of faith with these things but from the outset I knew we’d got the right team on board. Their customer service, knowledge and realistic pricing mirrors our own company ethos and handing the whole thing over to them was easy. The time commitment at our end was only about an hour; they’re professional and slick so this was a big tick from me.
“Making the investment wasn’t a hard decision. There were no upfront costs and the site only had to generate a car service a month to pay for itself. It’s blown that into orbit already and there’s other cost savings too. The amount we used to spend on advertising alone has reduced by 60%. That in itself has covered the website cost 20 times over.”
Jim Lang, managing director of Garage Services Online said: “We’ve been creating websites for the independent garage sector for over 10 years, and the best thing about the job is seeing the real difference they can make to businesses like Team Valley Service & MOT Centre.
“These are their interim results; we can’t wait to see them after a year!”
About the company
Garage Services Online has been creating top performing websites specifically for independent garages for over 10 years. The team understands the independent garage sector and what makes Google tick, delivering bespoke websites that are consistently found on page one of Google searches.
The company doesn’t just help independent garages compete with the main dealers by getting them alongside all the big names, the team can fine tune the telephone and online enquiries a garage will receive to the specific motor services, and repair work it wants to attract the most. As this is usually the most profitable work, it’s easy to see how the hundreds of websites the company has built over the years have helped independent garages not just to grow, but grow smartly.
Why use Garage Services online?
Every website built to date has had a proven quick return on investment. Each bespoke garage website only needs to bring in an extra car service per month to pay for itself – but customers report they bring in much more. Commonly, within around four months of a new website launch, the garage’s enquiries will increase tenfold and 70% of those enquiries will be converted into sales because the customer is already invested in what’s on offer.
What’s really different about Garage Services Online is that it makes what can be a complex and expensive process, straight-forward, easy and completely affordable. It provides independent garage businesses with limited budgets, a clear, cost-effective route to a top performing website with no upfront costs. And the only time investment on the garage’s part is around one hour from start to finish. Overall, the team will get a garage’s website designed, written, built, tested and live in as little as four weeks.
Getting a new website or an existing website upgrade from Garage Services Online is probably one of the savviest investments an independent garage can make.
