Use Customer Segmentation To Boost Shop Profit

What’s better than getting rewarded for doing something you normally do? Like those coffee shops that offer frequent-buyer-discounts. Anyone who lives or works locally gets a small percentage off each drink order. This simple strategy to reward loyalty costs little upfront and encourages repeat business that more than makes up for the discount. Loyalty programs work for any type of business, even heavy-duty repair shops. You just have to understand customer segmentation. For instance, you’ll divide customers and pricing into different groups. Then, you give the best prices to customers who commit to having you do routine maintenance and those who have you work on their entire fleet. Offering new customers a shot at your loyalty program with the chance to pay wholesale heavy duty parts pricing can encourage repeat jobs and boost profits. Let’s talk a little more about why customer segmentation makes sense and how to do it.

Wholesale Heavy Duty Parts Pricing for Repeat Customers is Affordable—and Smart

It’s a lot cheaper to do business with customers who bring you all their work. That’s why it’s logical to charge brand-new customers who have no history with your shop a higher mark-up.

Let’s say a new customer you’ve never dealt with brings in a class 8 truck. You have no idea at all where that truck has been and who serviced it in the past. In fact, there could be several problems with the vehicle, including parts on the verge of breaking. It’s even possible that something unforeseen will go wrong when you pop the hood to do your job. It’s also possible that you could be blamed for it, too, even if it would have happened whether you did the work or not. Alternatively, if your techs are the only ones who work on a fleet of trucks, then you know those vehicles almost as well as the owners do. It’s a relationship built on history and mutual trust, and that makes everything easier.

Mapping Out Customer Segmentation Criteria

You can’t just jump into customer segmentation without a plan. After all, you don’t want to label your customers without a clear policy in place. Here’s a suggestion on dividing up your customer-base:

*Retail heavy duty parts pricing—This category applies to customers who have no history with your shop. They’re walk-ins whom you’ve never seen before and might never see again. That’s why it makes sense to offer them full retail pricing.

*Wholesale heavy duty parts pricing—This category of customers are the ones who have you track their maintenance and repairs. They pre-authorize you to do the work necessary to proactively maintain their truck or trucks. The consistent business you can count on from them will pay for the discount they get and then some, making it more than worth it to give them wholesale heavy duty parts pricing.

*Fleet heavy duty parts pricing—These are the customers who don’t just pre-authorize work, but also prepay you to perform predictive maintenance and preemptive repairs on their fleets. You get to determine how many trucks define a fleet. Also, you and the customer will agree on a monthly, flat-rate fee to perform agreed-upon services. This monthly fee should be lower than the retail pricing and lower than the wholesale heavy duty parts pricing, too. Just be sure to have a clearly written contract that details everything, and that both you and the client sign it and keep copies.

The above breakdown is just an example. There are actually a handful of different segmenting models you could use.  Different customer criteria might make more sense for different shops. Whatever works best for you is how you should structure your customer segmentation. The most important detail is that you stay consistent in your loyalty program.

Get Help With a Customer Segmentation Tool

Looking for an easy way to keep track of your different customer levels, and price them accordingly? Fullbay just launched an easy-to-use customer segmentation tool that will help you do just that. The best part is, you can see the tool in action for yourself. Just fill in the form below to get a complimentary Fullbay demo.