Like cars, and like doing something with your hands? Tired of working an office job? One of the places where a lot of small entrepreneurs are carving niches for themselves is in the auto body work field. One of the hot beds of this is Detroit, and Detroit auto body shops are a thriving business, largely because of the ability to get spare parts, and because more people in Detroit are holding onto cars until they literally stop running.

You should know that when you start a business, you are going to need a plan. The business plan will cover things like where you're going to start as well as where the money is going to come from eventually. The Detroit auto body shop won't start moving unless you make those hypothetical gears turn.

Where is the market for this?

Detroit is highly populated. Many of the people there tend to drive, and that's where you will come in. You will need to deploy your Detroit auto body shop in an area where there tends to be lots of traffic, because residents there will always be in need of repair.

In the area of business, you must always choose the proper location. Even in a city that needs an auto body shop won't have much use for one that it cannot seem to find. Fortunately you'll be able to find several different commercial properties for sale. These are normally placed fairly well, so you'll be able to attract a good amount of traffic.

Outreach

Once you're set up, you need to do outreach. Your business will survive or die based on how much traffic (literal, in this case) you get. Your quality of work is one of the major areas that will build business down the road in the future, through word of mouth sales, and customer referrals, and is the fundamental skill you're selling.

After that, comes marketing (making sure that people are generally aware of your business) and sales (getting specific customers into the shop for specific services). Marketing can be handled by television and radio ads, as well as bill boards, web sites, and flyers. Watch your marketing budget carefully; most people who go to an auto body shop, regardless of where it is, do so because they've been referred to by a friend, or because yours was the first one they saw.

Another form of outreach is to insurance carriers. Getting insurance companies to refer your business to their auto insurance clients is critical; it's often the first word-of-mouth advertising you get. It's also important that the job be done at a high quality level to keep those referrals going. Most insurance carriers will ask you to fill out extra paper work in addition to the usual invoicing or billing, and while nobody likes paperwork, it's hard to stay in business without that regular supply of insurance company traffic in this field.

Supplies

The best part about running Detroit auto body shops is that they can obtain the parts for American cars fairly cheap. Probably cheaper than anywhere else in the world. You will additionally be able to get parts from the Original Equipment Manufacturer, which makes for even cheaper parts. Making sure you have a decent line of supplies is a big part of running a Detroit auto body shop.

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Article Submitted By: Parker Herring
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