We’re a pretty competitive group at heart, but we’re really just a bunch of old guys trying to prove the other team is older. I just hope I can walk tomorrow.

 At the beginning of every season I always start thinking about the basics of softball – running, catching throwing, hitting. The fundamentals, things you have to be able to do on the field at least passably well in order to be successful.

That got me thinking about the fact that we’re really at the start of the season for Powersports as well, and just like softball has some basics, so do dealerships when it comes to marketing.

In the digital world of marketing, there are a lot of distractions. You can fall down the rabbit hole of social media, video marketing, texting, press releases, event boards, mobile apps, forum lurking, and God forbid – you can even start blogging.

While many of these things have a place in the world, they can all cause a dealer to fail at the most basic fundamental reason for being in business.  Making money.

It’s so easy to get distracted trying to be on the cutting edge of technology that actually making money becomes secondary (can you say “Pinterest?”).

The point is dealerships – like all businesses – exist to make money. If they don’t make money, they don’t get to exist. The last few years have made that pretty apparent.

So what?

So, it only makes sense that the most energy should be spent on the avenues that lead most directly to money. Even if it isn’t very glamorous.

If you’ve read this newsletter for any length of time, you already know what method I’m talking about … e-mail.

Over the years, study after study, conducted by huge marketing companies like Marchex and Silverpop, have shown that e-mail (the electronic version of direct mail) yields a better ROI than any other online outbound marketing method you can use. Period. For years, studies have shown that the ROI on e-mail has been on the order of 27:1. Spend a dollar, get 27 back. That’s good math – and a better ROI than any social media.

While the season is peaking, there is no better time to collect e-mails from customers (or potential customers). If you happen to be a Local Web Dominator client, collecting e-mails will have a direct impact on your online reputation as a result of the automated review request system we use. Then you get two benefits – you can conduct e-mail marketing (benefiting from its ROI) and the social benefit of having lots of positive reviews when potential customers search and find you on the internet.

If you haven’t been collecting e-mail addresses from your customers, it’s time to do so. It is one of the fundamental practices of marketing a dealership that you can’t overlook. If you aren’t sure how to start, or you want to get a jump start, call and talk to us about an e-mail append.

ANSWER:

Believe it or not, discounts are actually invited by your Salespeople and negotiations begin far before they ever sit down & write up a customer. Most Salespeople have incredibly weak negotiation skills and have no idea how to bypass them.  It isn’t taught in most dealerships, and the problem is that learning through the school of hard-knocks takes a long time and costs a small fortune.  And it’s not just affecting your gross profit, making the sale completely depends on successfully handling this like a professional.

Surveys show that most customers don’t like to negotiate. That seems funny to me because, well, if that were true our lives would be much easier, wouldn’t it?  What customers really dislike is how most dealerships and their salespeople handle negotiating.

The ‘Role Play’ below will pick up in the middle of the sales process… let’s see if we can find where the challenge starts:

Cust: So, how much is this model?

SP: We’re asking $12,500… but don’t worry, we’ll work with you.

Cust: So, how much do you think you can take off?

SP: Probably around a thousand bucks. Where kind of payment are you looking for?

Cust: $150 per month.

SP: Hmmm… how much did you want to put down?

Cust: Nothing.

SP: What were you looking for on your trade?

Cust: $6,000   (Wholesale value is $3,500.)

Did the Salesperson invite negotiations? Yes! In fact, it started when he said the work ‘asking’ in front of the price.  “We’re asking $12,500…”  He took it up a notch, however, when he said “But we’ll work with ya.” You’d be surprised at how often I hear Salespeople invite negotiations this way.

Let’s fast forward the previous role play to the Sit Down… the Sales Manager takes the Worksheet and writes up the deal.  He put the unit at $12,500 plus tax and fees with $1,500 down.  Then gives $3,500 for their trade and factors their payment at $250 per month.

Now, what’s going to happen when the Salesperson goes back out to his desk and shows them the Worksheet? The customer is probably gonna get angry, insulted… we’re talking ‘walk out’ mad. It’s pretty plain to see why… the deal was set up wrong from the first words out of the salesperson’s mouth.  And even if the Sales Manager was able to eventually come to terms, this customer is never going to be very happy.

