Profit X - Powersports Business Las Vegas Pt.3

8 Proven High Impact Low Cost Sales and Marketing Strategies

Since two sessions were divided at the same time, I had a hard time deciding which one to sit in on. The other session was "5 Musts for Greater Pre-owned Profits". I chose the one that best suited my current position at work, and even though neither one applied to me, I knew the low cost sales and marketing would include some social networking strategies, and I am the social network "guy" at my dealership. Plus, Wanda Kenton Smith, our speaker, came into the room before Don Cooper spoke, and was lively and shook hands with as many people as she could, and was the one person I traded seats with, when moving out of my comfort zone.

For some reason I had a hard time following this presentation. Not that it was a bad presentation, it just didn't grab my attention. I took notes on some very good points Wanda made and I'll share them with you here and give you my take on some ideas our dealership already does and can do.

"Your Website is the new FRONT DOOR of your business" this rings true on a large percentage of our customers. If your like us there are several advertisements that lead the customer to a link to our website. First impressions say a lot. So many of todays powersports websites look the same, there is nothing that really sticks out on a consumers standpoint that would make them want to come and visit the store after visiting and searching the website. So use things on your site that will leave an impression, like, YouTube videos. One that creates an impact, and it does not have to be a big production, in fact amateur videos work. Take videos while walking around the store and introduce them to the departments and the employees that work in them. One idea that came to mind as she was speaking. We recently did a Halloween theme at the entrance of the store, that had giant pumpkins grown from the owners themselves. The display took some major effort by the owners daughter and employees. It would have been great to start a video from the moment the pumpkins were picked up from the garden and delivered to the store and then video taped the assembly of the display and posted the video in super fast time. Then on our social network site post the pictures of all the individuals and families who pose in the display.

Another good idea came as she was describing study groups, focus groups, and having factory reps come in. We have the luxury of having the legend of motorcycles here in our dealership. We could set up educational/training seminars from the legend himself. Like how to change a tire, how to fix a flat, how to clean an oil filter. These could all be short small seminars on a Saturday designed for a small group who pre register for the class. This itself would drive more people in the door each weekend. A class can be set up every weekend or every other weekend and special guest or factory reps can be invited. Our dealership already does something similar, monthly, with a "Movie Nights with the Greats" where legends of motorcross, motorcycles, industry related names narrate movies that they were involved with. The turnout has been incredible.

There was an emphasis made on social network sites. The numbers shared were incredible, with Facebook leading, and Twitter rapidly growing. The amount of potential is staggering and far from it's peak. Definite signs that if your dealership is not social networking, then you are already behind the eight ball. A dealer in the audience stated that he has a hard enough time keeping his employees off the social network sites and cant see allowing it and if he did it would require a full time employee. Being the "guy" for our facebook account I can honestly tell you that less then 5 minutes of time is needed just to post an event a picture or status update 2 to 3 times a day. Plus, if you link your twitter account to your facebook it will automatically post when you update your status. Two birds with one stone. Oh yeah, and it's FREE!!! There was no real answers on how to be successful with the social network sites. There is not enough data to compare what works and what doesn't. Social networking is new and trying is better then not trying.

That's "My Take"