Articles

DEALERSHIP:

Calumet Harley-Davidson® was established in 1993 by Chuck & Cindy Kreisl in Munster, IN. Calumet is “Where Chicagoland goes to ride.”

SOLUTION:

Before working with us, many of our current clients were ‘Market Driven Dealers’. They made reactive advertising decisions and randomly bought billboards, radio ads, TV commercials, newspaper ads and other campaigns because they knew they should be advertising. This left them vulnerable to the weather, market and economy so when the market was up, business was up; but when it was down, business was down.

Calumet H-D® made the conscious decision to put more control in their hands this year. They are now a ‘Marketing Driven Dealer’ because they have a pro-active, integrated, direct-marketing plan designed to touch their buying base 52-104 times per year that is quantifiable. So, barring a natural disaster, they’ll experience predictable growth. 

We started by identifying the ‘Buying Base’ made up of two groups of customers: 1) Past Customers who’ve spent money with your store in the past four years in Sales, Service & Parts. The Sharp Shooter Program helps dealers grow by increasing the number of ‘Active Customers’, those who spend money with your dealership every 12 months. Most dealers have only a fraction of their database actively spending money with them, representing a huge opportunity for growth. 

Next, we focus on 2) Conquest Customers, those who live in your backyard and ride what you sell but haven’t bought from you. These are competitor’s customers and other orphan owners living in the geographical area where the majority of your sales come from. 

Once we identify your ‘Buying Base’, we put together a multi-touch, direct-marketing plan designed to touch them 52-104 times per year. This essentially puts a fence around your herd and guarantees you’re staying in front of every real opportunity you have to sell a unit, parts or service in your backyard.

The message focuses on the party, which increases frequency of visits to your dealership. When that happens, you increase your ‘Annual Average Customer Value’ because when they walk through your door, they are kids in a candy store.  They can’t help themselves but to buy more gear, parts, accessories, service their unit more often and overtime shorten their trade cycle because they’re constantly hanging out with all those beautiful new machines you have on your showroom floor. 

When you increase 1) The Number of Active Customers and 2) Their Annual Average Customer Value, your business grows predictably.

RESULTS:

This is exactly what is happening at Calumet H-D. They’ve executed a Sharp Shooter Event six out of eight months this year (in addition to being a Local Web Dominator client) and they are growing the business. This year alone, the Sharp Shooter Program has generated over 2,400 completed surveys including 191 Service Leads, 683 P&A Leads, 604 MotorClothes Leads and 491 Unit Sales Leads! 

LOOKING FORWARD:

What’s next? October means the arrival of two of my favorite things…New Models and the perfect riding weather! Throw in Halloween and you’ve got three incredible excuses to invite your customers into the dealership. Don’t make the mistake of pulling your advertising dollars back this year. Let us help you kick start a record 4th quarter. Check out our website for hundreds of campaign themes that are proven winners. 

For more information on how the Sharp Shooter Program can help put more control over the growth of your dealership in your hands, give me a ring on my direct line at 877-242-4472 ext: 112 or visit us at www.PowersportsMarketing.com. Happy selling.

“You can feed your ego, or you can feed your family. You cannot do both.” Our old pal, Zig Ziglar, said this and he was right on the money.

Speaking of money, chances are, you won’t make any if you let your ego get in the way. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in business, when customers who feel they have been “done wrong” take it to the internet and blast you, your staff, and your business with a strongly worded negative review.

For some, ego takes over and thus begins the unraveling of what could have been a lifelong relationship with a good customer. The impulse is to make excuses for what happened, argue with them, and perhaps worst of all, write your own heated reply to their review online for all to see.

Studies show that the average powersports enthusiast spends about seven hundred and fifty dollars per year on service, gear, parts, and accessories. That’s a pretty good chunk of change to lose in exchange for feeling like you won an argument. So, how do you save face and these guys at the same time? I’m glad you asked.

A person who has a less than excellent experience with a business is eleven times more likely to go online and write a review about it. Imagine a solution that allows you to ask each and every customer that comes in about their visit to your dealership the very next day. Take that a step further, and imagine that every person who didn’t have a good experience is taken to a private review site, where they can berate you to their heart’s content without ever affecting your online reputation.

