Garage’s Strategy to Work Less Hours Pays Off

Date: Thursday 04 July 2024

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Court Autos, a family-run Bosch garage in Shropshire, has revealed how changing its approach to the work it attracts through its website, has ultimately changed the garage’s whole mindset and the way it does business.

Harry Alford, along with his brother and sister who also work in the business, are the third generation of Alfords to be at the helm after their grandad opened the doors nearly 40 years ago.

He says prior to getting a website that ‘actually works’, the team were often starting their day at 4am or working late into the evening because they didn’t want to let customers down.

He explained: “To continue grandad’s legacy, I knew we had to really push the business forward. Marketing was something we’d never invested in, apart from an old website years ago. It looked okay on the surface but might as well have been in another world; nobody could find it.

“I found Garage Services Online and that one phone call about a new website sparked a change that not only reduced the number of hours we work, it changed our whole way of thinking.

“Now, we have a clever website that attracts the work we specifically want. By changing the profile of jobs coming in, we’re running the business; it is not running us.”

Whilst the garage offers servicing and repairs, accident recovery and vehicle sales, Harry really wanted to grow its bodyshop services. His asked the Garage Services Online team to create a website that would drive growth for the bodyshop side, as well as be found for its regular most profitable everyday jobs.

Harry continued: “It wasn’t long before the website caught us the biggest fish: a £12k repair job for a motorhome that had been in a collision. We’d never had a job that big.

“It signalled the start of the change. Just last week, we picked up ongoing servicing and repair work for a local company’s van fleet. We 100 percent would not have been on their radar if we didn’t have a website that reflected the professionalism of our business online as it is on the ground.

“Basically, Garage Services Online has done us the most massive favour.”

Jim Lang, managing director at Garage Services Online, said: “Court Autos’ website has seen a 63 percent increase in organic appearances on Google in the last six months alone. That has led to an 89 percent increase in organic click throughs.

“But the work doesn’t stop there. We’re continuing to help Harry by adding more pages to attract work that gives a quick ROI on his investment in new tools. These tools are necessary to work on the changing car parc and it’s vital the website evolves and reflects that.”

To find out how a website can change your garage business, click here.

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