05 Apr 11 Are “Old School” Sales & Marketing Techniques Dinosaurs?
Sometime about 10 years ago the car business reached a fork in the road. The industry was challenged by a newly (or soon to be) informed and empowered customer base. From that point forward sellers have been challenged with a choice: hang on to those old school sales and advertising methods or join the ranks of the next generation dealers who rely on a “more sophisticated” method… a kinder, gentler car business.
This option is still facing thousands of dealers who’ve yet to “choose a side”… but time and distance have now created the opportunity to look back and ask, “Are those ‘old school’ techniques really out of date?”
In an effort to simplify (but at the risk of generalizing), now let’s check out some of the elements of the “old school” method:
• Higher-pressure selling environment
• Dealer-controlled selling method
• Less price/margin transparency
• Emphasis on front-end revenues
• More dependent on traditional advertising like print, radio, television or direct mail
• “Hook” based marketing post
• Customer’s vehicle choice inspired by profit potential and bank advance
• Bigger push for substantial down payment
• Pre-qualification moved toward front of sales process
• Sales are made in person, on the spot, on the lot
Now let’s take a glance at the “more sophisticated” new way of doing things:
• Low-pressure selling environment
• Customer restricted buying process
• Completely transparent pricing and profit margin
• Emphasis on earning money in the long term and willingness to forgo immediate profit
• Focus on quick turn, high volume
• Less dependent on traditional advertising
• Price-based promoting messages
• Customer’s car choice uninfluenced
• Little or no pre-qualification
• Sales method exists in large part in email, on the web, on the phone
So which is better? Which do you believe we think is better?
Of course, there’s no right answer. At last dealers should always decide to do the business in the same way that which they feel most comfortable… and find to be the most effective way.
However, we strongly recommend in contrast to flatly rejecting either “old school” or “new school” techniques and instead cheer dealers to become independent thinkers and operators who are eager to take the best and most effective elements of any approach and use it in their trade.
The real risk is in the vast assumptions that have been developed about the “new economy” and the “new consumer.” There is a sense in the business that all of the customers are very well informed customers who will demand very less price and reject any form of the pressure. These assumptions are simply not true.
In reality, To be frank customers still have the similar lizard mindsets which they had a decade ago. And as clever as it would be if the Internet could speed up the pace of evolution, it can’t and it hasn’t. Individuals still have desires, which are fulfilled by owning a nicer, newer car. They still have anxieties or doubts, which prevent them from entering the buyer’s circle. An effective dealer’s job is to leverage the desires and overcome the doubts.
The thought that consumers in 2010 are data-driven drones who make only purely logical decisions is false and will harm this business. You would be wise to reject that notion and prevent it from damaging your business.
Tactics vs. Intent
Nowadays generalizations are made about dealers who use specific tactics. For instance, we’ve heard dealers who think themselves part of this newer generation accuse other dealers who continue to make extremely high front-end profit making use of “old school” tactics of being somehow unethical.
The broad philosophical question: Is making a profit unethical?
That’s for you to decide. But for the purposes of this article, let’s assume we all agree that making a profit is ethical. This is, after all, the car business… not the car basis.
In fact, Dealers provide the valuable services to the public by the means of finding, sourcing and arranging for the transportation of vehicles to their location, inventorying those vehicles so that customers can browse multiple options, helping customers find and arrange for financing of their chosen vehicle, providing the opportunity to service the vehicles, etc.
Atleast for that the services dealers deserve a profit. (As an aside, nobody questions or criticizes grocery stores, or clothing stores, or electronics stores for making a profit. Why should making a profit at a car store be any different?) How much profit is the right profit? As much profit as the market will bear, one customer at a time.
That aside, the question becomes: Is the use of “old school” tactics wrong?
We submit that the tactics used are far less important than the intent of the dealer using them. A dealer whose mission is to help as many people as possible satisfy their emotional desires by helping them own a nicer, newer car is not a bad person. Can we agree on that?
Then it should generally follow that whatever tactics are utilized to make a sale, as long as the tactics are not dishonest, regardless of “old school” or “new school”, are good and reasonable. And a dealer should find and execute any and all tactics that help secures purchase that they feel comfortable with.