That’s exactly what the online reputation management portion of our Local Web Dominator does. Through an automated system, we allow those unhappy customers to vent their frustration and our Feedback tool filters those reviews from the positive ones. I know it isn’t always pretty, but these guys represent a lot of business. You need to hear them.  However, instead of it rearing its ugly head on Google and crushing your star rating, enticing you to respond angrily on your own keyboard, it is quietly emailed to you and your management team. This allows you time to investigate the situation, find the solution, and contact the customer after your ego has had time to pipe down.

The result is that you are able to increase retention, address any systems or processes that led to the problem in the first place, and keep that customer and their money at your store. The Feedback system in our Local Web Dominator has helped many of our clients turn a disgruntled customer into a loyal friend of the dealership.

Call me today and let’s get your finger on the pulse of how happy or unhappy your customers are!

Marisa Tils

877-242-4472  ext 131

Last month, I told you about my sushi guy – Alvin. Great guy who really knows how to take care of his

customers who inadvertently has left a serious vacuum at his previous employer’s restaurant since leaving to start his own.

Let’s talk about the opposite…

I like to hunt. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to really pursue it like I want to. This year will be different. In years past, I’ve always hunted with my rifle, but this year will be different. My son has taken an interest in going hunting with me, and last year I got him a bow for Christmas. He’s pretty good with it, and we’ve had a good time practicing together. Unfortunately, my bow of almost 20 years finally gave up the ghost. Time for a new one.

And our story begins…

I did some research online, since it’s been a while since I’ve been bow shopping. I narrowed my options down to a couple of different bows that I wanted to take a look at, and saw some of the places they were sold.

My son and I hopped in my truck and headed out to a very well-known ‘big box’ sports store so that I could see them in person and decide what felt best. It bears mentioning that I was prepared to spend close to $800 to get what I wanted. I don’t buy bows often, so I’m not scared to spend what it takes to make me happy.

We get to the store, and go to the archery section. There’s a modest selection of bows (a little disappointing), but enough that I might find what I’m looking for.

About 15 feet away from the display (and me) is where the sales counter (and sales guy) are. He is assembling bows for display on the bow press.

He does not look at me.

He does not greet me.

He does not acknowledge my presence in any discernable way.

I start talking to my son about the bows on the wall. I start pulling different bows down off the wall, holding them up, looking through the sights. I wonder out loud about which bow might be best for me, what accessories might be best for each, all kinds of things that a sales guy would interpret as BUYING SIGNALS.

After about 15 minutes, I have had a chance to pull down each bow in the department, look at what I wanted to see, and since the “salesman” had still not seen fit to act like there was even anyone there besides himself, my son and I left.

We went across the street to another ‘big box’ sports store to try our luck there. They only had 4 bows in stock – none of which were what I wanted. Frustrated, we went to a 3rd sporting goods store that was just up the street. They also only had a couple of bows available.

At this point I’m pretty aggravated. It shouldn’t be this hard. Against my better judgment, I go back to the first store. They had bows I was interested in, if the employee would just speak to me.

I’m back at the back wall again. Same guy is still there, perched on his stool like a buzzard on power lines. Still doesn’t speak to me.

At this point, it has become a weird little game for me. I decide to throw enough buying signals his way that any reasonable human being would feel obligated to speak to me. I pick up arrows, a release, broadhead tips, and several other accessories and hand them to my son to hold. I say in a ‘little too loud’ of a voice “I’ll need this stuff to go with a new bow.” Then we wait as I pull another bow off the wall.

A few seconds later, I hear the “salesman’s” voice for the first time. What did he say?

As I heard him begin to speak, I turned around to face him so we could FINALLY start the process of getting a bow.

Only it didn’t go down like that. As I turned around, I saw his hand on the intercom button of his walkie-talkie, and what he said was, “Somebody bring me my Jimmy John’s sub!”

That this man is still breathing is evidence that there is a God.

At this point, I took all the accessories we had picked up off the shelf put them on the counter and advised my son in a voice that a Southern Baptist Hell-fire and brimstone preacher would have been proud of, that these people weren’t interested in selling ANYTHING and we’d buy from someone who appreciated our time and money.

