We’re getting some conversation and sharing rolling this weekend with a post by Brian Pasch. He’s looking for the answer to what appears to be a simple question. But, is it?
I love working with car dealers to create a comprehensive marketing road map that integrates traditional, digital, and social media marketing channels.
The more I work with dealers, I am finding that the starting point to create a solid marketing plan begins with a simple question. This question is actually very hard for dealers and their staff to answer effectively.
The question is simple:
Why should I buy a car from you?
Create Your List in 3 Minutes Please
Before you read any further, take this quick test. Grab a piece of paper and give yourself three minutes to write down five reasons why a local consumer should buy a car from your dealership.
Do it right now and let’s see what you wrote down; it is not as easy as you might think with a three minute time frame. No cheating, only three minutes.
If you are really interested in a test, call your sales team together for a quick huddle. Hand out paper and pens to everyone. Ask the sales team to write down five reasons why a consumer should buy a car from them in three minutes.
Let’s see what those responses look like. You will find that at least half of the team will not be able to provide five reasons in three minutes. Some will be tongue tied and other will be frustrated. I see this all the time when I ask this question.
Now that you have your five responses, there are a few things that can be scratched off your list. Take a look to see if you provided any “white noise” responses from the list below.
Why is this exercise important? Without a clear answer to this question you can’t have an effective marketing strategy. Without this list you cannot create a consistent marketing message. Every customer facing employee must know these five points by heart to reinforce the marketing message. All their actions should reinforce the “Why Buy From Us” message each day, especially on a phone call!
Eliminate White Noise
The answers listed below are what I call “white noise” and they don’t differentiate your dealership from any local competitors:
- We take great care of our customers!
- We offer the best deals!
- We treat our customers like family!
- We have the largest inventory!
- We have the lowest prices!
- We are not like other car dealers!
If you included any of the white noise answers in your five, cross them out. Honestly, if you read the newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch TV you will see that these statements are used all the time from local dealers interchangeably.
So, without all the white noise, how many real points of differentiation were you able to provide in 3 minutes? If you did provide five compelling reasons, you have probably taken some time recently to go through this exercise. I bet that you that you realized that your marketing effectiveness had stalled. You needed a series of messages to cut through all the white noise. True?
Share Your Five Reasons
If you took the time to go back and list five good reasons why consumers should buy from your dealership, would you be kind enough to share them here? I would love to have the community provide you feedback on your reasons and encourage a larger discussion on this topic.
This is a more critical task than you might think. Imagine the power of getting a clear message that was supported in all that you do at the dealership.
Why Buy A New Car From You is a post from: Internet sales manager training
