Recently, my life has taken a turn. I went from being a single guy driving a sports car to ring shopping for my girlfriend, a mother of two. My needs changed and therefore I needed to get rid of the sports car and buy a truck. We set a budget of how much to spend and narrowed our options down to a couple of different makes and models. Now begins the process of waiting on the right deal to cross my path.
Many of your customers are in the same position. Different details, but they are looking for a deal. This is where your advertising comes into play. You market online through Facebook advertising. You use Google ads and other pay-per-click advertising. Maybe you have a billboard or two and run radio ads. But are you maximizing your reach?
I’m sure you have noticed the items by the register in any store. People buy them just because they see them. My biggest question for you is, what do potential customers see when they pass your dealership? You advertise everywhere, except so many dealerships don’t use their own lot. Are you using your property to its fullest capability?
People will forget what they saw on a billboard or heard on the radio. As for me, if I drive past your dealership and see a car or truck for the price I want, I am pulling in to look at it. Because I know from the beginning the price is right, your chances of selling that vehicle to me increase exponentially. Yet, so many dealerships overlook this simple and cheap advertising method. The property is yours, so use it. Put up banners and flags, decorate the vehicles, put those big sale items out by the road to gain attention (just make sure people driving by see that they are the big sale items).
During my truck search, I glanced at the inventory of every dealership I drove past, new and used. Trying to remember what dealership I had passed with the good-looking truck, find their website and hopefully find the price was overwhelming. I forgot more than I remembered. If I could have seen the price as I was driving by, and it fit within our pre-determined budget, I would have pulled in and very likely bought it.
Don’t miss out one of the cheapest advertising methods out there: your own property and inventory. Grab the eye of every potential customer driving by. Think about this: if your sales staff can get someone who is just browsing to consider buying a vehicle, what do you think they could do with someone who sees you have their dream car at the right price already?
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