By Mr. Retail
As I talk to my colleagues in the industry, the topic of adding additional categories to their business will often come up. And it’s typically followed by the concern, “ I know nothing about ceramic coatings, window tint, etc, so how can I add it to my business and be successful?”
It is a very good question. So let’s talk through some real world success stories.
I have a friend that caters to lots of high-end clients. He knew that they were buying window tint and paint protection film from other shops, but he was an audio guy. Still, he began looking for high quality companies that he could hire as subcontractors to perform this work.
Would he make as much money subcontracting as he would doing the work himself? No. But he could he start with almost zero outlay in cash and resources. And the end result? After doing this for years, he is often the first call a client makes to get these categories installed. And guess what? They also get pitched on audio, dash cameras, radar, and whatever else this person does in-house. So, a win-win partnership has formed. He has zero staffing issues or insurance concerns as the subcontractor is responsible for all of that.
My story was very similar for ceramic paint coatings. We had moved our window tinting department from a subcontractor to in-house a few years earlier and had added paint protection film in-house by having our film techs cross-trained. But we were not experts in coatings. So, I found a person that knew coatings well and I partnered with them. They still have their own business and also subcontract to me.
What did I bring to the table? The opportunity for this person to have a reasonably priced place to do coatings on my premise. And what was the end-result for me? We will often see a vehicle come straight to us from a dealership. It will get paint correction, paint protection film, a ceramic coating, and window tinting. Since we can do all of this in-house, it increases the likelihood of us closing the sale. And these tickets are often $4-6k in revenue to us while not affecting our 12V bay at all. And of course we pitch these folks on all of our electronics and accessories while they are here.
It all started for us in the year 2000 when we started tinting. What used to be a category that did around $50k per year in business is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. It moved from a category designed to get us more floor traffic to a draw line after we moved it in-house. So if you asked me if it was worth it, I would emphatically say yes. I would go look for partnerships. Now.
About Mr Retail
Mr Retail offers opinions and information on car audio retailing for CEoutlook. He wishes to remain anonymous. He has owned a retail store in this country for over 20 years now. Mr Retail loves what he does and loves the 12 volt industry and is happy to share his hard won expertise.
Photo: Lucent Auto Work