Here’s the good news: odds are that the customer has already sat down at the kitchen table and determined his budget, and he’s ready to buy.  The Salesperson’s job is to build rapport with the customer, figure out the right unit and get the customer excited about riding/owning it… then sit down and get a commitment with a write-up.  When it comes to price, never add any words or phrases, simply state it.  “It’s $12,500.” After stating price, be sure to change the subject so you don’t have to begin negotiations.  Change the subject by stating a Feature/Benefit & asking a question. “It’s $12,500. This bike is also fuel injected so it’s going to save you a lot of money due to the excellent gas mileage it gets.  Will you be commuting, or are you more of a weekend warrior?”  The first person to bring up price has an advantage, so plan to use this during the presentation.

Regarding online advertising, what is the difference between impressions, clicks, and conversions, and how are they tracked?

Answer:

That’s a great question.

So let’s say that we do a Google Ad Words campaign for your Harley-Davidson dealership. We’ll bid on ‘keywords’ that are most likely to be searched regarding your products and services. (Side note- we have over 1000 proven and tested keywords per OEM). Then anytime someone searches one of those keywords and your ‘sponsored listing’ appears on the page, it’s an “impression”.

Although the more impressions you get the better, what you really want to happen is to get a “click” on your ad. That’s the great thing about Search Engine Marketing, and why you often hear it referred to as Pay-per-Click (PPC). You’re only charged when someone clicks on your ad. Almost, like a salesperson working on 100% commission. But as they say, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And, just because you get a click doesn’t mean you’re gonna get a “conversion”.

So what’s a conversion? A conversion is when the searcher lands on your page and “converts” to a sales lead. We track conversions by inserting ‘code’ into the landing page web form and by using a unique phone number. So, a conversion means they either completed a web form (quote request, finance app, etc.) or called the dealership.

This is why having your Google Adwords campaign set up and managed by a professional is important. If the page the searcher lands on isn’t relevant to what they were searching for they’re gonna ‘bounce’ back to the main listings page. Now you incurred the ad spend, but didn’t get a ‘conversion’. We often see this happening with sponsored listings pointing back to the dealership’s home page, rather than to the specific model landing page the searcher was looking for. So in summary, impressions are good, clicks are even better, but conversions are where the hidden gold is buried in your store.

Eric Giddens is the new Northeast point of contact and brings with him more than 13 years in the automotive, aftermarket, and powersports industries, specifically with expertise in one-to-one consumer direct marketing and sales and Internet process training. When he’s not helping clients, Giddens enjoys spending time with his family, and is an avid hunter, boater and outdoor enthusiast.

John Smith will be the go-to guy for the West Coast region. He brings to the team his 15 years of sales and marketing experience from the automotive and powersports industry, where he specialized in database marketing, customer retention and acquisition, and e-mail marketing.

“We’re very excited to have these two high-performing individuals join our team,” says Powersports Marketing founder Rod Stuckey. “Both Eric and John bring a tremendous amount of marketing expertise and depth to Powersports Marketing, and we look forward to continuing to grow together.”

A little-known truth is that nearly every great business owner has built his or her business on good direct-response marketing using direct mail and telephone. In fact, right now, in the middle of the information age, good ol’ direct mail is still a $45.2 billion industry. And the telemarketing and call center industry is still north of $20 billion, despite constant attacks from the Federal Trade Commission.

Why? Because it works.

It troubles me when I hear dealers and experts say that direct mail doesn’t work. That’s B.S. If you don’t think it works, ask yourself why the execs at Google consistently invest in millions of direct mail pieces to sell their pay-per-click advertising. They also employ telemarketers to make cold calls for the same purpose. Also, the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, which touts itself as the world’s largest e-commerce event, is sold via a 32-page direct-mail piece.

According to nonprofit research, “Nothing out-performs direct mail for new donor acquisition.

Nonprofits wish that social media, Web sites, email, etc. could do this job as well, but so far, extensive experimenting by the entire non-profit world has failed to come up with any way to survive and grow without relying on direct mail.”

According to news reports, e-commerce sales over the holidays were up 15 percent year-to-year. But, how much of that purchasing was driven there from print catalogs delivered to mailboxes? My wife ordered Justice Clothes online for our girls after receiving its catalog, where she was given a special discount coupon code. She also placed orders online with Omaha Steaks and Patagonia, but only after perusing through direct mail that was sent to us. E-commerce companies also use offline media to upsell: Omaha Steaks now calls us to replenish as we consume.

