Articles

OBJECTIVE

Harley-Davidson motorcycles are in the blood of the Adamec Family.  The owners are 3rd generation Harley riders and plan to carry their family tradition far into the future.  One way this die-hard family of Harley enthusiasts has stayed true to their mission is by creating riders in their market who are just as passionate about the brand as they are.  With the help of their Marketing Director, Sarah Blaylock, the Adamec Harley-Davidson family wants to continue to bring their enthusiasm to the Jacksonville area and continue to grow the Harley family.

SOLUTION

Sarah uses email marketing as one of the many tools in her arsenal to create an integrated marketing strategy to drive new traffic to her website each month.  She’s been using the industry’s only powersports-specific email system, Firestorm Email, to create killer emails each month to send to her ever-growing email list. She incorporates the fun new templates into her emails each week to ensure the theme taps into the conversation already going on in her customers’ heads, such as: Americana, Labor Day, 2018 New Models, Harley-Davidson, Back to School, etc.

Plus, Sarah activated the Marketing Automation feature within Firestorm email and is now automatically sending an email to customers who visited a new or used inventory page of the Adamec Harley website the previous day, and inviting them down to the dealership for a 1:1 demo ride.  So, her sales team is getting appointments set for the dealership without having to lift a finger!

RESULTS

Through the Firestorm Email system, Sarah sees an open rate of about 11% on a consistent basis, and her click through rate is averaging about 12%!  That’s HUGE!  A strong Click Through Rate is typically about 6-8%.  Sarah is creating emails through Firestorm with DOUBLE those averages.

And even more powerful are the Marketing Automation emails – In just 1 week, the system automatically sent an email to 390 customers who had visited an inventory page of their website.  Of those customers, Sarah set FIVE demo ride appointments for her sales team.  Wow!  That’s just one week – and the emails were done automatically.  That is some impressive email marketing that WORKS!

Does your email marketing campaign generate those kinds of quantifiable leads for your sales department? If not, give us a call today to see how Firestorm email can make a huge impact in your website traffic and online leads: 877-242-4472.

Just got back in the office from our latest Marketing Boot Camp, and as usual, it was a blast. We had a lot of great dealers from across the country in attendance, and there were a lot of great ideas shared back and forth. I had the opportunity to get to know some really great folks as well (Roger from Don Wood – import performance guru/ninja got me thinking about a new Honda sleeper, and Taylor from Big #1 has me planning a trip to Alabama for a UTV).

It was also my first opportunity to sit with dealers as they learned the full scope and potential of our Firestorm suite of products. They started learning about Firestorm Websites and how they are true conversion machines when used in concert with - what is arguably the most revolutionary bolt-on to web sites ever – Firestorm Onboarding. Throw Firestorm Email into the mix and you have a true conversion juggernaut that allows you to truly be a marketing driven dealership, experiencing predictable growth year over year while your competition wonders what you’re doing.

Shameless plug? Maybe a little, but it works so well it won’t be the last time I do it.

The Firestorm suite is a massive automated marketing engine, and like all engines, it needs fuel to run. Now, it will generate fuel on it’s own, but the process can (and should) be accelerated with fuel you already have.

That fuel? Data. Good, clean data is what you need to feed your automated marketing engine. 

In a nutshell, there are three data sources in your dealership that need to be populated and accurate. 

First is your mail file. In order to be able to reach out to that critical 3-6% of folks who ride in your area – and can bring in their friends and family – you need a clean mail file.

Fully filled out names and addresses are the rule. First name (one name only) Last name, accurate street address, city, state and zip info – ALL SPELLED CORRECTLY -are a must. 

Email addresses are becoming total non-negotiables. Think about it, your email addresses are linked to everything from your online banking, shopping accounts, investments, doctor’s office, and subscriptions. It’s important. Get it.

Phone numbers are critical as well. From a marketing perspective, call blasts are extremely successful ways to market, even given that politicians have passed restrictive laws to try and make it so they are the only one who can use them. But now, we’ve developed a new unique technology for cell phones that is just as effective without all the legal restrictions. It’s amazing. Get cell phone numbers (all ten digits).