“Old School” Plus “New School”
Makes the Most “Profitable School” In The Industry
In our view, “old school” tactics are wrongly demonized and cast beside by an increasingly contemporary-minded industry simply because they’re old.
Additionally, “new school” tricks are refused by the dealers who are not willing to embrace the new technology, simply because they’re new.
But such polarity doesn’t need to exist. This isn’t Washington! What good do partisan-style, ideological, intra-industry politics do for a dealer? None. The certainty is the best approach is a hybrid approach.
“New School” Dealers should realize:
• The Internet has not reinvented the car business. It is a platform to be used and leveraged, not a savior.
• There’s much more to Internet marketing than just listing vehicles and prices (in fact, that may be the most horrible thing you can do). People are now just looking for the information online leaving beyond just prices.
• Traditional marketing still works and limiting your marketing to the Internet is a dangerous proposition. You’re simply leaving money on the table if you ignore traditional media.
• While more informed, Clients are also emotionally obsessed as ever.
• Lowest price is not the only, or best option (it’s simply the convenient option, chosen by lazy and unimaginative marketers…that’s a topic for a different article).
• Making a profit is not wrong… even in 2010.
• While earning a profit long term is important, your business will grow faster and better if you can also turn a profit immediately. The larger profit you make on the front, the more you can make investments to acquire new customers. The more you invest to acquire new consumers, the bigger and faster you grow.
• Dealers offer a valuable service, and should strive to provide that service to as many people as possible.
• It is completely possible to sell a decent volume and make a decent profit. High margin doesn’t directly equate to lower volume.
• Applying pressure for a customer to make a buying decision is not wrong or evil. In fact many customers are desperate for someone to help them finalize their decision, and a little nudge from the people is all they need.
• As of this writing, people still buy cars in person. We don’t see customers entering in their credit card online and having their car delivered by UPS. Until that becomes the norm, the car business is still a brick and mortar business.
“Old School” Dealers should realize:
• You’re being talked about on the Internet whether you like it or not. You can join and direct the talk or you can be a victim of the conversation that occurs without you.
• More and more customers on a daily basis are turning to the Internet for information. If you’re not there, you will be unseen to those people.
• Making money in a short span of time is important. But long-term profit and the lifetime value of a customer are at least equally as important.
• Because of the proliferation of information, many buyers will know more about your vehicles than you do. Now you will need to go beyond features, and start talking about all other benefits and helping the buyers to realize how his car will make a difference to feel good.
In the final research, the most successful and stable dealers are those who provide high value in exchange for high profit and utilize all the tools and techniques available to them, regardless of age, to accomplish that. Like the dealer who has a video blog AND a radio campaign, or uses a trade hook AND an opt-in form. Old and new are not mutually exclusive and should coexist for best results at your dealership.
Jimmy Vee & Travis Miller are the authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers and founders of the Rich Dealers Institute. They help dealers double their profits in as little as 118 days. Receive a free copy of their special report & video presentation, The New Rules of Automotive Marketing by visiting http://www.RichDealers.com
04 Nov 10 One Thing That You Can Do To Generate Free Publicity And Quality Leads
I’m sure that you’re going to reject the auto marketing strategy which I am going to tell you… but I’m going to tell you nonetheless because IT WORKS.
In fact, this is one little thing you can do that will instantly give your business the power to draw quality clientele that pay more, stay for a longer time and refer repeatedly.
And like we said, you’ll probably reject it …AT FIRST, but once we break this down into manageable pieces (and in plain English); you’ll be chomping at the bit to get started.
Yet before I let you in on this powerful marketing secret, let me just say this:
If you are feeling the effects of tightening wallets, scarce credit and the fear based economic recession then you know you need more horsepower than ever before to convince somebody to release their iron fist and spend money at your store.
We have talked in the past about the significance of confidence and value. We’ve discussed the change that’s occurring in consumer confidence and spending habits.