Side note: it’s at times like these that my wife usually won’t walk near me as I leave the store – and I get in trouble in the car for ‘being embarrassing.’ My son stuck his chest out and walked next to me all the way to the truck. Never been more proud…

The next day, I went to a local gun/archery store that’s about 40 minutes from my house. I knew of the place, but hadn’t wanted to drive that far. I sucked it up and made the drive. The front of the store is a gun store, and then there is a big hallway about 15 feet wide that takes you to the back where the archery section is. There are about 200 animal head mounts on the left wall (not an exaggeration) and all kinds of gear on the right wall. When you get to the back, there are at least 200 bows on display. There are 4 bow smiths on duty and they are VERY busy with customers. Stacked deep. Nobody is upset. There is a shooting lane for testing bows there by the counter. It becomes clear pretty quickly that these guys know their stuff, and folks are happy to wait to get helped. As a matter of fact, everyone is talking to each other the whole time. It’s a happening place.

I wander around for about 20 minutes, just trying to take in all the bows and narrow down what I want. Eventually, things slow down enough that one of the guys behind the counter comes around and starts talking with me about bows. He asks all kinds of questions, including a lot of things I hadn’t considered, and eventually I settle on a really nice PSE Brute Force bow. At any of the big box stores, my story would have ended there at a cash register. Not here.

Doug (my new ‘archery guy’) takes me up to the shooting lane and measures my arms for my draw length. He then sets the draw length on the bow to match me. I pull back a few times to make sure, and then he measures me for the peep sight. And goes back and installs that. Then he has me shoot at 20 yards to make sure the peep and draw length are correct. Check. Then he sets the draw weight, and I shoot 5 more arrows. Adjusts accordingly. Then I shoot 5 more arrows and he adjusts the scope. Repeat three more times to get the 20 scope peg sighted in, and I am hitting the bullseye consistently. Feel like a rock star.

He walks me through picking out a release, giving me the benefits of each. We then choose some broad heads for the arrows. It’s at this point that he explains that it will just be a couple more minutes, they are almost done cutting me 5 custom length arrows to go with my new bow purchase. They made 5 arrows SPECIFICALLY tailored to me.

Last week, I bought a brand new bow and left two online reviews. The takeaway here is that people will do online research to find what they want to buy, and will find where they want to buy as well. I researched bows, found what I wanted, and used the internet to find the closest place to get it. When I went there, it was a miserable fail.

In my article last month, a great employee and no owner/customer affinity led to a HUGE loss in revenue for a local business. This month, a big box company spent a lot of time/energy/money to build an online presence that led me right to their door – only to make a horrible impression, piss me off, lose a sale, and harvest a really colorful bad review that I crafted with great enthusiasm. I took equal pleasure in writing a good review for the other guys. Don’t be the first guy, whose company spends huge amounts of money and energy online only to have folks find out they’re jerks.

Dealers who aren’t focused on increasing the value of their customers are leaving themselves extremely vulnerable. The cost and difficulty of acquiring a new customer is tremendously higher than it is to increase the value of an existing customer.  Putting an emphasis on increasing customer value cannot only lead to big dollars in gross profits, but also much higher net profits too. That’s why we’ve often called a customer database, “the hidden gold buried in your dealership.”
 

Before you can improve something, however, you have to know what it is and where you stand. This principle is actually the second of the five Core Values we live by here at Powersports Marketing.

1. Personal Accountability and Responsibility

2. W.G.M.G.D. – What Gets Measured Gets Done

3. ATTITUDE = 100%

4. Commitment to Teamwork and Systems

5. Dedication to Continual Improvement in Business and Life

If you’re not measuring, you’re not improving. How do you measure the average value of a customer? Usually it’s done annually. So, simply divide your total sales in a 12-month period by the number of active customers you had in that same 12-month period. If over the last 12-months you’re at $5,000,000 in total sales and you’ve had 2,200 active customers in that same period, your annual customer value is $2,272.

Once you know that number, your attention must focus on how to improve it. Here are 4 specific ways to maximize your customer value:

1. Don’t do as much discounting. You don’t have to offer a discount to make a sale. Hobbyists/enthusiasts almost always spend more money on their hobby than anything else in their life. Instead, focus on improving your marketing (to increase store visits), customer service (to build loyalty to your dealership), and selling skills (including handling objections) in every department. Don’t just focus your training efforts on the Sales Department; include PG&A and Service as well. Continual selling skills training goes a long way. 

Keep in mind that a lack of training will always equal low margins. The easiest way to close the sale is by discounting. The sale happens when value exceeds price. Rookie and un-trained salespeople will over-use the discount tactic and lower price instead of raising value. While I understand that you have to discount at times, it does not need to be the primary way you win a sale.