According to Epsilon research, 60 percent of consumers say they enjoy checking their mailbox and receiving mail (and my guess is motorcycle enthusiasts receiving motorcycle-related messages pumps at least another 15 percent into that figure). The same study concludes that 65 percent say they receive too many emails to open them all. U.S. Postal Service data says that 98 percent of consumers retrieve their mail from the mailbox the day it is delivered and 77 percent sort through it the same day.

BUT IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS
Little hinges can swing big doors, and one small detail can sabotage an entire direct-mail or phone campaign.

For example, who you’re mailing to makes a big difference in your success. The reason direct mail doesn’t work for some dealers is because they’re sending it to the wrong people. Data hygiene, list segmentation, and ensuring the message is relevant and compelling are all key details of a successful direct-mail campaign. Methodically figure out who you are trying to reach, and then match your message to the targeted recipient.

Details are equally as important when it comes to the telephone. Sales are missed by a few words, not a few dollars. With a professionally crafted script, one salesperson can make a call to an unsold prospect, or a repeat customer, and provide new information that converts him into a kept appointment. Alternatively, give another salesperson the same unsold prospect to call and let him just wing it, and he’ll tell you the customer isn’t interested.

You must use offline media consistently to maximize customer retention, increase their frequency of visits, and re-activate lost customers.

Consider a customer’s journey from the point of purchasing a new bike all the way through 24 months when he or she is now statistically considering a trade. Here are some touch points you can leverage for offline media to boost sales:

• Follow-up. “Thank you for your purchase. Here’s an incentive to take our CSI survey and come back to the store.”
• Related add-ons. “Hope you’re enjoying your new bike. Have you had time to review all of the accessories available?”
• The First Service Reminder.
• Birthday greeting (for customer)
• Birthday greeting (for bike)
• Service Reminder No. 2.
• Invitation to your store’s upcoming event.

As mentioned, I’m a fan of online media, and you can utilize these touches with email, too. Multi-touch and multimedia have been proven to boost response. However, tangible materials such as direct mail trigger a deeper level of emotional processing than electronic. Telephones allow you to talk, one human to another, and develop an authentic relationship. That’s hard to do on Facebook.

This story originally appeared in the Dealernews May 2012 issue.

Considering the closing ratio for a write-up averages 40-50%, training your salespeople to get more write-ups is a great idea, to say the least.
There are two primary ways to get your salespeople to write-up more customers: executing all the steps of the sales process and improving
their technique.

Before you say, “I’m already doing that!” let me explain. I’m not referring to putting a label on what your salespeople were already doing and
calling it a sales process. That isn’t changing anything, it’s just a label. Executing a sales process means your salespeople are focused on
following prescribed methods with every customer. For instance, consider a salesperson welcoming a customer in the following manner:

• Salesperson: “What brings you in today?”
• Customer: “Just looking around.”
• Salesperson: “Okay. Just let me know if you have any questions.”

This would be labeled the ‘Greet’. It’s done totally incorrect, but it’s still the fi rst step. Consider this instead:

• Salesperson: “Welcome to Hornsby Harley®… are you here for
  Parts, Service, or are you just looking around today?”
• Customer: “Yeah, I’m just looking around.”
• Salesperson: “Great… are you looking around for more of a cruiser,
  a touring bike, or something a little more sporty?
• Customer: “Probably more of a cruiser, but I’m just looking.”
• Salesperson: “No problem, check out this model over here…”

If your salespeople can get past “Just Looking” they can build more rapport, get key information and move into a good interview & investigate
stage. They can then do a presentation based on what the customer actually wants, instead of a memorized presentation that doesn’t build
nearly as much value, which leads to more write-ups.
The second way to get more write-ups is to improve the techniques used in the sales processes. One of the most effective techniques for getting more customers to sit down is also one of the simplest. In fact, it’s only two words. After a good presentation have your salespeople simply say, “Follow me” and start walking towards their desk. The majority of customers will follow. Then, they should start the write-up.

Another good technique is to have your salespeople reply to a customer’s question with, “That’s a good question, let’s go check.” Then lead the
customer to their desk. Even if your salesperson already knows the answer, take the opportunity to transition to a sit-down and write-up.
Keep in mind that while the write-up step of the sales process does yield a 40-50% closing ratio, it’s only after value has been built and rapport
has been developed with the customer. You can’t greet a customer and then say “Have a seat!”

