Here are the Top 10 reasons to use when making an offer or having a sale:

1.     Tie into a local weather event (i.e. hail storm, snow storm, etc)

2.     Tie into a big local story

3.     Tie into big local celebrities

4.     Tie into big national TV shows

5.     Tie into big national celebrities

6.     Tie into big national movies

7.     Tie into government or economic events

8.     Tie into holidays

9.     Tie into a personal life events

10.  Tie into pop culture

And here are the WORST 10 reasons for making an offer or having a sale:

1.     Trade in event

2.     Sign and drive event

3.     March Madness

4.     Truck Month

5.     Really Big Sale

6.     Red Tag Sale

7.     Inventory Clearance Event

8.     Monster Sale (when there’s no monsters on the loose)

9.     September To Remember

10.  Year End Clearance

Sometimes miracles really do happen...like when Elvis appears on your toast!

Do you have a washer and a dryer at your house? How long have you had them? Do you remember the last time you replaced them? Why did you replace them? Did the old ones break? Did you move into a new house?

Usually the purchase of a washer and a dryer (and many other things in life) revolve around events…like a break down, an accident, moving into a new house. Nobody really WANTS TO replace their washer and dryer. They replace it because they HAVE TO. Same goes for hot water heaters, roofs, carpet and a thousand other mundane items required in life. People replace these items for logical reasons. Usually because they have to.

Imagine for a moment you’re sitting in a soft, leather recliner one Sunday morning, sipping coffee, flipping through the paper. Out falls a flyer for an appliance sale. Pictures of high-tech washers and dryers adorn the pages, with prices and interest rate promotions and free delivery offers popping off the page in starbursts. Now…since your current washer and dryer are working just fine…would you pay any attention to this flyer? No. Why not? Because you’re not in the market. And no matter how good a deal that ad promises, you’d just toss it aside, or put it in the birdcage. It’s invisible to anyone who isn’t shopping for a washer and dryer at that moment.

Now compare that appliance ad to a typical car ad. Pretty similar, really. Pictures of product, starbursts with prices or payments, interest rate offers, fine print. But to somebody who isn’t shopping for a car, that ad is invisible. Just like the appliance ad was to you. Prices, payments, features, selection, rates, rebates…these things only matter to shoppers.

The Difference Between The Car Business & Other Businesses

THANKFULLY, there’s a big difference between cars and appliances. But most dealers haven’t considered this difference and aren’t using it to their advantage. Consider this: Do people wait until their old car is broken down or in an accident before they buy a nicer, newer car? Not usually…otherwise there would be no used car market. Do they wait until they HAVE TO get a better car? No way! So what motivates somebody to buy a nicer, newer car, if not logic or necessity?

The answer is simple, but very important. People buy cars because of emotional reasons. They want to feel safer, more important, more comfortable, more cool. They want to change the way other people look at them and think about them. Ultimately a car is an extension of our ego. Your washer and dryer are not. In fact, nobody has any idea what kind of washing machine you have – because it’s hidden away in your laundry room.

But a car is parked right outside in the driveway, or in the parking space at work, on display for the whole world to see……..and judge you by. The reality is: EVERYBODY WANTS a nicer, newer car than the one they have right now. But 98% of the population ISN’T ACTIVELY SHOPPING. So typical car advertising is completely invisible to them.

All The Customers Are Hiding In Plain Sight!

But all the dealers in your market are scrapping over the 2% of the population that is actively shopping. It’s a contest to see who can buy the most ads, who can scream the loudest, who can offer the lowest price, who can dream up the biggest gimmick. It’s a battle for the attention of the shopper. The BIG problem is that when the shoppers show up, the profit goes down. These days shoppers are arming themselves with tons of information. Many of them have stumbled across a web site that’s told them exactly what you pay for car, minus holdback, minus dealer cash. And they’re prepared to leave you without a dollar in profit. No fun.

The BIG Secret

Herein lies the biggest opportunity in the car business. While everybody else is screaming and fighting over the 2%, you can peacefully, efficiently and easily speak to the 98%….the people who aren’t shopping, BUT REALLY WOULD PREFER to drive a nicer, newer car than they have now. In most cases, there’s just a simple problem standing in their way, which you can easily overcome.

And voila! You’ve created a customer out of a “non-intender” (someone who had no intention of buying a car right now)…and these are the best customers, because they haven’t done all that research, they haven’t shopped 8 other dealerships and they’re primarily interested in having you solve their problem —- not give them the lowest price.

By letting all the other dealers beat each other to death and busy themselves merchandising vehicles, you can retire from the commodity game and become a respected and trusted advisor, a problem solver, a hero. And make a healthy profit in the process. And have an endless pool of buyers to draw from. You’ll never run out of the 98%.

Pretty bold title for a simple article, don’t you think? But here’s the thing…what you are about to learn doesn’t stop at the end of this article. And at the end of this article, we’ll expose the most powerful differentiation tool in the arsenal! Once you start digging into this concept you will end up head-over-heels, face down looking into a rabbit hole that goes VERY deep. You have to decide whether to take the leap of faith or stand on the outside while your competition jumps in with both feet and reaps the rewards that come from being on the cutting edge.

Wait – did we say, “cutting edge?” Oh, this must be another article about the Internet right?

Wrong!

