Ep 121 - Marketing Call #2 | Are Your Advisors Accidentally Turning Customers Away?

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Mike Allen sits down with Carry-Lynn Rodenberg of Turnkey Marketing for Marketing Call #2, and this time they dig into what happens after your marketing actually works. Mike shares the numbers from his shops—including nearly 2,700 inbound callers in September, roughly 550 unanswered calls and a call-to-car conversion rate of only about 33%—and they talk about how much revenue can disappear when advisors accidentally repel customers. They also discuss handling negative Google reviews, why customer retention may be more important than buying more leads, ways to fill an empty schedule, and why overwhelming customers with massive estimates can sometimes hurt long-term relationships. Carry-Lynn also explains how Google and other AI tools are changing local search, why shops need to be prepared for AI-generated phone calls and why lazy AI use may eventually make every business sound exactly the same. The big question throughout the episode: Do you actually need more marketing—or do you need to stop wasting the customers you already have?

Timestamps:
00:00 – How Advisors Accidentally Push Customers Away
01:08 – Mistakes Happen—Your Response Matters
09:34 – Google Reviews & Rebuilding Reputation
11:48 – How to Respond to a Bad Review
13:37 – What Mike Learned From His Negative Reviews
15:46 – You Paid to Make the Phone Ring—Now Convert It
18:44 – Measuring Call-to-Car Conversion
20:48 – Mike Missed 550 Calls in One Month
23:46 – Google’s AI Is Calling Repair Shops
28:46 – “Be Nice to the Robot” 😂
30:42 – Could AI Capture 100 More Cars a Month?
32:50 – Is a Huge ARO Destroying Customer Retention?
34:49 – Only 24% of New Customers Came Back
39:59 – How to Win Back Lost Customers
43:16 – What to Do When Next Week’s Schedule Is Empty
48:01 – Easy Customers Already Sitting in Your Database
49:35 – Marketing Priorities for a Smaller Shop
53:34 – The Most Alarming Thing About AI Marketing
57:10 – Bad Marketing Decisions & AI Slop