The sales process comes first. Now is the time to refine your sales process and techniques. Train your salespeople and let them know what you expect. Then practice, drill, and rehearse every Saturday morning during your Sales Meeting. I hope you have a rockin’ spring…. If you’d like to learn more about tripling your Saturday floor traffic so your sales people can close more sales with their new found skills, give me a call at 877-242-4472 ext. 101

In my sessions at the Expo, I told a story about how when I was looking for a shop to fix my ATV I looked online. I ended up bypassing all of my local franchised dealers (all with terrible reviews) in favor of an independent (with lots of good reviews) that blew them all out of the water. Months later, I still don’t regret that decision. Reputation matters.

That being said, it is very hard to find any business without at least one, or maybe a few, bad reviews. When I was in the restaurant business many years ago, one thing was clear – nobody cooks like your mama, and at some point somebody’s gonna hate your cooking. The same is true at a dealership, at some point somebody is going to be upset/disappointed and you’re gonna hear about it.

Bad reviews are going to happen. How you handle it makes all the difference. Remember that when responding to bad reviews you are “on stage” for the whole world to see. It’s important to accept responsibility and try to work things out in an amicable way. I know that’s tough. It’s hard not to take bad reviews personally – even more so when they are actually personal, but it is in the best interest of your business to take the high road.

That is one reason it is good to have a partner for reputation management. As part of our reputation management program, we work with dealers to craft solid responses to bad reviews when they happen.

Occasionally, there are dealerships that have as many, or more, bad reviews as good reviews. While reputation management is a great first step in getting that sorted out, it’s not a magic bullet.

In other words, the best reputation management in the world can’t fix bad service. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Whether a dealership has all bad reviews, some bad reviews, or all glowing reviews (which is more than a little suspicious), the actual root cause of most bad reviews can be handled with one thing – proper employee training.  That’s where one of the other pillars of the Powersports Marketing platform comes into play, Dealership University.

My years in the dealership taught me that when things got sideways, they got that way for one of two reasons. I either had a system problem, or a people problem. More often than not, it was a system problem.

The biggest reason that employers and employees part ways is that employees don’t clearly understand what is expected. Dealership University solves the problem for you.

Space doesn’t allow me to itemize everything contained in the University here, but with 200 videos, half a dozen certification paths, job descriptions and operations manuals for every position and department in the dealership, let’s just say I’d challenge anyone to find any dealership training program anywhere that’s better. Did I mention that it’s a FREE benefit for our reputation management clients?

Mr. Miyagi from the movie ‘The karate kid’ said it very well – “The best way to avoid being hit is not to be there.” With reputation management, the best way to get rid of negative reviews is to not get them in the first place – through great training.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I wish I could make a little more gross profit per unit sold,” you’re not alone. And I’ve got good news! Bringing in more gross profit doesn’t depend upon your location, your buying base of customers, the brands you carry, or your competition — and it’s certainly not dependent on luck. While these factors certainly can impact the culture in your operation, holding margin comes down to exercising knowledge and skill — which you can easily implement in your dealership’s daily operations. Every dealer wants to make more money, but most think the only way (or the best way) is to simply sell more units. This is not always the case. Let’s look at two dealerships who are pushing for growth, albeit using different tactics.

Dealership A is a metric dealership that sells 600 units per year. It averages $500 in gross profit per unit sold, which earns the store $300,000 in GP per year. Dealership A’s plan is to grow its unit sales by increasing its advertising into other markets and offering bigger discounts to lure in prospects and encourage customers from outside of the area to pay a visit.

For an extra $1,750 per month in advertising, this dealership brings in more business — selling an additional 150 units, for a total of 750 units. Though they’re excited about this 25 percent increase in business, they fail to see the significance of their gross profit falling a little lower than normal. In fact, they’ll find that it’s dropped from an average of $500 per unit to $425 per unit sold.

The mistake is that management believes that with this increase of units sold, they’ve got to be making more money.

Let’s take a closer look: Dealership A has increased its unit volume to 750 per year at an average gross profit of $425 per unit sold, which earned $318,750. Now factor in the additional $1,750 per month in advertising ($21,000 per year), and we find that the store actually has worked harder, but has lost $3,000. This number doesn’t include the additional salesperson payroll, additional man hours from administrative staff, and general wear and tear on the facility.