This is not about the internet at all. It’s about what the Internet has caused and why the traditional approach of hard-sell advertising isn’t as powerful as it used to be. For those of you who are doing hard-sell type advertising you are going to be shocked and nervous. For those of you who never embraced a hard-sell marketing approach you’ll be three steps behind and we suggest you pack your parachute and hold on tight.

The Internet has caused a massive change in the dynamic of our customers. They think differently today then they didn’t just three, two or even one year ago. They are more educated and because of that they demand and respond to information-based, value-driven marketing rather than the traditional hard-sell advertising tactics we’re used to using in our dealership marketing programs.

Some of you right now are raising the victory flag exclaiming, “Finally the hard-sell days are over,” and others are weeping over its grave while still others are trumpeting the coming of our marketing savior, spending all their time and energy moving their entire operation online, believing that the Internet is the second coming of Christ.

First of all, the Internet is just a tool, just another medium like newspaper, radio or TV. And one where price is king and the gross is low unless you really know how to use it.

Secondly, hard-sell advertising isn’t dead – it’s evolved. It’s grown a third leg and wings. That’s what good marketing concepts do. They are shape-shifters…chameleons. So what’s the reincarnation of hard-sell?

Education Based Marketing

Author and expert copywriter Robert Bly remarks that, “Traditional marketing approaches, especially hard sell, don’t work well on the Internet or with consumers in the information/Internet age. To get readership and response, marketers have to create marketing messages that look, feel, and sound like objective, unbiased, useful information.”

So, why does education based marketing work radically better than traditional marketing?

Because traditional automotive marketing is all about the dealership, the vehicles and the features and no one really gives a rat’s butt about that.

Education based marketing is about solutions. Solutions to problems your customers face right now that they want to alleviate. A well planned and executed education based marketing strategy delivers a much needed cure to the pain your prospect is suffering.

If you can give your prospects the information they need to eliminate their problem and ultimately provide them with a clearly defined set of steps to take you will win their business. You will become the expert in their eyes and they will flock to you and price concerns will be secondary to the solution they seek, making your profits soar to new heights.

But there is one caveat.

You must give your prospects a way to get this information easily and without obligation. You must believe in the concept we call giving value first. We’ve all heard of added value or value after the sale. But that’s easy. That’s for wimps! In today’s competitive marketplace you MUST deliver value upfront and your marketing (if done properly) should be your first touch-point and should start the cycle.

The value first concept is nothing new. It’s age old and timeless. It’s based in the law of reciprocity that states that others will reciprocate in-kind based upon the way you treat them. The world gives you what you give the world. Ultimately you are rewarded for the value which you bring to the marketplace.

Robert B. Cialdini, author of The Psychology of Persuasion explains, “One of the most potent weapons of influence around us is the rule for reciprocation. The rule says that we should try to repay, in-kind, what another person has provided us.”

Many of our hard-sell brethren are probably asking, “Where’s the hard-sell in all this?”

Ahhh…that is a good question. You see it’s really a beautiful thing. The hard-sell sneaks in though the back door…unnoticed when your prospect’s guard is down.

What could be better than that? When has hard sell ever flown in “under the radar?” Maybe in the 80s, but that was a looong time ago.

Image a bobcat sneaking into your tent unbeknownst to you, and you only realize it’s sitting there licking its chops and sharpening its claws once you’ve closed up the tent and zipped yourself up in your sleeping bag.

It’s a little too late – you’re getting a butt-whoopin’ no matter what you do. That’s that same way education based marketing works, except your prospects ask that bobcat to come inside the tent thinking it’s a harmless little kitty cat.

This is cloak and dagger marketing…the kind of stuff that affects people emotionally but sneaks up on them logically. We know that all buying decisions are based on emotion and backed up with logic. But the Internet has screwed up people’s brains, especially when it comes to car buyers. They are seeking the logic first.

So through education based marketing we give them the logic and they invite in the emotional pitch and close. It’s really a perfect marriage and a sound system when you think about it.

But it’s not all fun and games. It’s not that easy. There are lots of pitfalls and trip wires that can derail your success and keep you from reaching the goal – more ups, better quality ups, increased sales and profits.

The most effective point of differentiation

With all this in mind, over the years we’ve experimented with and refined multiple points of diffdifferentiation for dealerships. The final results are in: the single most effective point of differentiation is the “Expert Differentiation.” That is, positioning yourself and your dealership as trusted advisor rather than product pusher. As expert problem solver rather than merchant. The difference is astounding! And education based marketing is the perfect compliment to this incredibly powerful differentiator.

Here at the Rich Dealers Institute we’re constantly talking to dealers and managers from across the country and throughout Canada. Our members’ only email discussion group (which topped a record breaking 900 messages in a last month) is always swirling with questions about the same things over and over again.

The phone and the group are inundated with dealers desperately seeking sound advice so they don’t make a costly mistake. Some get the advice in time and avoid falling victim and others become prey but seek solace in our Rich Dealers family and us. Either way we get to see and analyze the trends.

In this article we’d like to give you a peek behind the curtain and shine some light on four of the most commonly made sales and marketing mistakes.

