GSO Achieving ‘Black Belt’ Standard of Service

• Garage owner says industry website specialist helps drive business in right direction

Billy West, owner of Beacon Hill Garage in Hindhead, Surrey, has spoken about how simply changing the way customers find his garage online, has impacted everything from how often the phone rings, to seeing more Aston Martins on its ramps.

The garage, which specialises in the care of classic and historic cars, and the remapping and tuning of performance cars, is also the now the garage of choice for the owners of brands such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, and JLR.

He said: “Initially, I went to Garage Services Online for a new website for all the usual reasons; I wanted more work, for customers to be able to contact us online, and for people to get the same impression of the garage online as they do on the ground. But what I got was so much more.

“The work and perfect profile of customer it attracts has put me in control to push the business in the right direction. For example, we wanted more Aston Martin work and we’re seeing more of that than ever before. It’s easily doubled.”

Whilst West was unsure about what the website build process would entail, he found the ‘delve into the unknown’ to be easy and quick.

He continued: “Overall, I’d say the Garage Services Online team is a black belt at what they do, both in terms of customer service and what they deliver online for garages.

“The process could have been daunting, but Susie, the client services manager, held our hand and actually made it fun. I’d say she’s a black belt in banter too!”

Since the garage’s new website went live, Beacon Hill has seen a big increase in bookings via its Techman garage management system, which works in conjunction with the website.

“Every morning, we come in to at least 10 enquiry forms which have been submitted by customers during the evening, more after a weekend. We also get a lot of electronic enquiries during opening hours too. It seems people can’t always call during the day so it’s great we can give them a choice of contact method.

“It really helps us too because we’re all more productive when the phone isn’t constantly ringing with enquiries that aren’t right for our garage,” continued West.

“We’re attracting the right customers with high value vehicles, so the website is paying for itself 30-fold. It’s a no-brainer to have it.

“Apart from that, for the price of an hour’s labour each month, why wouldn’t you just get a website subscription with Garage Services Online anyway?”