Case Study: Find Your Ideal Customer

Why are you spending time and energy on someone that will have no impact on your bottom line?

For many shop owners, including J.J. Mont, this is a lesson that takes time. Many believe that all business is good business, and they want every customer that walks through the door. However, not all customers are created equal and there’s definitely such a thing as an ideal customer. For Mont, his ideal customer is the top 10 percent of income makers within a three-mile radius of his shop, J.J.’s Auto Service in Waldorf, Maryland. The customers that he wants are all focused on prioritizing safety and aren’t overly concerned about the price. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? It’s the dream situation. Mont learned that it didn’t have to just be a dream. Attracting that customer and making it 80 percent of his customer base could become a reality. Here’s how he did it. 

Backstory:

Mont opened his shop in January of 2020 with zero customers. Although he began making a name for himself and was doing well, the business wasn’t growing as he had hoped. In 2023, he was introduced to Todd Hayes at Autoshop Answers and the concept of key-to-key. Mont says after that, everything took off for him—including marketing to his ideal customer.  

Problem:

In the beginning, Mont tried to do everything himself. He rationalized that if he could figure out how to do it, why waste money?

For marketing, Mont had a budget of $500 per month for Google Ads. He was targeting anyone and there was no rhyme or reason behind it. Because of that, he’d often get customers that weren’t ideal or would take advantage of his free diagnostics and end up taking their vehicles somewhere cheaper. Not only was it frustrating, but it was taking time and resources without any benefits for the shop.

“I tried to own every part of the business,” Mont says. “I was doing bookkeeping, HR, payroll, advertising. The business wasn’t stagnant, but it wasn’t experiencing the growth that it should have if I got professionals to take it off my plate.”

Solution:

Mont’s meeting with Hayes opened his eyes to the fact that he needed assistance with certain areas of the business, such as marketing. He teamed up with Philip Tringali, owner of Echo Advertising, who uses Mont’s CRM to pinpoint his ideal customers and then markets directly to them (For tips on how to do this, check out "Unlocking Your CRM"). 

"We're way more targeted in marketing,” Mont says. “This is what Phil does, all he does is dial in.”

Tringali extracts all the information he needs from the CRM, including the customers that are spending the most as well as those that are coming in most frequently. Next, he identifies where they live so he can market directly toward them and send special offers to the most valued customers to keep them engaged. He also uses the CRM to generate Vehicles and Services Popularity Reports, which reveal the most popular vehicles and services at a particular time. From those, Tringali creates campaigns to cater to specific customers. For example, if brakes on Honda Accords come up as one of the most popular jobs, they can run a special on that to bring customers in.

“He can get the mailers in front of the right people, he can get the phones ringing,” Mont says.

However, it’s still up to Mont and his team to convert the caller and earn a customer for life. It’s a team effort, from start to finish.

Aftermath:

Initially, Mont’s marketing tactic of marketing to everyone added little to his bottom line. 
 “That’s not what you want to do,” Mont says.

He explains that since 2023, the shop has seen tremendous growth due to a combination of things, including delegating marketing to an outside source. When the shop opened, they were doing roughly $150,000 in sales per month. Now, the shop is on track to hit $5 million and had its best month to date in August with $502,000 per month.

With more targeted marketing and mailers that are sent to specific neighborhoods based on clusters of ideal customers that Tringali has helped to identify, it’s a winning combination with a more defined focus. The shop still helps everyone that comes in the door, but now he sees roughly 80 percent of his ideal customer. 

Takeaway:

For those who see themselves in Mont and try to wear all the hats, he advises shop owners to stay in their lane.

“It’s a crutch getting in the way,” Mont cautions.

Admitting you don’t know what you’re doing and letting someone else handle a portion of your business may seem like admitting defeat or a large expense in the beginning, but if you get someone who knows what they’re doing and is reputable, it can pay for itself tenfold.

“He’s a pro, I’m not. I can’t waste my time and energy with something that’s not in my lane. It’s about having the right people in the right place.”