These dynamics are not becoming better, unfortunately. In fact, they have gotten worse. So what that means is if you’re a dealer trying to get by with a little marketing or even sloppy marketing… or not tracking your marketing efficiency all together, you are really in trouble.
The good news is that you don’t need to stay in this type of trouble forever. You could swing the dynamics of this new economy back in your favor. And what I’m about to tell you would help you do just that.
So what’s it? What is this magic thing that would be able to instantly give your business a swift kick in the proverbial pants and have you attracting many more clientele than you’ve ever gotten even in the good times?
Write a book.
Seriously… write a book.
I am gonna give you a minute to either 1) stop laughing or 2) stop huffing and puffing and spouting off all the reasons why that will never work for you. As a matter of fact, some of the excuses going through your head likely sound a bit like, “I can barely write my name,” or “I don’t have anything to say” or “Who is going to read it”…or better yet…. “I don’t have time to write a book! I have a BUSINESS to run”.
But that’s all nonsense and I’m going to give you a proven blue print to pump out a book targeted to your ideal customer which would automatically position you as an expert in your field this very year.
As you might know we published our first book, Gravitational Marketing; The Science of Attracting Clientele in March of 2008. When we wrote that book we did not do it the traditional way (we do not do anything the traditional way). When we wrote our book we were on a national seminar tour putting on 2-day seminars across the country. When did we have time to write a book?
Well we didn’t but we found time and we have done it for several of our VIP clients since.
Here’s how we did it…and how you can too:
1. Sit down and make an outline of the ten chief questions or concerns your clientele have when purchasing and financing a car.
2. Find somebody to ask you those questions in an interview style setting. Answer the questions as if you were speaking to a client on the lot. Explain in plain English and answer the questions making use of examples and stories. Record the interview.
3. Send the video recording to a transcription company who would transcribe it for you and gives it back to you as text.
4. Find a local newspaper writer or editor and hire them to edit the transcript into more flowing prose.
5. Find a graphic designer to create a cover and layout the inside. Put your picture on the front of the book.
6. Send the book to 48HrBooks.com and have copies made. You could do small runs and still get them under $4 a piece.
Writing a book positions you as a leading expert and authority in the market. It elevates you over all your rivals, reduces buyer anxiety and distrust and speeds up the sales procedure.
A book even opens many doors in terms of local media exposure and free promotion opportunities for your dealership.
Writing a book with our method takes a bit of work upfront but it’s something which pays dividends for the life of your career.
So what are you waiting for? It is time to begin!
Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller are the nation’s leading experts on attracting customers and the co-authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers. Get important automotive advertising tips for FREE by requesting their FREE video training called The New Rules Of Automotive Marketing created especially for Car Dealers and Managers by visiting http://www.RichDealers.com
25 Aug 10 3 Nascar Marketing Secrets That Will Turbo Charge Your Success This Year – Part 1
NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There’s a lot you will be able to find out about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, revenue exploding techniques of this racing giant.
You have probably heard of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. They’re all pretty famous NASCAR stars. But a name you may not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a guy that knows lots about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, “the” guy.
Mike is a specialist in motorsports marketing, and as head of Millsport Motorsports he has helped NASCAR see record growth in popularity and sponsorship. Now Mike is chief marketing officer and senior VP of Petty Enterprises.
In a recent interview, Mike divulged some of the techniques to NASCAR’s Marketing Success. We’ve since taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to fit the car business. We are now serving them to you on a silver platter so you would be able to utilize them in your own dealership this year.
So print this out, grab a highlighter or a pen and put on your thinking cap because you are about to go for wild ride.
NASCAR Understands the Power of a Celebrity Endorsement
In building their own monster brand, one of NASCAR’s main strategies was to make use of celebrities and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of prospective fans that usually will overlook the sport and reached out to them making use of a popular celebrity from film, television, music, sports, etc.
You see, nothing gets attention like celebs… Definitely NOTHING. Whilst NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, several dealers in this country don’t.
The goal of advertising is to get your prospect’s attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebs, why not make use of it?
Demographics do not matter either. Rich investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they are all attracted to celebs. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Much like effective marketing is about reaching several individuals and a lot more importantly reaching them many times, celebrities have a huge amount of reach as their job is to be noticed and be heard.