You may be asking yourself why we would spend time writing an article like this. The reason is simple. It really irritates us to see honest, hard-working, sincerely ambitious dealers (like many of our successful Rich Dealers) be taken advantage of by “opportunity grabbers” or by their own lack of knowledge about good sales and marketing practices.

Read on and you’ll have the information you need to make better decisions and save yourself a lot time, energy, frustration and cash.

Spray And Pray Marketing: This is one of the biggest and most costly mistakes we see. It’s a marketing related mistake and it’s simply about HOW and WHERE you spend your marketing dollars.

Everyone wants the best ROI but, frankly, most dealers have no clue how or where to spend their marketing dollars for maximum result. They completely lack a PROVEN strategic plan.

Good marketing is not always intuitive and often defies our ego and emotional choices. Because of this, we constantly make the wrong choices because the right choices don’t “feel” right.

Most dealers are doing what we call “Spray and Pray” marketing. They spray a little bit of marketing in a lot of different places and pray something works.

Generally something does work but no one is really sure what worked and why. So we just keep repeating the ugly cycle that contains a huge amount of waste. This waste leads to frustration and a general malaise about marketing.

The secret here is simple but not easy. Dominate one media first and then add additional. Which one do you start with? That’s easy, the one that gives you the best ROI. Fight the urge (it will be very strong) to move on to the next media until you’ve completely dominated the one you are in.

Parasitic Paydays: Through some unfortunate series of events a dealer realizes that using paid sales teams is the only way they can drive traffic, make sales, hold gross and pull out their month so they do them every month. They are basically held hostage by these events.

It’s like a drug and it’s just as addicting. But being hooked is a mistake and can even be deadly. Don’t get us wrong. We think these big events and traveling teams have their place in the sales and marketing mix but our warning here is about becoming reliant or even worse, dependent on them.

A reliance on these sales is due to a lack of duplicatable marketing and sales systems. That’s what these teams bring to the table…a proven and duplicatable sales and marketing systems. But you don’t need them. You can create and profit from your own system.

Here’s why your system is necessary and better than relying on sales teams… CONTROL. You need to be in control of your people, your processes and your customers. When you lack control your employee moral decreases, your numbers decrease, your CSI decreases and your customers get screwed. It’s a slippery slide that can end in disaster.

We’ve had to rescue many dealerships from this nearly fatal disease and it’s not an easy task. The DT’s from this addiction are painful but necessary and life is good on the other side. We promise.

Long Term Lock In: This seems to be a popular one in our world. Vendors and big media companies want to lock you into long-term contracts. There are so many products, services and media options available to dealers and many of them are really, really good. Some are not so good and others are good but not right for a particular store.

I don’t know of any one-size-fits-all-stores solution. Which begs the question, why so do many of these companies try to lock dealers up front into long-term contracts?

Companies should deliver value. They should provide not just good, but amazing service. They should have a relationship with their customers. They should care and you should feel that they care about not just the business you’re giving them but about YOU.

Companies should be confident in their product’s ability to be useful and valuable. This confidence should be strong enough to offer that service on it’s on merits eliminating the need for a long-term contract.

The companies and products they offer should be held accountable to deliver quality enough to keep you happy just as you have to do to keep customers coming back to your dealership. You don’t make the customer sign a contract that says he has to by his next 5 cars from you. That’d be criminal, a violation of his freedom. Hummm… have you been violated?

We’re big proponents of staying with things that work. You should be too. The ability to stick to something that works is a success principle missed by many. The point is don’t lock yourself into big contracts. It’s a big mistake and always bites you on the tail end. Choose companies who confidence is bigger than their contracts.

High Tech Hypnosis: Talk about a trend that’s sweeping the nation; the online/digital marketing craze is in full effect. If it’s tech, it’s hot, especially in the automotive industry.

In general, the majority of the dealers we work with are not technology experts or gear heads. But they fear being left behind or missing the boat on the next big opportunity. Dealers are hypnotized by the allure of the bright, shiny, new Internet.

This is a dangerous combination and one that is being exploited big time. Just because it has an e, i or 2.0 in the name doesn’t make it a profitable place to spend your hard-earned marketing dollars.

There’s a reason why some media have been around forever. They’re proven winners. They’re reliable. Some things on the Internet are viable marketing channels that are good for a dealership and your net profit. Others are effective but not necessarily good for you and many just plan stink.

Many industries that rely heavily on testing and measuring and direct ROI have been moving away from digital marketing and back to putting their money in traditional media. This is because their testing has proven that their most profitable, serious and valuable customers are coming form more proven media. The digital media brings a more fickle, low committed, over researched and more price conscious customer.

The Internet is a great tool for consumers to shop for the lowest price on a commodity and compare options and prices at their leisure and no pressure. It’s completely logical but sales aren’t made logically. Selling a car is emotional and a dealership doesn’t just sell cars, they should provide so much more.

Our dealers aren’t in the business of selling commodities for the lowest possible price. Our dealers work hard to provide their customers with truly valuable services, experiences and provide solutions that transcend just selling them a cheap car.

Don’t get caught up in the excitement of the digital movement. Let each opportunity prove itself. If you don’t understand the tech product or service you’re being pitched or aren’t sure what it does or can do for you, get an independent consultant to give you a recommendation and explain what you’re looking at.

