Articles

 Dealership: 

Rossiter’s has been owned and operated by Rick Rossiter in Sarasota, FL for over 20 years. From unique art sculptures to the owner’s personal collection of early model motorcycles, they have attractions for everyone including, ‘by far, the friendliest staff in the country!’

Solution: 

For their first Sharp Shooter Event, they decided to target 3,500 conquest prospects who ride what they sell, live in their backyard but hadn’t bought from them. They also called past customers and emailed everyone they had an email address for in their database. Using a mix of active, inactive and prospect customers, they knew they could reactivate customers who hadn’t spent money with them in the previous year, drive some new blood through the door and increase frequency of visits of their existing customers while increasing the number of customers spending money with them and the amount they spend in 2017.

Since the loneliest number in marketing is one, we used 12 direct marketing touches. By giving customers more opportunities to respond to the marketing, we increase the amount of traffic on event day and the number of leads being generated. Bigger picture, we’ve learned Powersports Dealers need to touch their Buying Base a minimum of 52-104 times per year to increase retention and...

OBJECTIVE

Louisiana Power Sports provides superior customer service to the Northwest Louisiana area, just outside of Shreveport. Owners Vicky and Jimmy Gould know that everything about their dealership is passion-based and that they must continue to reach the hearts of their local enthusiasts if they are going to continue to grow their business. Marketing their dealership isn’t about creating enthusiasts – it’s about reaching folks in their market who are already passionate about their powersports, and converting those people into fanatical customers.

SOLUTION

Vicky worked with her Account Executive, Bill Gallagher, to create a compelling digital marketing strategy through the Local Web Dominator program. One of the features included in that program is Facebook advertising. Through the use of this extremely powerful social media channel, Louisiana Power Sports was able to target local enthusiasts in their market with a compelling message and invitation to visit their website.

RESULTS

Last month, their Facebook advertising campaign created 253 additional website visitors for only $150 of ad spend. Plus, 15,612 unique powersports enthusiast in the Shreveport market saw one of her ads on their mobile phones or desktop computers. One of the great features of Facebook advertising, is th...

Let’s just be honest here, marketing can be difficult.

There are literally thousands of different channels to use, and all of them tout themselves as being the best thing since sliced bread. 

For years I’ve heard from marketing managers and read in trade magazines about all the virtues of different marketing methods – everything from billboards to television, radio, newspaper, twitter, Facebook, AdWords, Instagram, and now I’m supposed to have my chat snapped…?

But, how do you really know which work and which don’t?

That’s the problem.  The answer is easy – unfortunately, it’s usually not very much fun.

We found our “religion” at Powersports Marketing a long time ago, and it’s served us (and our clients) extremely well. Our religion is Direct Response Marketing, and it’s nothing new. Been around for decades. Not particularly flashy – but it’s the best way to make sure your energy and expense for marketing are doing what they’re supposed to – getting a return on your investment.

Knowing what works or doesn’t is determined by one of the 10 rules of Direct Marketing – there will be tracking, measurement, and accountability. In your dealership, you track money and hold it accountable. You see how it behaves on your P&L and balance sheet. When it’s not behaving as it should, you take...

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 Ever heard the old saying, “The only thing worse than spending the time and money to train your staff and they leave, is not training them and they stay?” In the last 20 plus years of attending dealer meetings, trade shows, and 20 group meetings, as both a dealer and a seminar presenter, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with many great, and many not so great, dealers.  The consistent common denominator for the high performing dealers that I’ve met is that they believe in training and are willing to invest in training for themselves and their entire staff.  

As for many of the other dealers I meet, I’m amazed they invest hundreds of thousands, if not millions in facility and tens of thousands in computer systems, inventory, payroll, advertising, and special tools, but aren’t willing to invest one cent in their own education or the training of their staff. 

But I was reminded of something recently while meeting with a dealer. Most Dealer Principals (myself included) got into the motorcycle business because of a passion for the sport and the products. Not because they were excited about learning selling skills, marketing best practices, inventory control, accounting, finance, etc. 

When I first entered the business, I ignorantly thought that because I was a hardcore rider and enth...