One more motive why celebrities are influential marketing weapons is centered on the power of association. Individuals relate you to those they see you with. If you are hanging out with celebs then you have to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clients and puts you in a positive light. And naturally potential clients would enjoy aligning themselves with you also, as they too want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, consumers are more probable to refer business to the “cool” dealer who hangs out with celebs over the guy they have never heard of. Bear in mind, boring is safe, but it gets you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your potential buyers would be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this doesn’t pertain to you? Think you can’t use superstars in your marketing because you can’t pay for Dan Marino? Well think again.
There is actually a few low-cost ways you could begin featuring celebrities in your marketing right away.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope utilizing images of 3 renowned celebs your target audience would resonate with… let us say, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey and YOU! You can use the headline, “What Do Barack, Tiger, Oprah and Mr. Dealer Have In Common.” Next to your image you would put your name and “owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town.” BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that is getting opened.
Or you can use your marketing dollars to buy a celebrity for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course most A-listers might be out of your price scale but there is always somebody affordable who resonates with your target market. Older celebrities who are no longer in their hay-day or little known celebs like popular contestants on reality TV shows can normally be employed for surprisingly little.
Also bear in mind that the recession influences everybody. Even celebrities jump at the possibility to make some extra cash. More usually than not it’s our impression of celebs and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star mystique which keep dealers from leveraging this super charger of a promoting resource.
You could find contact info on virtually any celeb in a book by Jordan McAuley called the Celebrity Black Book available on Amazon.com or contact our office directly for celebrity agent recommendations.
Jimmy Vee & Travis Miller are the authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers and founders of the Rich Dealers Institute. They help dealers double their profits in as little as 118 days. Receive a free copy of their special report & video presentation, The New Rules of Automotive Marketing by visiting http://www.RichDealers.com/special
21 May 10 How You Will Be Among The 20% Of Automotive Dealerships Who Survive The Current Economic ‘Crisis’
For many dealerships, times are tough. The leads have slowed down, the obstacles of financing should qualify as an Olympic sport and advertising just doesn’t work like it used to.
And the truth is that a lot of dealers are going under. There’s going to be a lot of casualties after this one….your store included.
OR perhaps not.
This current financial ‘crisis’ might really be your best blessing as a small business owner.
Sounds crazy, but here’s the deal.
Several dealers are going out of business. No doubt. It’s already happening. Your job is to be sure it’s somebody else’s business going beneath… not yours. And there are terribly real ways to do this, if you’re really serious about being among the 20% of dealers who can outlive the storm.
I’m going to give you some cold, hard statistics and strategies to assist you in just a moment, but let me begin by saying that if you don’t have the correct systems or processes in place, work them out now. If you have personality conflicts, deal with them today. If you don’t have a system for staying in touch with past customers and unconverted leads, get one.
If you don’t have a crystal clear answer to the question, “Why should someone choose me over different dealers?” figure it out this weekend. If you don’t have a predictable way to get new clients into the door, at will, now is the time to do something about it. If you have floor plan issues or problems with your lenders, it’s better to sort it out this month than next.
Why?
It all comes back to the eternal 80/20 rule, also referred to as the Pareto Principle.
If you’re not acquainted with the Pareto Principle, this rule dictates that 20% of dealerships naturally get 80% of the business. In different words, the 20% of dealers who will survive this present economic storm will do so because they make Sixteen times as much as those in the 80%.
And because of this ability to earn additional capital, when the market does come back (which it invariably does), they’ll be bigger and better than ever, readily positioned to eat up new shares of the auto market.
That might mean a lot more dealers go out of business once more-but it won’t have an effect on you if you’re among the 20%.
So what can you do to make sure your dealership rapidly and effortlessly ends up among the 20% if you’re already in, or teetering towards the 80% class?