Having good accurate data is a must, and has to be a part of the dealership’s culture - and culture always flows down from the top. Set the tone and inspect all the time. Let your staff see you inspecting. Reward folks who are doing a good job with lots of positive reinforcement – maybe even incentivize it. It’s that important. 

So, here’s the bottom line. The Firestorm suite of products is a beast of a system that was designed by motorcycle enthusiasts who spent time as dealers, FOR motorcycle dealers, with solutions for the specific marketing pain points that all of us have experienced. And it works.

If you aren’t already using our Firestorm products, now is the time to get started. Give us a call to talk about it.

Talk soon,

Brad

In this 100th Issue, I’ll breakdown what’s offered in our Local Web Dominator, which is Powersports Marketing’s suite of digital solutions.  Here is what’s available within our different packages:

Reputation Management – It’s no secret that online reviews are just as powerful and trusted as word of mouth.  Our reputation management system grows online reviews (primarily Google reviews) to make your dealership the obvious choice in your local market area. We even create a custom review site to boost SEO. The good reviews go for all to see. The bad is sectioned off into what we call Feedback, and only the dealership’s management team can view them. (Note: We do not remove bad reviews. Call 1-877-242-4472 for more information on our proprietary Feedback system.)

As consumers view your review site they’re able to see reviews for your team members. Consumers are more likely to choose the employee with the best reviews, so your staff has something to gain by asking for reviews. This is called the Employee Ranking System.

Reviews & Rankings Mobile App – This app really drives the Employee Ranking System because your frontline staff uses it to email the customer a picture of their purchase at the point of sale. This is particularly effective in the Sales Department. Who doesn’t want a picture of themselves with their new ride shared on Facebook the day they bought it?!  This image is also saved in our database to be used for future marketing to that customer. 

Directory Listing Submission – We submit accurate data to the top four Data Aggregators to boost SEO. This includes your dealership’s name, address, phone number & website. The more your dealership’s information is consistently listed online, including your website, the more backlinks/citations it creates. 

SEM/AdWords Management – Search Engine Optimization is very important, but it doesn’t cover all the bases. Pay Per Click advertising ensures you’re on the first page of Google when prospects in your area are searching for what you sell. 

Facebook Advertising – Whether you’re looking to increase traffic to your website or grow your ‘Likes’, our dedicated team of Facebook Specialists can give you the biggest bang for your buck. 

Firestorm Email System – Our email platform is an easy to use drag-and-drop solution that includes done-for-you content that’s cool & creative. It’s not built for Nancy’s Bakery & Carl’s Shoe Store... it’s built for you. It generates higher open rates and more clicks. In fact, when clients use Firestorm Email as prescribed it quickly becomes the top source of traffic to your website! 

Firestorm Onboarding – I’ve written about this subject a lot lately because the amount of leads/sales/revenue this solution can produce is ridiculous. First, let’s cover the challenge. 75% to 80% of your websites page views are of your inventory. Sweet, right?! The gut punch is that only 1% to 2% of visitors fill out a Quote Request form.  This means 98% (+) of your traffic remain anonymous, including what is likely thousands of customers browsing your in-stock inventory. Website providers have solely focused on improving Conversion Rate, which increases the smaller 1% to 2% number. There is obviously nothing at all wrong with that, but even if you doubled to 4% (which ain’t likely) there would still be 96% that remained anonymous.

Firestorm Onboarding begins linking the customer data you have in your DMS with anonymous website visitors. Every morning, we email you a list of the customers who were on your website yesterday looking at inventory. The system automatically sends those customers a pre-built email from your Sales Manager (Marketing Automation), and we provide a script for your sales people to call and make sure the customers received the email. GUARANTEE: Use this system as prescribed and you will earn multiple unit sales within the first 2-weeks. 

Firestorm Websites – Ever heard of Marketing Incest?  It’s where one company copies another company’s marketing, who copies another company’s marketing and things just keep getting dumber and dumber. I believe this has happened with many website providers. The Firestorm Website platform is different:

• Increased Conversion. Again, there’s nothing wrong with improving a site’s Conversion Ratio, and we do it without focusing on price. Having a ‘Quote Request’ button is the equivalent of asking customers if they’d like a discount when they walk through your front doors. 