2. Increase the size of your transactions. Upsell. Look for related add-ons every single time. A customer buying one piece of apparel will often buy something else when value is built and they’re asked to buy. Helmets lead to a better visor or a jacket.  Jackets lead to gloves. Oil and filter lead to a drain plug washer and a can of brake cleaner and spray polish.

If you can get $10 more per visit from a customer who does 10 transactions per year, that’s $100. Over 5-years that’s and additional $500 from one customer. Done with 500 customers, it’s an additional $250,000. Done with 2,500 customers, an extra $1,250,000.

3. Put a fence around your herd. Customers are only as loyal to you as you are good at marketing to them. When not marketed to, they develop a sense of apathy. Like cattle wander from pasture to pasture, customers will wander from your dealership to the competition. Back to you, back to them. Your marketing must build loyalty and increase the number of times they visit you every year instead of the competition. Marketing guru, Dan Kennedy, often writes on how Direct Response Marketing is the proverbial ‘fence’ that keeps customers in your pasture.  It also immunizes your customers from competitor’s offers.

Every dealership also has thousands of in-active customers (they haven’t done business with you in more than 1 year). Good marketing will reactivate lost customers and increase their frequency of visits as well.

4. Come to our Marketing Boot Camp. We will be diving into this subject much deeper than I can in this article. According to past attendees, you’ll walk away with the equivalent of a “Master’s Degree in Marketing Your Dealership.”  Join us in Atlanta, Monday, October 24th through Wednesday, October 26th. Enroll at www.powersportsmarketing.com/boot-camp Better hurry though… space is limited.

Dealers who aren’t learning new marketing trends, or who aren’t focused on increasing the value of their customers are leaving big money on the table. You’re also leaving yourself highly vulnerable to the ever-changing market/economy. Reserve your spot for our Fall Marketing Boot Camp now… you’ll be glad you did, or we’ll refund your money.  Hope to see you there.

- Tory

You ever heard the one about the two entrepreneurs who set out to make their fortune selling watermelons? As the story goes, these two guys from Texas had a little money and a truck, so they decided they would start a watermelon wholesale business. They would head over the border to Mexico and buy watermelons at the super discounted rate of one dollar each. So, off they went across the border, loaded the truck full, left Mexico and headed towards Dallas selling off the melons for $10 per dozen. Business was so good they were sold out before even making it halfway to Dallas. But, while sitting on the side of the road counting their money, they realized they were a little short on cash from the original amount they started with. They wondered what the problem was as business had been so great. Then the one entrepreneur looked at the other and said, “You thinking what I’m thinking?” “Yes,” he replied, “we need to get a bigger truck!”  

I share this joke, because all too often Dealers choose to focus their advertising, and even their entire business model around sales and discounts. This is a very slippery slope, and it’s important that Dealer Principals understand that fundamentally, business is a game of margin, not volume. If a dealership doesn’t maintain adequate sales margins, no matter how much volume they do, they will inevitably go out of business. This was evident during the recent recession where the total OEM dealer network shrunk by nearly half. The majority of those who went bust during this time did so because of a focus on top-line sales, rather than margin.

But, it’s not just the small guys who make this mistake, many large companies hire ignorant CEO’s who mistakenly think volume and market share are the secret to business success. If this is the case, then in the years of 2000 and 2004, 23 of the 40 biggest bankruptcies of all time wouldn’t have taken place, but they did. Even going further back in history, there is more proof. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter deregulated the airline industry. This allowed the airlines to charge whatever they wanted. So guess what they all did. They lowered prices. All copy-catting the other trying to increase sales volume, and ultimately leading to hundreds of bankrupt airlines. In the 27 years before airline deregulation, no airline went bankrupt. Since 1978 over 160 have come and gone.

Often times it’s the little guy, the local Gilly’s Got It hardware store copy-catting the big guys, like Home Depot, who gets himself into big trouble. Gilly, the little guy, putting up a billboard that says, CHEAPEST PRICES IN TOWN, has just set himself on a catastrophic trajectory towards bankruptcy. From there Gilly will be forced into doing less, cutting corners, decreasing payroll, hiring less talent etc. And it’s very difficult to ever recover from the Big Discounter positioning. “We used to be the cheapest, but now we’re a premium brand,” just doesn’t go over well with local customers.