Well here’s what dealers in the 20% group do, and what you’ll need to try to to if you plan to survive:
1. They’re sharpening their axe to make sure the dealership runs smoothly…
2. They’re going through further lengths to make sure the staff is well trained…
3. They’re getting a hard hold on the marketing engine that will drive their business over the following few years…
And most significantly, they won’t panic or talk themselves into defeat. They know folks can still purchase cars. Simply not as many. They also know there’s going to be less deals to go around and that they’ll do what it takes to secure that business.
Now, what happens if things get real bad, and unemployment rises to 15% or more? Well if you’re in the 80%, you’ll be forced to lay off and you won’t have the required support workers to run your store.
BUT, if you’re in the 20%, 15% unemployment rates mean you’ll have the choose of the litter of who you would like to work at your store. It means you’ll have the cash to lay off your deadbeats and riff-raff and be in a position to replace them with skilled, professional, hard working people immediately.
So high unemployment rates can be a good thing…if you’re in the right group.
The 20% group will see these hard times as an chance.
Smart folks (those in the 20%) know that now, and the months ahead are prime time to invest in stock, real estate, human capital, marketing, inventory — and they’ll be the ones who really rake it in when the market comes back.
Therefore where will you fall as it relates to the 80/20 rule?
Here’s something else that we know for sure…
1. 80% of the people reading this can create only 20% of the results they need to be successful (harsh, but true)…
2. However 20% of the dealers reading will create 80% or more of the results they have to make it…and make it big!
A small proportion of the dealers reading this right now are prepared to make marvelous progresses in the coming months, whereas the rest are destined to mediocrity.
Now here’s where things get really serious. The 80/20 rule repeats itself, infinitely. Meaning the top 20% splits itself into eighty/twenty. Thus there’s the top 4%.
Then it happens again. 20% of the top 20% of the top 20% — the top 0.8%. That’s where you really need to be. If we didn’t already challenge you enough to be in the top 20…if you REALLY need to come out ahead, try to become a top 0.8% person.
Let’s take a closer look at the .8% person:
Each call is carefully made by a 0.8% person because it’s far more valuable than a call made by an 80% person.
A 0.8% person is aware of how to focus and narrow their labors on those things which are truly crucial. Even though he might have a list of forty three things to do, he’ll hone in on the three or four that are more important than all the others combined. But the 80% folks treat all items like they’re the same, or worse, work on the forty less crucial tasks before they tackle the three or four that basically matter! They have no sense of priority and hence they “busy work” themselves out of survival.
The 0.8% person carefully discriminates what info he will allow into his mind…what he reads, listens to, or watches on TV… who he surrounds himself with. The 80% folks are “open minded” and “tolerant” to just about any person or any idea.
The 0.8% people belongs to some kind of mastermind or “good ol’ boys” club. This can be the type of group that can support, hold up, and go the additional mile for its members. And most of the 0.8% folks pay BIG money to be in these clubs! Yet again, unlike the 80% who would see it as a waste, they realize the value and that some of the most brilliant men of all time, (i.e. Carnegie, Henry Ford, Ben Franklin) all participated in the same.
The 0.8% person is perfectly resistant to disapproval from others…doesn’t care what most folks think… is not affected by pessimism on the news, from neighbors or family members. He realizes that the mass of people is almost always pathetically wrong. The 80% folks…well, they’re the masses.
So, friend, what’s it gonna be for you? 80%, 20%, 4%, 0.8%? Your actions now will ultimately determine your fate of your future. So choose the winning team and get started down the road to success-even in these tough financial times!
Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller are the nation’s leading experts on attracting customers and the co-authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers. Get important Auto Motive Advertising tips for FREE by requesting their FREE video training called The New Rules Of Automotive Marketing created especially for Car Dealers and Managers by visiting www.RichDealers.com
21 Apr 10 Two Automotive Marketing Untruths—Avoid These And Sell A Tons Of Cars Fast – Part 1
Times are changing and so is that the effectiveness of your marketing dollars… that is most likely why you’re reading this article right now.
What used to bring in clients to your car dealership no longer works. And the recommendation you’re obtaining from the self proclaimed “gurus” who are really just vendors hocking next the subsequent mail sale or automotive technology gimmick all appears to contradict itself.
