industry expert / special finance
giveaway to someone who purchased a vehicle during a contest period. (I found out they had done their homework, and it had been blessed legally.) I will tell you one thing; it got my attention and has got- ten their customers' attention.
Second, I believe in consis- tency. If you are in radio this month, television next month, then buy leads a third month and do direct mail the fourth, you really don't give any of the media a chance to work. Com- mit to one or more and give it a run of at least a quarter.
Additionally, you have to un- derstand market conditions— make hay while the sun is shining, as they say in the Midwest. Specifically, I am not going to be the one to try to force the market if the Super Bowl is in town one week or try to buck a weekend home game for the Nebraska Corn- huskers or Green Bay Packers. Sure, people still buy vehicles
on those occasions, but fewer people are really thinking about it, and I am not going to spend the same amount of money to try to reach a smaller body of people.
Search Online reviews count; they really count. Reviews, good or bad, search extremely well on the Internet. Special finance customers can, at times, be challenging with their expectations, and they can be loquacious online. You need to have a strategy and a budget to ensure your customers are being encouraged to post positive reviews and even use tools like Presto Reviews. This will help counteract that occasional negative review that hits on Google, Yelp or RipOffReport.com. You just can't afford not to.
Comply! Finally, from the compliance side (which I will address fur- ther with next month's article),
there never has been a time when you need to pay more attention to your ad copy. With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission now staffed to the gills and needing to show heads on sticks to justify their budgets, get with the program or get in trouble.
I have had very good dealer clients, those who really want to walk the straight and narrow, run afoul of the Truth In Lending Act. Consent decrees and/or fines are not what you want, nor the press releases that then blanket your market. (That stuff searches, too.) Don't use the claims or disclaimers of your ad agency, rep or a competing dealer as a benchmark to make your claims and disclaimers. Contact your state or national auto dealer association, get the rules that you must live by and learn what they mean. As I travel, I can't tell you how many ads I see that are in
blatant violation. In the past, there were a lot fewer en- forcers with a much smaller budget to chase dealers.
In summary, here are the five things to remember:
• Track your traffic and analyze your results.
• Budget.
• Be different and give what- ever you do a chance to work.
• Don't forget online reviews they can make or break you.
• Comply with all the rules and regulations dealers must live by.
Simple as pie! From an execu- tion side, that is about as good as I can do for the masses. If you have specific situations you can e-mail me at Greg@AutoDealerMonthly.com and I will try to help.
Until next month, great selling!
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