Remember, the Dominate principle we talked about earlier still holds true when it comes to the Internet. The Internet is just another media outlet to be leveraged for profit. It’s not a new business for brick and mortar car dealers. It’s a tool to further a build the business you already have.

Your buddies, Jim & Travis, are going to be shaking things up at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp next month in Orlando. Wanna come?

http://tinyurl.com/jtlive

In fact, we’ve been working on a brand new, never-before-seen-or-heard presentation in which we’re going to reveal some of our most coveted marketing secrets.

At the end, we’ll show you how to double the profit at your dealership in the next three months by getting out of the car business. Seem crazy? Yes, but it’s true.

If you’re tired of duking it out in the commodity marketplace, where price is the only determining factor…

If you can imagine selling cars and having fun again, while working with grateful buyers who are happy for you to make money…

Then this is where you need to be.

Click here to get registered: http://tinyurl.com/jtlive

The Boot Camp will be held on April 16th-18th at the Hilton Orlando. It’s a hands-on skills based training program that covers the most important elements of automotive digital marketing strategies: social media, blogging, video, link building, content creation and SEO.

The boot camp is perfect for General Managers and Internet Sales Managers.

The coolest part is that you’ll receive prep materials in advance of the class and come fully prepared to engage in actual demonstrations. You can use your own accounts during the classes so that you can continue your progress after the Boot Camp.

All the details can be found online, and we’ve arranged a nice discount for our friends. Go on and check it out now. This is not something you want to miss.

Click here ===> http://tinyurl.com/jtlive

See you there,

Get the full brochure here:

One of our biggest success strategies is speed. We’re always chasing after it. More speed equals more action which creates more results. But speed doesn’t always mean doing things faster. Sometimes the most speed can be gained from choosing the best place to focus your time, energy and dollars. We call this… looking for the Closest Money.

We are constantly working and refining success strategies and marketing ideas like these to help our private clients and members get more done and have a business and life that more ESP – Enjoyable, Simple and Prosperous.

Now we don’t expect you to spend all your time immersed in marketing and refining success strategies the way we do on a daily basis.

BUT we do expect you to take the advice we give you because we’re boiling it down for you and hopefully making you think about things you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise, challenging you to do things you wouldn’t normally do and making your brain work in ways it doesn’t naturally.

The Closest Money Strategy is something so simple and so critical to your marketing and sales success but we don’t know if we’ve mentioned here in this column before. We at least know we haven’t made a BIG enough deal about it here.

We are only going to be scratching the surface of this concept here…but today it is essential and if you aren’t doing this you need to start immediately leveraging this opportunity for speed!

What we’ve identified recently is a honey-hole for dealers that quite possibly could be the closest money for you.

So I’m sure you’re asking yourself…”Jim & Travis, what are you talking about??”

We’re talking about effectively and systematically collecting your prospects’ and customers’ contact information—including email address and leveraging it fully. That means MEANINGFUL communication sent frequently so you can build authentic relationships with your customers.

Many people who market online understand this concept. But many dealers we encounter do not get the power of this. You need to be actively creating & using a database. Your database is GOLD!

Most dealerships collect their customers’ contact info when they buy something and some do a good job at keeping it current and in a usable state but most don’t even do that. But just as important as keeping your customers’ data you also need to keep your prospects’ information.

If a lead calls up on the phone or an up shows up on the lot you must have to have a system that collects their information. Ever notice how when ever you buy anything at RadioShack they always ask for your full address? They collect the information vigorously.

At the very least you want a prospect’s email address and their permission to send them stuff in the future. It is imperative and can quadruple the effectiveness of your marketing and significantly impact your bottom-line. At best, you want full contact information so you can mail, email and phone them.

So here’s the big question…

How do you get all the info? You need to have a system that allows you to get at least the email of every prospect that calls, comes into your location or that you run into in public. You need something to exchange for their permission to market to them in the future. No one is really going to give you their most valuable possession (their attention and time) for nothing.

So if you are going to have a chance at getting them to give you their contact info and in turn their attention and permission to create an open dialogue and relationship you better have something they want.

We recommend using valuable information and the concept of giving value first.

We’ve all heard of added value after the sale right? We think that is NONSENSE… You are rewarded for the value you deliver to the marketplace in conjunction with what you do potentially better than anyone else. And you have to deliver that value FIRST – Before a sale is ever made.

That’s how you get people’s attention and permission and create relationships and customers for life. That’s how you create raving fans that recommend you and talk about you to others. That’s how you get more referrals than you can handle and that’s how you can harness the power of that elusive, best-marketing-on-the-planet-because-it’s-free, Word Of Mouth Advertising.

But it all starts with aggressively pursuing and making it TOP priority to collect the contact info (especially email) of all the prospects you ever come in contact with. With email you can market to them for free in the future.

These days many people in the car business seem to believe buying a car should be more like a visit to www.amazon.com and less like a visit to your dealership.

We’re seeing a rapid proliferation of tools and services designed to wage a triangular war between dealers, customers and other dealers; services and software designed to “help” you offer the lowest prices, carry the right inventory, list your inventory in all the right places and capture the greatest number of customer reviews.

Here’s what most dealers don’t know: these people (the companies offering these tools and services) are not your friends. They are parasites, feeding off of the relationship that exists between dealer and customer.