Not to say, you’re probably being fed one among 2 huge lies concerning what you can expect and therefore the sort of results you must experience when promoting your automotive dealers during this “new economy”.
Thus before these lies perpetuate any further, let’s jump right in to the current article to line the record straight once and for all.
Myth #1: You Can’t Expect Results Overnight
If you can’t expect results overnight, how can you expect to remain in business?
Admittedly, there’s one sort of selling that can not turn out results overnight-and that’s building a rock solid brand like Coke or Pepsi where customers want only see the logo to feel inspired to buy.
In fact building a lasting and competitive brand image to that magnitude takes a heap time and a TON of money. Neither of which you probably have at your disposal right now.
However before you hang your head in sorrow because you don’t have precious time or resources to waste on long-term branding campaigns, there is hope for you in another type of advertising that’s rarely known (or understood) in the automobile industry.
That kind of advertising is hardcore, retail-oriented, direct-response, lead-generating, low-value, instructional based automotive marketing…and that will most certainly get you results over night.
In fact, that’s the whole purpose of direct response marketing. It conjures up prospects to take IMMEDIATE action to call/ visit your automotive dealership. Again, notice I said immediate action, because this is often not one thing you have got to attend months or maybe years to work out results.
If your system is sound, your ads are positioned properly and your marketing uncovers the emotions of your customers, the results can be instant. You’ll be able to flip it on and off sort of a light switch. And if you don’t see results immediately, one of these factors was faulty…guaranteed.
Brandscending
More good news! You can still embark on a nice branding campaign while not a million dollar ad budget and years to speculate within the process.
In fact, branding can be achieved while not even paying for it. Many individuals misunderstand our position about branding and believe we suppose “branding is bad.”
Not so. Paying for brand is bad – unless you have the time and cash to do it properly. Most dealerships don’t. And for those who do, it’s changing into increasingly troublesome due to the mass segmentation of the market.
But, building a brand at no cost could be a wonderful issue and relatively easy to do. We wish to call it “brandscending.”
Brandscending is the process by which your company carves out a clear and definite place in the minds of the people who care most.
But, there are plenty of things you must do to leverage this method:
1. Learn who the prospects of your automobile dealership are and what they want. Then give it to them. That’s being interested and that’s what counts.
2. Have an identical and unique image that’s connected to all of your “results” oriented marketing. Over time, this could help build residual brand effects.
3. Offer an experience that is fun, unique or risky. Do one thing that’s price noticing and worth talking about. As individuals start to notice and speak, your brand value will increase.
The secret’s this: never, never, never, never, buy a long-term ad with pretty graphics and nice font believing you “built a little brand” or “got your name out there.” You did not.
That sort of thinking causes you to ad agent’s dream. Everyone concerned in coming up with that ad will create money…except you. Please don’t fall for that trap once more within the future.
To get more traffic, sell more cars and make more net profit by making the car business fun again check out our FREE video training called The New Rules Of Automotive Marketing created especially for Car Dealers and Managers by visiting www.RichDealers.com
21 Apr 10 Two Automotive Marketing Untruths—Avoid These And Sell A Tons Of Cars Fast – Part 2
In the first part you might have learnt about the myth 1 now, let us discuss about the second myth that a marketer has to know so as to achieve success in his business –
Myth #2: “You Can’t Control Word-of-Mouth Advertising”
We genuinely feel sad for anyone who believes this.
We’ve polled thousands of folks and over 90% agree that the ideal form of marketing is word-of-mouth advertising.
Why? Because it’s FREE and it produces a higher primed view. Someone else basically volunteers to talk regarding their experiences and gives a great proposal for your store. They then encourage their peers to check you out and new leads flock to your dealership as a result.
What higher advertising could you ask for?
However nearly everybody thinks word-of-mouth is impossible to control. That’s nonsense proliferated by the pay-per-advertise media. They don’t wish you to search out that there’s a means to regulate the best advertising process of all – the one that’s 100% free.
We’re here to tell you that you just can. We won’t lie to you and tell you that it’s easy. It’s not. But it is free, and when it works, it works during a BIG WAY.