Small business love to observe what the Wal-Marts are doing and attempt to copycat. Few realize that behind closed doors Wal-Mart and other big boxers struggle with margin too. But, they’re playing a different game, and their business scales different than the local guy. If they only make a nickel off of one item, they may be able to sell 2 million of those items worldwide. Gilly’s is headed to extinction when he follows suit.

So, here’s what happens. The small guy sees what the big guy is doing (discounting) which isn’t necessarily right and he models his advertising in a similar way. Then, some moron (there is one in every market) will then go and copy his competitor and lower his prices even more providing a perfect road map to extinction for them both. Seriously folks, I’m not making this stuff up, it happens all the time.

Then, when a business gets in trouble, it has a cash flow problem. This creates an intolerable situation for the owner. If the bills aren’t paid, then the needed products and supplies will be cut off. If payroll isn’t met, there will be no one to take care of customers. So what’s the owner to do? Shift straight from logic to emotion and say, “If they can sell it for that cheap, then so can we!”

No! It’s a trap, and you don’t want to be caught in it. There is a better way, and just because you’re selling the same products as your competitors across town doesn’t mean you can’t outperform them and out market them without promoting sales and discounts. And, this is exactly why you need to join me, and my team of experts here in Atlanta for our Fall Marketing Boot Camp, October 24 through the 26, where I’ll be covering in detail how and why you can grow new market share and increase retention without discounting. Don’t delay!  Go now to www.powersportsmarketing.com/bootcamp and get registered. There’s a no risk money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose. See you there.

OBJECTIVE:

Empire Harley is a family run business that provides a “premier Harley-Davidson experience” to all their customers.  They pride themselves on being Harley Headquarters for the tri-state area. Randy Medina, the Marketing Director, has an important responsibility to every department in the dealership.  His job is to help Empire Harley increase market share by having a steady stream of new customers coming through the doors.

SOLUTION:

Randy knew that Empire Harley needed to have a strong online presence to attract new customers.  Which is what made the Local Web Dominator an obvious choice for his dealership.  We worked together on a strategic approach to the Google AdWords component of the program to target motorcyclists in the New Rochelle area who were actively searching for the products and brands they sold.  

Additionally, Randy understood that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a quantifiable marketing channel that works like a 100% commission sales person.  SEM targets the folks actively researching the unit(s) they are interested in purchasing. Which means it’s critical for local dealers like Empire Harley-Davidson to have top-of-page placement, with a competitive budget, on model-specific advertising to help drive new customers who may not have otherwise known about their dealership.

RESULTS:

Empire Harley allocated a $2,500/month budget for their Google AdWords account, and has seen an incredible ROI each month as a result. Their Click Through Rate has been well above average in the 6%- 7.33% range each month (Google considers a 2% CTR as strong performance).  But, the metric that really shows where the rubber meets the road is in the conversions.  A conversion is a desired activity AFTER someone clicks on your ad, such as a quote request, contact us, or finance application completed.  For Empire Harley-Davidson, they average 80-120 conversion PER MONTH!  Last month, they had 33 Quote requests & Finance forms completed. With a conservative 10% closing ratio, that would mean that they sold about 3 units last month from their Google AdWords campaign alone, which more than pays for their competitive advertising budget.

Want to see how much more market share you can carve off by having a well-managed Google AdWords campaign with a competitive budget? Does your current SEM strategy generate a positive ROI for your ad budget? Give us a call to get a FREE quote on the Local Web Dominator program: 877-242-4472 or visit us online at 

www.PowersportsMarketing.com.

OBJECTIVE:

Rosenau Powersports started out as a small motorcycle repair shop in 1971 and has grown to a mega-dealership carrying 16 brands of powersports toys in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.  The continued growth and success of Rosenau Powersports is based on the hard-working, passionate, team who strive daily top ensure top-notch customer services.

General Manager, John Rasmussen, knew that if he could get the customers in the door, his incredible team would take care of them and ensure they would be customers for life.  So, he wanted to increase the number of leads they were getting each month for his sales team to drive additional sales.

SOLUTION:

John activated the free Lead Magnet - a digital lead generating tool that is included with the Local Web Dominator program – on his website: www.rosenaupowersports.net. Research shows that today’s customers are motivated to provide you with their information when there is a clear call to action and they know ‘what’s in it for them’.  So, the Lead Magnet encourages unit leads by offering an after-the-purchase premium that Rosenau can customize based on the value of the customer and their purchase.