Consider this: the dealer pays a service provider so the customer can find the lowest price? That seems backwards. We’d prefer the dealer pay the provider to find the customer who’s willing to pay the most. Quoting Rich Dealers VIP member Tom Ring, “It’s a game to see who will spend the most to sell the least.”

No thanks.

The worst part is that dealers themselves are financing their own demise and commoditization. What’s the worst thing that happened to the airline industry (besides unions)? Online ticketing. Who got hurt worse than the airlines? The travel agents (i.e. dealers). As any industry moves closer to commoditization, where the widget being offered is so easily compared and considered without actually being seen or touched or interacted with by the customer, there is a reshuffling of power, value and profit. When is the last time you went to a travel agency and sat down with an agent to book a trip? Why would you? The agent has been replaced by www.expedia.com.

For you to give money to the soldiers of commoditization makes about as much sense as the travel agent of a decade ago shelling out money to have their name listed on Orbitz. Ultimately your own money is being turned against you. You should be piping mad about this.

If, thanks to specialized spy technology, you’re able to buy the perfect car at the perfect time and list it at the perfect price for quick movement (in other words, for a slim margin), who wins? You or the customer? Of course, who’s to say you’re the only dealer with the spy tool? What happens when everyone relies on the same tool?

If your money fuels the growth of dealer review sites and then you end up getting whacked with bogus negative reviews, who wins? You or the customer?

If someday technology becomes so advanced that a customer could take a virtual reality test drive online, enabling them to smell the car, touch the car, feel the way it drives, then apply for credit online, plug in their credit card for the down payment, then receive the car via priority mail, who would win? You or the customer?

Reality is you’d both lose.

Clearly the dealer would lose to shrinking margins, negative perception and the customer’s ability to buy direct without the dealer. And why should you lose? As a dealer you bridge the gap between auction or factory and consumer. You take the risk on the property and the inventory and the staff. You have a lot on the line. Don’t you deserve to make a profit?

Perhaps not so clearly, the customer also loses. Have you walked into a big box hardware store recently? No help, no expertise. You’re on your own. Have you bought anything online? Sure you can get good deals…but what happens when something breaks or you have a complicated situation that you need to speak to someone about? It’s not such a great deal then.

The online buying environment is only suitable for the simplest transactions. And if dealers’ profits are cut in this digital price war, the customers will suffer right along side the dealers as quality, access and availability of service declines.

The only winners are the technology providers. Do you go into the dealership everyday to help them or to help yourself and your customers?

Buying a car is not like buying a book. Choosing a dealership is not like choosing a restaurant or booking a plane ticket. It’s time we, as an industry, wake up to that reality. The majority of customers don’t know what they want, don’t understand their current trade or credit situation, and don’t know how to go about getting what they need (which is help, from someone like you). All the low price and listing technology in the world won’t help connect you with that customer.

Of course there is a plethora of research that all indicates that buyers are spending more and more time researching online before buying a car. But there must be an important distinction between the role of the manufacturer and the role of dealer. It’s the manufacturers’ job to market and sell their products. It’s your job to market and sell your dealership.

But most online marketing paid for by dealers is all about the product with price as foundation. Why? Because the easy method of lazy marketers is to advertise price. It’s the most basic of all lures. And true, advertising low price is a good way to get lots of customers. But then what? And what’s worse, there will likely always be somebody with a price lower than yours. And in the price war, if you’re not first, you’re last.
All of this amounts to the triangular war we mentioned earlier. It’s you against the other dealers against the customers. There can be no winners in this scenario. Everybody will lose long term.

In addition to the problems dealers are facing online, many are going so far as to actually remove selling from the car sales equation. We suppose this is in keeping with being more like an online store or a big box retailer. You can walk in, browse around, take a test drive if you like without being bothered with a bunch of questions. There will be no pressure and no haggling. This is supposed to be for the customer’s sake. But does anybody really win?

Why “No Pressure” Adds Stress

In our recent car buying experience the “sales” process went on for 3 weeks with one dealership who insisted on applying no pressure. We wanted the cars, but were just waiting around for the right color to come in, waiting to turn in our existing leases. Then one day after being contacted by another competing dealer, we were SOLD in a matter of less than an hour. We drove away two cars a full month before our existing leases were up.

Practicality caused us to delay. Emotion caused us to act. All we needed was a little nudge (that’s what we call sales) and we jumped in. Haven’t looked back and have been completely happy with our decision. The dealer who sold us, helped us. The dealer who is limp and impotent did us no favors.

In retrospect, we have a favorable opinion of the dealer who sold us but the meek dealership who wouldn’t pressure us would not get our recommendation. No pressure doesn’t equal a better online review.

An Unlikely Sales “Smack Down”

Having just completed a renovation of my pool deck, I believed a new grill was in order. I’m not just talking about your ordinary Char-Broil grill from Home Depot. I wanted the S Class of grills, the Weber S-670. Naturally, I went online to do research (about the grills, not the dealers). I found a number of online stores selling the grill I wanted at a substantial discount. But I couldn’t see it or touch it. And I needed to get a sense for how big it was, and how it would fit into the space I had picked out for it.

So I drove to an independent hardware store that happened to be the regional Weber service provider. I had no intention of buying that day. Though I clearly wanted the grill, my sensible side suggested I should order online and wait for it.

