On a busy afternoon the phones were ringing off the hook, so to help out, I answered one of the flashing lines. The first thing I heard was, “I really need your help!”

After the customary greetings, this dealer told me his story. He said, “We received a call yesterday from an elderly lady who told us she had seen a car in our Sunday newspaper ad and that she might want to buy it. She was asking a lot of questions about the car and wanted to know if she could purchase the one in the picture. She said that she did not want one similar to the picture, but wanted that exact car. I assured her that we had that exact car on our property and she could come down and see it, drive it and purchase it. Then she said the strangest thing. She had lived in our town for several years, but did not know where our dealership was located. I asked her if she ever shopped at the large box store off Main Street and she answered yes, about once a week. I told her that we were just across the street from the entrance to that store. She answered that she had seen cars parked in a lot across the street, but she did not realize that we were a car dealership.”

The Two Second Rule
Many times, a dealership in a high-density area might just blend in to their surroundings. With heavy traffic and congestion, sometimes a customer will only have two seconds to glance over and scan your lot. Sometimes the simplest of messages will grab his or her attention and ultimately make a big difference in your bottom line.

Attract Some Attention
“Truck Sale,” “$10,000 Off” or “0 Percent for 72 Months” are a few examples of the many messages that are very easy to quickly read and will stick in a potential customer’s mind. Getting an idea out there is pretty simple with removable graphics or large bungee boards on the windshields of your front line cars.

Remember the “two second rule,” and relay that important message to your customer.

Point of Purchase Graphics
Many high-volume dealerships are successfully bringing in drive-by customers and boosting their sales by using a simple, easy-to-read message on their front line cars. Once the customer is on the property, the dealership can then supply the customer with tons of information with custom decals on each car. Special financing deals, options packages, dealer incentives and rebates are often relayed to the customer through special custom decals and QR codes on each vehicle.

With hundreds or thousands of cars whizzing past your dealership every day, the potential for new car sales may be just passing you by. Remember the two second rule and send out a message to the potential buyer that this dealership is different from the rest and that you have something special to offer. Point-of-purchase graphics and decals may just be your answer for the new year. James Davis