While I can’t get into all the details of controlling word-of-mouth advertising in this text, I will tell you that dealers who are successful in this space should be sensational. To do that you’ll want at least one of the subsequent key attributes:
1) Fun
2) Unique
3) Risk Taker
4) Interested
5) Visible
6) Credible
7) Spreadable
However bear in mind, the power to control this elusive and desired form of advertising is solely obtainable to people who have flushed their systems of all of the traditional garbage. These are the car dealers who learned how to work smart, not hard as it relates to their marketing.
And the good news is that you can be the dealer who capitalizes on word-of-mouth advertising this year.
This can be only done by the best of the best-or those fixing to be the best. By reading this info thus far, I’m visiting venture that you are in that category. Most people don’t do what you’re doing right now. Thus if you just take this data and use it, individuals can notice you. People can TALK ABOUT YOU! People can begin to gravitate toward you.
The trick is to position yourself as an professional and begin selling to folks who want to hear from you by solving their problems, building emotional bonds with them, connecting with existing emotional anchors and having fun whereas doing so.
And after all once you become that professional, that friend, that resource center or that consumer advocate, word concerning you and your store will unfold like wildfire.
Like I said, it’s not simple or designed for dealers stuck in a “status quo” frame of mine. There are multiple steps and layers to creating this happen, which again, can’t be lined in this simple article.
To get more traffic, sell more cars and make more net profit by making the car business fun again check out our FREE video training called The New Rules Of Automotive Marketing created especially for Car Dealers and Managers by visiting www.RichDealers.com
20 Mar 10 Idol Meanie Reveals Secret To High Profit Automotive Advertising
We recently saw an interview with USA Idol’s Simon Cowell that drove a major purpose home as it relates to the success and failure of automotive dealerships. This concept might be life changing for you, so bear with me a moment while I set the scene.
The interviewer was reminiscing of the days when US Idol was jut measly idea, instead of an American icon. Simon made the purpose that no-one thought that a talent show where the public decides who wins would be successful. “Maybe that is exactly why it absolutely was successful,” Simon explained.
Did you catch that! What a simple, however good, concept that is. American Idol was so outrageously successful specifically because nobody thought it absolutely was possible. In alternative words, it had been a risk for everyone involved.
The flexibility to take risks is the one amongst the key factors that sets apart rich dealers from poor dealers who constantly struggle to flip a profit year after year.
Risk is inherent in business. To even start in business is a risk. And certainly getting away from bed every morning is risky. But the kind of risk Simon and therefore the producers of USA Idol took is completely different than the sort most folks usually endure.
When massive production firms, record execs, and broadcast networks get together to supply a show, they are invariably risking money. And huge deal-they need lots of it. One show succeeding or failing doesn’t very create a difference within the grand theme of things for these massive companies.
But this totally different reasonably risk seems to transcend money. It goes straight to the core of who we are as intelligent beings: our ego.
Simon and the gang had plenty of cash to risk. The real leap of religion, though, was the potential ridicule they faced. Their name was on the line. Their strength was in the flexibility to keep going and focus their eyes on the large things that lie ahead…which was really all the encouragement they needed to face the naysayers and proceed with the event of the show.
Marketing a business or yourself is really no different. If you were to develop and refine a marketing campaign that was extremely successful and then ask all your friends, family, neighbors, customers, etc. what they thought of your campaign, you’d notice that nobody really liked the thing anyway.
It’s essentially the same approach the “gurus” and different self-proclaimed marketing experts shot down US Idol. All of them said it would flop-that no one would watch such a show. They felt the show was a large waste of money and encouraged them to quit while they were ahead.
But if you only get one thing out of this article, I wish you to perceive effective automotive marketing isn’t about what people like. Of course, effective marketing usually stings. It hurts. It makes you uncomfortable enough to move….and eventually take action!
To learn more about how to separate your dealership from the crowd, like the small used car dealer in a tiny Mississippi town who had to install a deli counter (take a number) in his single wide trailer to control the flow of traffic, request our FREE video training called The New Rules Of Automotive Marketing created especially for Car Dealers and Managers by visiting www.RichDealers.com