RESULTS:

Asking customers to tell you what they are looking to buy, and encouraging them to give you their information by offering a premium is a magic formula for growing leads and generating more sales. It’s so magical that the Lead Magnet generated 215 unit leads in the past 4 months.  That’s 53 leads per month!  If John’s team is able to close only 10% of those unit leads, that would generate 5 unit sales per month from this single lead source alone.  That’s more than $5,000 in profit EACH MONTH!  Man!  That’s some seriously profitable magic.  And, the incredible team at Rosenau Powersports is making the most out of those additional leads each month.

Want to see how the powerful Lead Magnet can generate that kind of ‘magic’ for your dealership? Give us a call to get a FREE quote on the Local Web Dominator program: 877-242-4472 or visit us online at www.PowersportsMarketing.com 

DEALERSHIP:

Four Rivers Harley-Davidson’s is located in beautiful Paducah, KY just off the banks of the Ohio River. Four Rivers began many years ago as Watson’s Harley-Davidson® which was later purchased by the Sills Family becoming Sill’s Harley-Davidson.  In 2005 Jack Fares and Jerry Carter purchased the dealership and under their direction Four Rivers Harley-Davidson has become one of the largest Harley dealerships in the country. 

SOLUTION:

Big or small…if there’s one common challenge we hear from the thousands of dealers we talk to each year, its marketing. How much to spend, where to spend it, what to say, who to say it to, hire marketing staff or outsource; it’s overwhelming. Most dealers lack a marketing plan and end up shooting from the hip, leaving themselves vulnerable to the weather, market and economy. 

The Sharp Shooter Program puts more control into our clients’ hands by focusing on two areas:

1) We Grow Your Active Customers, by reactivating lost customers (those who haven’t spent money with you in the last 12 months) and by driving new customers through the door (competitor’s customers and orphan owners that ride what you sell, live in your backyard, but have never bought from you). 

2) We Increase Your Annual, Average Customer Value by increasing the frequency of visits to your dealership. If we can simply increase the amount of times they visit your dealership each year, they will buy more parts, more accessories, more gear, they’ll service their unit more often and they’ll shorten their trade cycle. Ultimately, loyal customers close at a higher rate and increased margin, because they’re 

less likely to haggle over price.

The single best dealership in the country has a huge opportunity to reactivate lost customers and increase the number of times their customers walk through their doors each year. Most dealerships have less than 30% of their customer base spending money with them every 12 months. Which means 70%+ of them are not. The average customer in the powersports industry spends $750 per year in Parts, Accessories & Service…which means, if they didn’t spend it with you, there’s probably a good chance they spent it with someone else.

Second, we go after Conquest prospects. These are people who ride what you sell, live in your backyard, but have never bought from you.  Essentially, these are your competitor’s customers and other orphan owners in your market area.

Once we identify the right target audience, we touch your buying base 52-104 times per year. We know at that frequency, we increase the number of visits to your dealership they’ll make each year, therefore increasing their Annual Customer Value. We’ll also reactivate those customers who haven’t spent money with you in the last 12 months and drive new blood through the door.

RESULTS:

Four Rivers H-D® just finished up their first of many Sharp Shooters. Paducah, KY is not a huge city with a population of just 25,000 people. For their first campaign, we marketed to 5,000 people and had over 1,000 responses! A total of 1,012 surveys were completed, which created a total of 368 sales opportunities in P&A, Service, and riding gear, PLUS 163 responses for a new or used bike. They said, “Traffic was great. Sold some units and over the counter sales were great all day.” Along with their Account Executive at Powersports Marketing, Four Rivers is planning out their next 12 months of marketing.

LOOKING FORWARD:

What’s next? September and October means the New Models are arriving! New models to your customers is better than Christmas morning is for most five year olds. No matter what brand(s) you carry, this is the one event you don’t want to miss! If you’re a Harley Dealer, you’re required to host a New Model Open House between September 22nd & September 25th. Let us make this the best new model open house you’ve ever had and kick start the 4th quarter. 

For more information on how the Sharp Shooter Program can help put more control over the growth of your dealership in your hands, give me a ring on my direct line at 877-242-4472 ext: 112 or visit us at www.PowersportsMarketing.com. Happy selling.