When I showed up I was given an enthusiastic demo of the grill and all its features. I was told stories of other customers who had bought this same grill. I was treated well and politely…and I was PRESSURED to buy the grill that day, from there. And I did. I was SOLD. And I paid more for it than I needed to. But I really liked how informative they were and I appreciated their expertise…and I WANTED it. Immediately.

So what does that say? It says that even a high-end customer has wants, desires, emotions. Even a high-end customer can be sold. And though I did my research online to start with, my final purchase was made offline. The relationship is with the Weber dealer, not Weber. And that hardware store owner made and earned a healthy profit, whereas the online store would have made very little.

So really, this is a call to arms. Join us and other dealers in rejecting that “best practice” that suggests you offer your cars at the lowest prices and compete with other dealers for the now buyers at the expense of your profit. It’s not worth it.

Of course, you still need to sell cars. And that’s what we do. As all Rich Dealers members know, there is a wide sea of potential buyers waiting to be sold. And that sea is largely uninhabited and uncluttered by other dealers.

While most dealers are scurrying around chasing after the thin deals of today, you can and should be directing your efforts toward accelerating tomorrow’s buyers to create your own evergreen crop of “solutions” buyers who value your help and the service you provide and are happy to pay more for it. It’s the biggest opportunity in the car business and the most untapped source of customers. Happy hunting!

Although some of the most successful businesses in recent history were launched in the midst of a recession (i.e. Microsoft, GE, FedEx, HP), dealers have a hard time staying calm and believing they too can ride out the current economic storm.

Rather than simply digging in their heels in and resolving to hang in there until the market comes back, too many dealers start to cut ….everywhere and anywhere…. in the name of saving money.

Don’t get me wrong, being prudent with money in a time of economic crisis is a very smart thing to do. If you are wastefully spending your dough, by all means cut.

But in a recession, dealers go to the extremes and cut things that truly are necessary for the growth and vitality of their store. They cut employees, they cut research & development, they cut personal growth, they cut training and worst of all they cut marketing. The cutting back sends a powerful and negative message both internally and externally. The message screams, “lack of confidence.”

Understand that your prospects and customers are nervous as well. They don’t know what the future holds any more than you do. They are looking for confidence and assurance. But in cutting back, you demonstrate a lack of confidence in your business. So if you’re not confident enough to fight, why should your customers give you their hard earned cash?

Remember, no one wants to board a sinking ship.

Nor will a customer spend money on a big ticket item from your store if they think you’re going out of business in the near future. Let that sink in for a moment and now let’s now discuss the best ways to project confidence and security in any recession:

1. Beef Up Your Support Staff. Again, cutting your staff in an economic crunch is a huge fear indicator. Your customers expect support and shouldn’t have to wait hours, days or months for help simply because you’ve let everyone go. Instead, if you want to project confidence and security in the storm, do the opposite by HIRING star talent who’ve recently been laid off or are currently with a company preparing to make cuts. Not only will this give you the support staff necessary to take your business to the next level, but it will prove to customers that your business is here to stay.

2. Increase automotive marketing. Slashing your marketing budget is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in a time of economic hardship. Why? Because people are still spending money. In fact statistics show that consumer spending is higher after a recession period than it was before the recession began. So people do spend, they just are more cautious about what they spend and who they spend it with. Consumers are looking for confidence and value before they fork over their loot. When you stop marketing, you essentially “disappear” to your prospects. That certainly doesn’t display the value and confidence you need to earn new business right now.

3. Provide Value. Everyone’s flaunting low prices and great deals in this new economy. Buyers know they can get great deals anywhere. What they can’t get everywhere, though, is VALUE and that will determine who eventually gets their hard earned cash. So rather competing on price with the guy down the street, focus on increasing your value. Value is your key to commanding higher prices and increased leads….even in a time of great economic distress.

4. Increase your emotional connection. One way to increase the value of what you offer is to figure out how to increase the emotional desire your prospects have for you and your product or service. The more of an emotional benefit you deliver, the more value your customers will experience as a result.

5. Become a Trusted Advisor. Consumers don’t like to be sold. They do, however, like being “guided” into the best choice for themselves or their family. So if you know people want a trusted advisor, be confident and bold about your knowledge of the auto industry. See each sale as an opportunity to educate and provoke thought. Enable others to make solid decisions and demonstrate why your product or service is the best choice. You’ll find your customers much more receptive to this approach and your sales will increase accordingly.

6. Keep In Touch. Communication is a major component for building trust, rapport and consumer confidence. Yet too many dealers can’t pull their head out of the sand long enough to realize the potential of this powerful tool. You see, communicating with your list is one of the cheapest and most effective marketing strategies you have at your disposal. At the bare minimum you should be reaching out to your list once a month by phone, email or snail mail (preferably all three). Also the communication must be personal educational, fun, and interesting or it will never work.

7. Spend MORE, Not Less on Education. Education is NEVER a waste of money. NEVER. When things get tough, most people cut back on what they believe is unnecessary spending or luxury spending. And sadly, people lump things like seminars, books, courses and training into that category. But understand as it relates to your business that education is a vital INVESTMENT, never a waste. It may be that one idea you learn from a marketing coach or online course that could change things forever.