Now let’s take a look at Dealership B, which is also a metric store selling 600 units per year at an average gross profit of $500 per unit sold. This currently earns the store $300,000 in gross profit per year. This store also wants to make more money, but decides to go about it in a completely different way than Dealership A. Management begins by focusing on improving staff selling skills and learning how to hold margin. This training focus enables the sales staff to provide premium service, which in turn helps its repeat and referral business. This motivation to increase profitability actually causes unit volume to drop.

While the store fights for every single dollar and every single deal, Dealership B ends up selling 50 fewer units than the previous year, with only 550 units rolling out the door.

While it wasn’t able to achieve the goal of $1,000 gross profit per unit, the store increased it to an average of $750 per unit sold. Under the dealership’s efforts, this earned the store $412,500 in gross profit. This is a more than 30-percent, six-figure increase over its previous year.

Margin beats Volume
Here are tips you can implement to help increase your margin:
• Use a sales process and train your staff to follow it. If you don’t know where you currently are, it’s very difficult to find your final destination.
• There are two emotions in selling — desire for gain vs. fear of making a mistake. Create a bar chart focusing on increasing the desire for gain.
• Stop inviting negotiations. It’s hard to believe your salespeople are doing this, but they are every time they add a word like best, starting or retail in front of price.
• Never pause or allow silence after you give a price. Build value and then ask a question.
• Allow less back-and-forth when desking a deal. Every time you go back and forth, you’re dropping the price. Get the sales manager involved earlier in the process. Sometimes a new face, or the symbol of authority is enough to get a “yes” buying decision before you give up your margin.

Your dealership can implement these best practices, just focus on them one at a time. Remember, a good deal isn’t a number, it’s a feeling.

This story originally appeared in the Dealernews April 2012 issue.

I’ve been attending this show for over 15 years, and although the quantity of attendees may not be what it was in the boom times, the quality of attendees was by far the best I’ve ever experienced. My theory… it’s because of the recession-invoked, thinning of the herd. The dealers left standing are more resourceful and committed to the “improvise, adapt, and overcome” mindset required in this new economy.

With that said, there are still many dealers who are unintentionally looking like ‘April Fools’ due to misaligned business priorities.  The causes for this ignorance are far and wide, so I’ll only address a few.

For starters, wanna know which seminar was so full at Dealer Expo that there were zero seats available, and attendees were packed in like sardines in a standing room only fashion?  Take these two ‘April Fools Quick Quizzes’’ to get a hint.

April Fools Quick Quiz # 1 – What percentage of internet users 18 years and older use twitter?

1. 67%
2. 53%
3. 39%
4. 21%
5. 13%

<answers provided at end of article>

April Fools Quick Quiz # 2 - What percentage of Americans age 12 and older is using Facebook?

1. 87%
2. 69%
3. 51%
4. 28%

<answers provided at end of article>

If you guessed ‘Social Media & Mobile Marketing’ as the most packed out seminar, you are correct. While Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are all viable marketing channels, many dealers have fallen under the misguidance that these new bright shiny objects should be prioroty one and be able to stand alone.

Wrong.

During Eric Pedretti’s ‘Multi-Channel Event Marketing’ seminar, it was revealed that many dealers don’t have a clue how big their database of customers is. This database is PURE GOLD, for both present bank and future banks opportunities, and should be treated as such.

April Fools Quick Quiz # 3 – What’s the number one asset your accountant forgot to tell you about?

1. Your Recievables
2. Your Inventory
3. Your Customer Database
4. Your Facility

<answers provided at end of article>

Collecting your customers’ name, address, and email, and continually focusing on growing, cleaning, and segmenting this list is marketing priority one.

Tory Hornsby conducted an amazing selling seminar where he shared the five key fundamentals to selling more at higher grosses: Selling Skills, Work Habits, Attitude, Product Knowledge, Phone and Internet Skills (S.W.A.P.P.)  The attendance was solid, but not busting at the seems like social media.

Many dealers in attendance weren’t familiar with how to properly sit-down and write-up a customer. This single step of the sales process alone will sell more units in one month than Twitter ever will.

April Fools Quick Quiz # 4 – What’s percentage of showroom guests should your sales team sit down and write up?

1. 10%
2. 20%
3. 30%
4. 50%

<answers provided at end of article>

During my ‘Sales Management – Seven Key Performance Indicators to Help You Sell More Units and make More Money’ session I had only a handful in the the room that were familiar with all of the key stats that must be tenaciously tracked and are required to maximize performance in the Sales Department.

April Fools Quick Quiz # 5 – What’s percentage of sold and un-sold showroom guests should receive follow up from your sales team?