If you’ve been reading our newsletter for any length of time, you know that I’m the guy who’s “got a guy” for everything. You need a haircut? I got a guy. Need clothes? Got a guy. Looking for a car? Got a guy. Best sushi in Atlanta? Got your guy.

I get a lot of friendly joking about that, but that’s okay. I get asked for recommendations a lot. 

An interesting thing happened this past week that really made me think, and I want to share it with you.

It started about a year and a half ago. I found out about this sushi bar here in town, and heard it was pretty good. Tory and I are both sushi fans, so one day we went there for lunch, sat at the bar, and struck up a conversation with the sushi chef, Alvin.

Turns out, Alvin is a really great guy and an amazing sushi chef. Like, really amazing. He worked as a chef in South Beach for 19 years.

On top of that, he’s extremely personable, provides over the top customer service, and seems to never forget anything. We dragged Rod up there (he wasn’t a sushi guy at the time) and Alvin made him a ‘Trust Me Roll.’ As the name implies, you order it and trust him to make it. It’s never the same thing twice. Rod mentioned he doesn’t like cucumbers or mayo, and the next time we went, Alvin made him another – mentioning that he wouldn’t use mayo or cucumbers.

Over time, it’s come to the place where Alvin and I are friends on Facebook, and when he gets something really good in (like Bluefin tuna or Sea Urchin) he’ll text me pictures – and I come spend money. And I’m not the only one who has that kind of relationship with him. Sometimes the texts I get have 20 other people on copy.

There are three companies here in Peachtree City that are Japanese and who bring folks overseas here to work for extended periods of time. All three have had him cater large business functions for them and their employees eat there for lunch all the time.  This guy is good.

We also have an interesting ‘California crowd’ because Pinewood Studios is located a couple of miles to the east of the restaurant (they film all the Marvel movies) and just to the south of the restaurant is the main filming location for The Walking Dead. Both of those crowds visit Alvin twice per week for dinner.

The bottom line is that the place is a real hot spot, and it’s just a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place that is really easy to miss. 

Now, Alvin isn’t the owner – but I thought he was for a long time. I mean, he deeply cares for what he does, always greets me by name and asks about my family (by name), he has my cell phone number, texts me, Facebook friended me, and messaged me there, I mean who does that that isn’t in an ownership position?

He has an ENORMOUS following. It’s amazing. From Hollywood stars to much humbler folks, everyone seems to like Alvin and his sushi skills.

Here is where it gets interesting. Alvin is so good, that when he takes a day off for vacation, family emergency, or whatever, people will come in, see he’s not there, and walk out. Tory, Rod, and I have done it on several occasions – walk in, Alvin isn’t in today, walk out. And we aren’t alone, it happens a lot.

Well, there are two owners of this restaurant, and long story short, there was a little dust up over Alvin taking time off. The guy works literally all the time, but when he’s gone its crickets, and the owners don’t like it.

So there has been a little friction, but Alvin is a stand up guy and continues to work for several months. Then one of his good friends, a producer for The Walking Dead, asks Alvin if he wants to open his own place. After a lot of soul searching, Alvin decided to do it. He joined with a couple of investors, has left the restaurant where he was working, and will be opening his restaurant in a month or so. 

He hasn’t been ugly about his old restaurant, hasn’t bad-mouthed them or anything, but based on what I am seeing on Facebook – and the parking lot – business is WAY down. A lot of folks (myself included) have kept in touch, waiting for the new restaurant to open. 

Okay, so what’s the take away here? As Rod and I were driving by the empty parking lot (which we used to struggle to find a spot in) something became pretty clear.

The owners of the business had built no affinity whatsoever with us – but Alvin had. When Alvin left, we left too. This situation really highlights how important it is as a business owner that you build affinity with your customer base. Your customers need to know who you are, because people buy from people they know, like, and trust. If they don’t know you, they are susceptible to being lured away by employees who leave, other dealerships who build that relationship, or friends and families who may do business elsewhere. The number one reason people quit doing business with a company is feelings of apathy.

The sushi restaurant lost our business because they never built a relationship with us, so when the person who did do that left, so did we.

A motorcycle dealership can be the same way. I remember times where an “A” level tech left, and we lost customers because in their mind he was the only one that could work on their motorcycle. I also remember having to fire a Parts Manager, who then went to work at another dealership, and took some customers with him.