8. Don’t be afraid to ask for repeat business and referrals. Referrals are a powerful way to stimulate new sales and profits for any business. The hardest and most costly thing for any business is to get new clients. During a recession new customer acquisition becomes even more costly and difficult because it takes longer to develop the trust and rapport you need to make the move from prospect to customer. So here’s a solution… your past customers already know, like and trust you (or at least they should), so getting them to come back and refer others is the most effective use of your time, dollars and effort.

Bonus Steps to Prosper in Any Economy

Start a newsletter. It sounds silly, but writing and mailing a newsletter on a regular basis is one of those highly underutilized, money-making opportunities in the car business.
Why?

It goes back to the communication issue we talked about before. People don’t want to buy from a slimy salesman….they want to buy from their friends. So with a newsletter, you can include personal notes to your customers, helpful information, technical tips and more that position you as a friend, confident and trusted advisor.

They key here is that you keep it personal. If your newsletter gets too salesy, the prospect will become suspect and stop listening to all forms of communication from you in the future.
But here’s the thing….you MUST be consistent or it will never work. Don’t start and then stop. That’s deadly. You lose credibility and your customers lose interest. Be authentic. Show your personality, be who you are and let people into your life. And make sure you do it regularly, or don’t do it at all.

Embrace the Power of a “Mastermind”. A mastermind is simply the “meeting of the minds” of complimentary business professionals who collaborate, share ideas and help each other take their businesses to the next level. I know of no better way to make money faster in your business than leveraging the power of mastermind groups.

Taking part in business building discussions with other positive, like-minded and energetic entrepreneurs is a great way to get powerful ideas and encouragement for your own store. Masterminding is about give and take and everyone comes out a winner. Find groups that challenge your ideas, not just pat you on the back. If you’re not in a mastermind group…find one or start your own immediately.

Auto marketing

Instead they want you to brace yourself. They tell you to just fork over your money for a few months and simply “wait and see what happens”…..no need to get all analytical about it…. right?

Wrong.

It boils down to this: if you can’t expect results overnight, how can you expect to stay in business?

You can’t but they don’t care. That’s not their problem.

As long as they get their commission check, all’s fair in love and war. And they’ll keep you hooked on their services for at least a few months by teaching you that “branding” and getting your name out there takes some time. “Don’t panic if your phone doesn’t ring right away” they say. “It takes awhile before the BRANDING does its job and people feel comfortable calling your store”.

Nonsense.

The truth is, you can experience overnight results from your marketing efforts in a way that’s effective, measurable and easy to duplicate each month.

Don’t get me wrong, building a strong, lasting, competitive brand image DOES take a long time. It’s usually built over generations with lots of brain power and TONS of advertising dollars. But if you aren’t Pepsi and don’t have that kind of money to spend, do you have to stick your head in the sand and accept defeat? NO!

You don’t need that kind of seven-figure branding campaign anyway. All you need is an auto marketing strategy designed to produce results. And although a brand can’t be produced overnight, the good news is that …results can!

If your system is sound, your ads are positioned correctly and your marketing uncovers the emotions of your customers, the results will be immediate. You can turn it on and off like a light switch. If you don’t see results right away, one of the factors was faulty.

Brandscending

You don’t have to completely give up on the idea of branding your dealership either.

There are ways to brand your dealership quickly, effectively and sometimes without having to pay for it (which is the best type of branding there is!) We like to call this “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.

There are several components involved in this:

➢ Learn who your prospects are and what they want and give it to them. That’s being interested.

➢ Have a consistent and unique image that’s attached to all of your “results” oriented marketing. Over time, this can help build residual brand effects.

➢ Offer an experience that is fun, unique or risky. Do something that is worth noticing and worth talking about. As people start to notice and talk, your brand value will increase.

The key is this: never, never, never, never, never buy an ad, say absolutely nothing in it and believe that you “built a little brand” or “got your name out there.” You did not.

That is a false message of lethargy perpetuated again by people who don’t have your best interest in mind.

Yes, there is one clear way dealers cheat themselves out of millions of dollars in the car business. And it’s not a “once and a while” thing either. Many dealers make this critical mistake each and every day in their stores. So what’s keeping you from financial success and how can you avoid it in the future?

Let me start with a story.

We ate lunch not too long ago at a local Tepan Grill. You know—the type of restaurant where the guy makes a volcano out of the onion, throws eggs in the air and cracks them on their way down, makes the shrimp dance and land in his chef’s hat?? One of those places.

As we were marveling over the chef’s craft in all this, we got to talking to him and picked up on a few very powerful lessons which directly impact his success in the culinary industry.

After performing some remarkable feats with an egg, the chef explained how he learned the tricks by practicing outside in his back yard…in the grass. He realized that if he practiced in the grass, there was a chance the egg wouldn’t break when it hit the ground. And he could try again with the same egg. He said he began with 4 dozen eggs. And after 48 tries he still hadn’t gotten it right a single time.

He said he considered giving up. He knew all kinds of other tricks with shrimp and onions, etc. And he could toss the knives as well as anybody. Who needed to crack eggs mid air anyway? But he persevered.

The next day he went down and bought another 4 dozen eggs and tried again. This time, he got it right! But only once…

Once again thoughts of quitting entered his mind. But he remembered that he had committed himself to perfecting this routine. The next day…another 4 dozen eggs.

