NEWSLETTER

Garage Testimonials:

Issue No. 9 | November, 2012

Sam, I just wanted to say thank you for the training you gave us in March. Right Side Info is common speak in our store even among employees that didnt attend your training. Your online training is great, and is used in most of our daily training. I look forward to a full store training meeting again soon. Thanks! C.B. Standridge General Manager, North Texas House of Cycles As always, please continue to give us feedback on the website and suggestions for training topics we can address: sam@samspowersportsgarage.com

Sam Dantzler

In last months newsletter, we touched on challenging old patterns in your business process since many things done today are simply because, Weve always done them that way. This month, I want to dive headfirst into the Virtual Showroom that is the internet. Its more than advertising. Its more than Facebook, and its more than email. There is an entire arm of your business that should be focused on this rapidly changing media. It can be the difference between making payroll, and buying another dealership. Yeah, it is that big. To date, all of my training has focused on the sale inside of your building. Specifically, setting up the front of the sale so slick closing lines are never needed. People naturally want to do business locally, so set them up well. Much like approaching the girl at the bar in hopes for a date; kick off the conversation right, and the possibilities are endless. Screw up the first swing however, and youre perceived as the groveling, desperate guy who cant get a date (Im told). On your showroom floor, capture relationships early with your customer, and the sale becomes a walk in the park. Misstep on the greet however, and youre stuck in a cutthroat game of price wars and discounters. What makes this work is a commitment to a rigid, structured, sales process. When asked in the past about reputation management or internet marketing, Ive always responded with, Why are you spending time and money on driving a bunch of people to your door, only to piss them off because nobody greets them?

Parr Moto is a nationally recognized marketing/advertising company in the Harley-Davidson motorcycle world. Bill Taylor & David Grant, buddies of mine, are two of the guys who have been with Parr from the start. Last year, I had the opportunity to do some joint presentations with them for the Florida Dealer Association. Lets face it, many dealers consider marketing on the internet to be a, Wow, its so cool, but sort of agenda item. Social networking sites, text clubs, newsletters, and banner ads all take constant attention and management. As a result, many dealers opt to outsource this piece of the business. David got up and told a story that happened years prior about blowing up a dealership. A dealership had hired them (Parr) to run an Open House campaign. Parr was responsible for the entire campaign, designing ways to get headcount to the store. From the tent event, the promotions, social announcements, and calls-toaction, they were quite effective in flooding the store with traffic that weekend. As Bill and Dave sat high-fiving each other at the obvious success, they were unaware of the mess that they had essentially hand-delivered to the store. You see, the store wasnt even staffed with half of the necessary employees needed for a normal weekend, much less this full-on carnival they had created. The net result was a 6 bike weekend, when all were anticipating 20-30. By David and Bills own admission, they had caused more damage to the store than if they had not run the event at all. It had failed because nobody took into account that the infrastructure and sales process (or lack of it) was ill equipped to handle the traffic generated by

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the marketing team. At the conclusion of Davids story, he had effectively tied together the similarities of a structured, brick and mortar sales process, and the sales process needed in the virtual space of the internet. From the greeting, to asking for the commitment, to staying in touch, these two philosophies go hand-in-hand. You cant have a strong internet presence without an actual store to back it up. But if A=B, then B=A, right? According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, 62% of Americans research online prior to driving to a store to buy. These purchases range from cars to electronics to cosmetics. Translation: Your Virtual Greeting better be as good as (or better) than your live greeting or you may never get a shot at seeing the customer in the store.

Pay Per Click (PPC) This method involves paying search engine companies like Google and Yahoo to make sure your ad comes up in the first few spots of the search results. You only pay when the user actually clicks on your result, but not for the impressions themselves. This can be useful for many reasons including: Instant visibility, ability to manage results Targeting of keywords that may not be available organically Creating a fuller presence on the search engines for all relevant keywords Its best to think of PPC as your Insurance Policy for the dealership. If all other methods of getting in front of customers fail, this will not.

Strategic Targeting of Your Dealership/Brand Behavioral Targeting Directs ads to site pages based on user searches and former sites visited. This delivers relevant ads to relevant prospects. Demographic Targeting Are you a dirt bike store? A Harley store? An adventure bike store? Know your segment and you can target your demographic. Geographical Targeting This gives you the ability to focus on a particular zip code, street address, etc. The ability to do this with surgical precision, AND measure the effectiveness of the results is incredible. Retargeting Tracks user history after visiting your site Builds a history with all users from your site Places ads on those sites to redirect back to your site

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Making sure the content of your site ranks well for organic keyword searches. Having these words and key phrases in place optimizes the search results to hopefully ensure your company appears on the first page, just under the PPCs. Majority of users click here and not PPC This is where you can optimize the Reputation Management aspect of the searches, utilizing sites such as Google Places & Yelp for customer reviews Its best to think of this method as the Diet & Exercise of your business. This is the daily routine that will allow for its clean growth.

Social Media Powersports is a social activity. Utilizing social media is a fantastic way to keep your customers engaged in your events, model launches, clothing shows, etc. Facebook and Twitter are a MUST Instagram is excellent for the powersports industry Additional social media sites include Linked in, flickr, Google+, Pinterest, etc. If nothing else, go claim the others. Do not allow someone else to go and claim your name on one of these sites, therefore leaving you no control over the content and users. Even if you do not have time to manage them, claim them, and leave them dormant until you find the time to manage them. My philosophy on the internet business has come full circle. Where I didnt used to think it necessary to drive traffic to your store only to piss them off by not greeting them, now I know

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you cant afford NOT to find all avenues to attract new customers. The Motorcycle Industry Council continues to report more than 50% of powersports purchases are made by new buyers, year after year. Times are so different than just 2 years ago. An online presence is a must, and frequency is the key conversion driver. 75% of converted customers visited a site more than 3 times before pulling the trigger. Utilizing just one of the above avenues isnt enough. Often times, the best way to go after this business is to outsource it. If youre looking for a solid referral, email me. Dont ignore the Virtual Greeting. With the economy as fickle as it is, it just may be the only chance you have to drive the incremental floor traffic you crave.

Sams Powersports Garages Facebook page

Sam Dantzler

Visit us online at: samspowersportsgarage.com

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NOVEMBER 2012 1-2 Denver, CO 6-7 Milwaukee, WI 11-12 Essex Junction, VT 13-14 Orlando, FL 19-20 St. Louis, MO 22-23 Angleton, TX 28-29 Houston, TX DECEMBER 2012 3-4 Denver, CO 6-9 Oakland, CA JANUARY 2013 13-18 Denver, CO 19-23 Phoenix, AZ 24-25 Las Vegas, NV 28-29 Dallas, TX 30 - 31 Las Vegas, NV

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