1. 20%
2. 40%
3. 60%
4. 80%
5. 100%

<answers provided at end of article>

While I do believe that social media like Facebook should be one of your ‘Poles in the Water’ I do caution you, that it’s shouldn’t come at the expense of the ‘Blocking and Tackling’ portion of your game plan. The best way to avoid getting fooled  is through ongoing training of your staff, perpetual online reputation management mixed with an evergreen database and conquest marketing system.

Bonus April Fools Quick Quiz –

True or False:  To slow down speeders, life-size, full-color cardboard cut-outs of female police officers in mini-skirts have been placed along roadsides in the Czech Repulic.

April Fools Quick Quiz Answers -
Quiz 1: e   Quiz 2: c    Quiz 3: c      Quiz 4: d    Quiz 5: e

Bonus Answer:  According to the Associated Press: It’s TRUE and it’s working!

The old farmer was so enamored with the idea that he sold his own farm to go in search of these diamonds himself. As the story goes, he spent the rest of his life drifting around the known world searching for the gems, but was unsuccessful. Finally, exhausted and utterly disgusted, he threw himself into a river and drowned.

In the meantime, the man who had bought the farmer’s farm was crossing a small stream on the property and noticed a bright shiny object. Thinking it was a piece of crystal, he picked it up and took it back to the house, where he proudly displayed it on his mantle.

A few weeks later, a visitor was at the man’s house and noticed the stone on his mantle. He looked closely at the stone and nearly fainted, as it was one of the largest diamonds he’d ever seen.

When he told the farmer he’d just discovered one of the largest diamonds in the world, the farmer shared that the creek out back was full of these stones. Maybe not quite as big as the one on the mantle, but smaller, similar stones were sprinkled throughout.

The first farmer had owned this farm free and clear, but had sold it for next to nothing to search elsewhere for his fortune.

If only the first farmer had taken the time to study, prepare himself, and thoroughly explore the property he already owned before looking elsewhere. If he had done his research, all of his wildest dreams would have come true. Reading this story actually reminds me of a dealer’s customer database. I often refer to your customer list as the No. 1 asset your accountant forgot to tell you about. Or in this case, it may be more appropriate to refer to your customer database as your “Acres of Diamonds.”

Here’s why. The person most likely to give you money in the future is the person who’s already given you money in the past.

At a first glance you may not perceive your customer base as that valuable. However, upon closer examination, if you analyze the lifetime value of your customers and just how much that number is impacted by how well you nurture the relationship, you’ll discover extremely valuable gems.

We’ve all heard the common saying, “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” Well, if that’s true, it’s only because that grass is receiving better care on the other side.

Too often I talk with dealers who are looking for the next bright shiny object in their advertising to create a breakthrough. Meanwhile, they’re not training their staff or consistently collecting key customer data such as names, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates so they can market to them in the future.

In fact, many dealers fail to realize that their customers actually expect to be marketed to. And if you don’t, they begin to get a feeling of apathy from you, — as if you don’t care about their business, which in turn makes them more receptive to offers from your potential competitors.

This is why I really believe in a consistent, evergreen dealer event marketing plan.

Holding events provides a great excuse to market to your existing customers by inviting them to your party, which makes them feel appreciated (even if they don’t attend). Events provide new information that your entire staff can share with prospects and customers, and new information leads to new buying decisions.

When properly executed, the hype leading up to a dealer event keeps energy high with the staff and customers, which in turn increases morale throughout the dealership. This positive mojo increases sales leading up to the event and impulse purchases during the event. But sales don’t just increase before and during the event. Events create residual sales in the following weeks.

I remember back when we held events at our dealerships. At first I expected every event to have record-breaking sales. Some did. Some did not. However, I noticed there was always a significant amount of sales in the following weeks that were directly related to the event that happened.

This proves that it’s not just about what you do or what number of customers attend on the day of the event, but that it’s all about planting seeds for future business.

I also found that the more events we had, the easier it became. The repetition of holding consistent events leads to systems, which leads to efficiency, which leads to less pain in promoting said events. You can keep successful event plans in place, and use them the next time around, too.

In sum, before you explore the entire world looking for new business, be sure you’ve explored what’s available in your own backyard. If you haven’t been consistently capturing your customer’s key data and inviting them to events at your dealership, you should start now.

The best time to plant an oak tree may have been 10 years ago, but the next best time is right now!