Three keys to sales success in your dealership Pt. 2

So, last time we talked about quality lead generation and I gave you a simple challenge.  Did you accept it?

I hope so.  And, congratulations if you did take action.

Now that you’ve taken action on the lead generation opportunity, let’s turn our attention to converting the leads we do have to face-to-face sales opportunities.

Once you have a quality lead, the next step is to get them face to face with your highly trained sales staff. Often, dealers miss one half of the successful combinations on this one.

The one-two punch is the sales person’s follow-up and an impactful communications strategy of the dealership. We call it a “24/7 Boat Selling Machine.”

This machine compliments your sales person’s manual effort and gives them additional tools to get face to face with the prospects.

These tools consist of monthly relationship newsletters, monthly boat previews, weekly Facebook Live videos, frequent events, strategic offers and smart digital ads targeted specifically at your leads.

Sounds like a lot, right?

It certainly can be, however with a systematic approach it’s much easier than it first sounds.

Let’s say its boat show season. You may decide to do a pre-show event at your dealership. That single event can be the basis for almost all of your follow-up communication to all previous leads over a 30- to 60-day period.

Here’s how that might go:

• You start by making a specific offer that’s compelling for those considering buying a boat in the next six months;

• Your sales staff calls 20 to 30 leads a day to invite them to the event and share your compelling reasons to buy;

• You do a series of live videos giving all the details, including the reasons to attend the event and compelling reasons to buy;

• Those videos are repurposed and added to your dealership’s relationship newsletter and boat previews;

• And, if you want to invest some ad spend, you shoot a video (or repurpose the best live video) and run some digital retargeting/remarketing ads on the best platform for your dealership.

Layer on top of this communication strategy a campaign to attract additional leads to the event and you’ll have a framework for your pre-show event every year.

Yes, it is a lot of work, but when you have one of your best pre-show events in history, won’t it be worth it?

Before you let your sales staff convince you that you have a lead problem make sure all the pieces of a 24-7 Boat Selling Machine are in place. 

Which leads to this month’s challenge:

Review your dealership communication strategy that supports your sales team. Do you consistently send a relationship based newsletter and boat preview to your entire lead base? Are you using weekly Facebook Live videos? Do you events at your dealership at least 6 times a year? Do you create compelling reasons to buy throughout the year?

If not, select a reason to host and event and create the tools to support it.  Then, ensure your sales staff does their manual follow-up effort to drive the face-to-face opportunities and sales.

Matt Sellhorst is the founder of Boat Dealer Profits Marketing Agency and author of the only business building book for the retail boating industry,  “Boat Dealer Profits; How the SPLASH System can help you sell more boats, make more money and have more fun.” Claim your free copy at  www.BoatDealerProfits.com/freebook.