Ep 114 - Turnkey Marketing Call #1 | The $84,000 Mistake Hiding in Your Shop

Keep shop management, payments, marketing (all the things) all in one place with Tekmetric. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Click HEREASTA is coming up September 24-26 in Raleigh. Be there or be square, dog! Register now and use code confess25 for $25.00 off your registration. Sign up HERETurnkey Marketing has made my life SOOO much simpler, AND they've helped keep the phone ringing. Do you need these two things too? Learn more HERETired of your shop’s social media looking like every other repair shop on the internet? Stand out with 47 Consulting. Learn more HEREWhen I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Learn now HERE Mike Allen sits down with Carrie-Lynn Rodenberg of Turnkey Marketing to kick off a new monthly series that lets listeners sit in on the marketing side of running Mike's shops. They break down marketing budgets, customer acquisition, direct mail, attribution, branding, customer retention, phone performance, and why simply making the phone ring means nothing if the shop can’t convert the opportunity. Carrie-Lynn also uncovers a painful number at Mike’s flagship store: hundreds of first-time callers but only a fraction turning into customers, potentially representing tens of thousands of dollars in missed revenue. Along the way, Mike admits he may be Turnkey’s worst client, explains why shutting marketing off when you’re busy can come back to haunt you months later, and learns that sometimes the marketing isn’t broken — the operation is.Timestamps: 00:00 Seven Years Since Turnkey First Visited Carfix 00:41 Mike Used to Sleep at the Shop 03:15 Meet Carrie-Lynn Rodenberg and Turnkey Marketing 05:24 Mike Buys Marketing Tools… Then Forgets to Use Them 07:05 How Mike Started Working With Turnkey 08:57 Mike Tried Doing His Own Marketing — Then Came Back 09:07 Why We’re Recording Mike’s Marketing Calls 11:21 The Hidden Cost of Bad Marketing 13:25 Sniper Marketing vs. Spray and Pray 13:41 Carrie-Lynn Went From Doing Everything to Building a Team 14:44 Mike’s 115-Episode Long Con 😂 15:51 Stop Making Your Marketing About Yourself 17:28 Why Most Small-Business Marketing Becomes White Noise 20:14 Your Competition Is Better Than You Think 21:36 How a Business Responds When Things Go Wrong 23:07 Every Shop Says They Have Great Service 23:53 How Do You Actually Stand Out? 26:24 Why Direct Mail Takes Time to Work 28:50 Every Shop Has Blind Spots 29:33 Want to Ruin Mike’s Day? Listen to His Phone Calls 30:12 Did Your Marketing Actually Make the Phone Ring? 30:59 Why Marketing Attribution Is So Difficult 32:27 The Creepy Side of Modern Targeted Marketing 34:29 Can You Target Technicians at a Competitor’s Shop? 36:12 What Turnkey’s Marketing Onboarding Looks Like 37:26 SEO, AI Search and Building the Right Marketing Mix 40:04 Bad Marketing Can Cost You Technicians Too 40:24 Mike Confesses He Might Be Turnkey’s Worst Client 42:34 Carrie-Lynn Finds a Painful Number 43:41 What Should Your Call Conversion Rate Be? 44:25 229 New Callers… Only 56 New Cars 44:55 Mike Explains Where Carfix Dropped the Ball 46:16 How Service Advisors Say “No” Without Saying No 47:06 More Staffing Means More Opportunity to Say Yes 49:54 Did Carfix Leave $84K on the Table? 50:24 The Marketing Worked — Carfix Didn’t Convert It 50:49 Why You Shouldn’t Turn Marketing Off When You’re Busy 51:23 Today’s Marketing Decisions Affect Your Slow Season 52:47 The Cheapest Customer Is the One You Already Have 53:16 Why Customer Retention Matters So Much 54:18 Why Shops Should Prebook the Next Appointment 54:54 Convenience May Be Your Biggest Competitive Advantage 55:21 You Might Be Paying to Market Your Competition 56:20 A $100 Lead Could Become a $32,000 Lost Customer 57:33 What This New Monthly Marketing Series Will Look Like 58:51 Mike Finally Promises New Pictures