This time success came quickly, and more often. He went down to the store and bought another 4 dozen eggs. After consistent effort, his practice finally yielded excellent results.

And it paid off financially of course, as this incredible stunt wows customers (like myself) and keeps them coming back for more each and every time.

Yet the point of this story isn’t about tossing eggs or simply persevering until you master your craft. No…the message goes much deeper than that. Let me continue with the story so you see what I mean.

The chef told us that the margin of error in performing this trick was less than an inch. If he launched the egg outside of a tiny “sweet spot” on the surface of the spatula, the egg would fly up at the wrong angle and end up in somebody’s lap. But when he hit it just right, it would fly straight up and come straight back down, striking the side of the spatula and landing as a scrambled mess.

Here’s the part I want you to pay close attention to…he adamantly told us that if he feels nervous or afraid, he misses the sweet spot every time. And when that happens, it’s a royal mess. But when he boldly goes for it? Perfection

What a striking statement. We have found the same thing to be true in marketing. You see, there’s usually this “sweet spot” where your offer, your language, and the timing all come together to create amazing effects and ultimately raving fans of your store.

The bad news is that if you’re outside that sweet spot, even just a little, your campaign may fall flat on its face. And if you’re shaky or nervous about doing what it takes to hit that sweet spot, your whole campaign will go off kilter.

Most dealers remind me so much of this chef as he was learning to hit the sweet spot. He was almost willing to give up on his craft that now brings in a ton of dough simply because it was too hard and really not required for the job. It’s like the dealers who try their hand to marketing a time or two then call it quits because “it’s too hard” or “it just didn’t work”.

Well trust me…marketing works. Jimmy and I are two regular guys who will generate several million dollars this year out of a rented town house for an office with little more than a couple of sticks to run together and some good marketing brains.

The key is to learning to hit that sweet spot. That’s what we try to teach others through our coaching, training and consulting….and that’s what you must do if you want to achieve extraordinary success in the auto industry.

Here’s the thing though. So many dealers mentally acknowledge a “sweet spot” exists, but they aren’t willing to overcome is the fear of using their hard earned cash to get there. I admit in the story I used above, eggs were a relatively cheap way to practice hitting the sweet spot. Auto marketing does come with a steeper price tag and because of that many people won’t invest in things they aren’t 100% positive will work.

But that’s exactly when you have a big problem on your hands. The timidity causes you to lose your edge and you blow it.

Think of a time when you told yourself all you need is that one big deal to survive. You’ll carefully spend your money to attract that one big deal—but that deal never comes. But when you have lots of irons in the fire and you’re busy, the clients keep rolling in and you hardly have time to deal with them. That’s because when you NEED to get the client, you won’t. Who knows why. Probably because the client can tell that you’re needy and that causes unease.

So how do you deal with it? How do you break out of that fear and timidity that scream, “I’m desperate for business” or “I’m not ready to play bigger game with my store”?

Well, first of all you have to know what you’re doing. If you’re just guessing and praying, forget it. So you need to learn the marketing craft from someone who knows what they’re talking about. Buy a course, join a coaching program, hire a consultant, whatever.

Then, you have to properly fund your effort….without fear.

That doesn’t mean you need a million bucks. But you do need to be willing and able to lose the investment without losing your ass (or your business).

Think of the guy who had 4 dozen eggs. He wasn’t too concerned with losing an egg. Nor should you lose hope in the process of perfecting your auto marketing craft. Once you hit that sweet spot, you’ll never regret the time and investment you put in to get there.

Finally, you must be bold in your marketing efforts. You’ll need a strong offer with a gutsy approach or you won’t get anywhere. Usually, if a marketing piece doesn’t make us at least a little uncomfortable, we re-examine and try to embolden it somehow.

Remember the story of the chef. If he didn’t boldly confront that egg in the air and crack it with everything he had, it would blow up in someone’s face (literally). Same is true with your auto marketing techniques. If you aren’t willing to be bold, your efforts will blow up in your face as well. But if you can trust the principles of marketing and know that more prospects, sales and ultimately income lie on the other side, you’ll be on your way to measurable success.

We once had a car dealer for a client in Dallas who spent about $250,000 per month on radio advertising. That’s a lot to spend. Of course, when we met him, he spent about $30,000. But we ramped him (and his sales) up with a systematic process. These days he cranks out about $2,000,000 in gross profit per month.

But here’s the interesting part. He would always get on our case if our commercial for the month didn’t generate a lot of complaint calls. He would accuse us of losing our edge or going soft. And he was right! There turned out to be a direct correlation between the number of complaint calls and the number of leads and new customers he experienced each month.

But he wouldn’t have realized that correlation which ultimately made him a millionaire if he didn’t have the stomach or guts to withstand the criticism and complaints from naysayers for a few months. If he would have timidly backed down, he’d still be struggling with the same issues he faced when he first called us for help.

I’m not necessarily recommending that you be offensive in your ads by using that story, but I am pointing out that this guy hit the sweet spot by doing so. He didn’t get nervous and back down. And as a result, he got really, really rich.

So next time you’re getting ready to place an ad or send a letter or do some other kind of advertising, think of that guy launching eggs from his spatula at the Tepan grill. And think about what you can do to hit your sweet spot without fear. And finally, take action!