Let’s say you have a strong mobile oil change business and you want to make sure you keep track of your customers and prevent them from migrating to competitors offering low-cost coupons or fixed site locations with low-cost deals. What is the best way to do this? Well, not long ago, I was asked by a successful oil change and mobile truck repair entrepreneur if “there is a program that helps to keep track of customers and know when to send out a repeat business flyer / postcard.” The answer turns out; is yes and this is a very good question. Let’s talk, shall we?
Yes, there are several “small business contact management software packages”, in fact, just search for that phrase, better yet, now there are apps that do the same, store everything in the cloud and do almost everything for you, businesses. of inexpensive services, they are generally quite good. Also, if you do a mobile oil change, there are several companies in the industry that will do it for you, sometimes the companies that sell you the oil will give you such software, others are suppliers to the industry, and often at trade shows. , but if you don’t ‘If you have time to go to one, subscribe to NOLN – National Oil and Lube News; You can find them online because these contact software companies advertise with them.
There are also databases for the car detailing business and especially nice and sophisticated car wash systems. Subscribe to Professional Carwashing magazine; also online. These are all great places to find the tools to keep track of customers.
Now, what about integrating this data with financial spreadsheets to forecast and prepare financial statements and taxes? This was the next important question from the entrepreneur; “What kind of financial programs are there besides Quickin Books? I’ve used it in the past and I think there might be a better one that I don’t know about. What did you use?”
Personally, I really like Quicken and QuickBooks, they are easy to work with and all CPAs can use this information to help you. However, there are Quicken “partners” that are industry specific, which makes it really nice to do spreadsheets, projections, forms and forecasts, also building good results and balance sheets, and other miscellaneous. business financial documents. It’s nice to be fully connected, with a database system that includes everything, including end-user information; Of course, security is very important for any platform as you can NEVER allow yourself to be hacked or a laptop with personal information stolen. customer information, right? Think about this and the continued success of your mobile oil change business.