Same with Service Managers and Salespeople. Back then, we didn’t yet have the understanding of marketing best practices to minimize that effect – now we do.

By building affinity with your buying base, you will make them immune to other offers. This happens when you touch that buying base 52-104 times per year, making you the go to guy when its time to make purchases.

52-104 sounds like a lot of touches and a lot of work, but it’s really pretty easy to do, especially with the done for you programs that we have for you. The combination of Sharp Shooter campaigns and our Local Web Dominator packages builds that relationship with your buying base for you, allowing you to be much more in control of your business growth and less susceptible to outside influences.

If you haven’t yet been involved with either of these programs, it’s time. I encourage you not to wait any longer. We have the data to back up what I’m talking about and are happy to share it with you. 

One last thing, if you haven’t yet registered for our Fall Marketing Boot Camp, hurry and do so 

(www.PowersportsMarketing.com/boot-camp). Space will be limited, but we will be going over marketing best practices and sharing case studies that show how you can be more successful and profitable. 

Last month, I spent three days in Nashville, TN at the Polaris Dealer Meeting. I always enjoy spending time with ourclients and prospective clients learning what’s going on in their market place, and understanding some of the challenges they’re facing. I’ve noticed a trend lately and it carried true at the Dealer Meeting as well. It’s very obvious that dealers are struggling with what works and what doesn’t work in marketing. They have a budget, and they’re spending it with no way to quantify the results – and it’s incredibly frustrating.

Speaking of being quantifiable, I love the quote from John Wanamaker that Rod wrote about. He said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” 

This brings us to the original question for this article… what really works? Should you be doing radio, TV, billboards, newspaper, print, and direct mail?  And that doesn’t even include digital – search marketing, display advertising, remarketing, SEO, mobile apps, etc.

You have a seemingly countless number of options for advertising. You’re most likely receiving multiple phone calls per day and/or salespeople walking through the front doors claiming they have the greatest new whiz-bang silver bullet marketing product that will change their life.

The world of marketing is more convoluted than it’s ever been.  The bad news is that it’s only going to get worse. The good news is there’s something you can do about it - attend our Fall Marketing Boot Camp coming up in October where we’ll specifically highlight what works, and how to avoid all of the wasteful options you’re given every day. 

Our Fall Marketing Boot Camp is in Atlanta starting the afternoon of Monday, October 24th and ending on Wednesday, October 26th and it’s only $249 to attend (Early Bird Special ends 8/31). Register now: www.powersportsmarketing.com/boot-camp 

Not only will we break down what Media you should be utilizing, we’ll have sessions devoted specifically to how to craft a compelling Message.  Even if you are taking advantage of the right Media, if your Message isn’t good no one will respond. 

We’ve received dozens of reviews on www.PowersportsMarketingReviews.com from dealers who’ve attended our past Marketing Boot Camps. Visit the site above and scroll to March 11, 2016. You’ll see where Dixie from Vandervest Harley-Davidson said: 

“We strongly feel that we will see an increase in sales this year while spending less on our marketing and advertising. Thank you to all the presenters for the great information that can be immediately applied to our dealership.” 

It no secret that when you invest your budget each month in a manner that uses the right Media to put a compelling Message in the hands of the right Audience at the right Time, you will achieve an increase in sales that is quantifiable.

Quinn from Tytler’s Cycle posted the following review on October 29th, 2015 after attending the Boot Camp last fall. 

“In the Powersports industry you are regularly approached with solutions to get the word out about your business. … Now, having attended their Fall Marketing Boot Camp I have accelerated the process for building a successful game plan. I walked away with a Masters Degree in marketing for the Powersports industry. They walk you through the why and the how to approach each channel. We now have the tools and resources to cut through the noise and build a better business for our clients. Powersports Marketing is a fantastic organization with great people that truly care about helping you build the best business for your clients. Highly recommend their work and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.”

This Boot Camp is NOT a pitch-fest of our products. You will be motivated, and leave armed with the very best ways to market your dealership. In fact, Virginia from RideNow Concord wrote: 

“Hi Guys- First I want to thank you all for having me at your spectacular Spring Marketing Boot Camp! I left with a ton of knowledge. I’ve attended multiple classes before and yours is one of the only classes I have walked away from fully motivated! All of your speakers were phenomenal!”

Stop what you’re doing and visit www.powersportsmarketing.com/boot-camp and I’ll see you here in October.

-Tory