• Fully Responsive Design.  boosts SEO / page rank because it improves usability by creating a consistent experience for desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. 

• SSL Security Certificates. Google boosts page rank for sites that utilize HTTPS. 

• Inventory Integration with VIN Decoding. We pull inventory straight from your DMS saving you time and money on data entry. Then, the system loads the details and specs of each model by decoding the VIN. 

• Mobile App Back Office. Enables you to instantly add multiple images of your inventory from your mobile phone while standing on the showroom floor. Includes access to the Internet Lead Manager and more. 

• Lead Manager. Track progress of leads (sales process), log calls, set follow-up reminders, and more.

As of late, I’m noticing a trend of dealer’s inquiring into the solutions with the Firestorm nomenclature, and for good reason. Firestorm Websites, Firestorm Email & Firestorm Onboarding fit together like Peanut Butter & Jelly. In fact, they were made to complement each other.

For a low-pressure demo of any of our solutions, or to learn more about packages & pricing, call 1-877-242-4472.

- Tory

 Welcome to our 100th edition of this UMM newsletter, the longest standing (and probably only) print newsletter still published that is dedicated specifically to the Powersports Industry. When we started this, the industry landscape was changing rapidly due to the internet and a recession. Our original goal was to document and share industry specific marketing best practices since so much of what dealers were taught by the OEMs, and by feet-on-the-street advertising reps, was either outdated or just plain BS. The more we trained dealers on marketing best practices (for them to implement), the more they asked us to just do it for them. So, we did. 

Fast forward 8 plus years and we’ve evolved… a lot.  When we originally started ‘Done for You’ marketing for our clients we had a small office, small team, and outsourced most of our fulfillment. But, one constant thing around here has been change. We knew we needed to eliminate outsourcing for quicker turnaround time, no middleman markup, and to own complete control over innovation and product development.  Over the years we steadily worked towards being a full-house/in-house shop, and now we have two state-of-the-art, four-color, digital, variable printers in our office. Plus, we have our own mail room, data specialist, digital specialists, programmers, a great sales team and an ever expanding list of innovative and effective marketing products built and tested specifically for Powersports dealers by industry experts. All done right here in beautiful Peachtree City, Ga.

But one thing hasn’t changed around here, and that’s once a month, the newsletter printed on yellow paper and mailed in a clear envelope will go out. It’s a non-negotiable. (Except this month, to celebrate we’re doing this one-off in full color). 

In this issue, we’re proudly focused on our Firestorm™ suite of marketing automation tools built from the ground up to help you save time and sell more. By now I think we all agree that email marketing is a proven winner in terms of ROI. There is plenty of data to back that claim up, and that’s why we built our Firestorm Email System specifically for the Powersports dealer. Now you can create compelling emails that look great and drive loads of traffic to your website in a jiffy without having to have a professional graphic artist or know how to use photoshop. 

But, that’s just the beginning of what Firestorm can do. We’ve developed an iPhone and Android app for your smart phone that allows you to snap a picture of your customer after they’ve purchased a unit and automatically send them a ‘thanks for your business’ email with the photo of them on their new bike. The following day, the system will trigger our review acquisition system which we’ve used to harvest over 120,000 authentic customer reviews (which you can view at www.powersportsdealerlocator.com.) Then the app automatically publishes the picture to your dealership’s Facebook page. No big deal. Wanna automate Happy Birthday emails, Happy Anniversary emails, etc.? Firestorm Email can do that, too. 

Now it gets really trick with Firestorm Onboarding. To explain how it works, I’ll make an analogy using your physical showroom. So, let’s say you have 20 showroom guests today and you sell 4 bikes. That’s pretty good, right? But what about the 16 that did not buy? Wouldn’t you agree that you’d like your sales team to follow up with them? Sure, you would. 

So, using that same logic, let’s talk about your website which I like to refer to as your virtual showroom. Did you know that on average 75-80% of your website traffic visits your vehicle inventory pages? But here’s what is disappointing, usually only 1-2% of them actually complete a webform and share their information to be contacted. So, what happens to the remaining majority of web traffic that took the time out of their day to go to your vehicle detail pages (VDP)? Nothing, and it’s a shame. Kinda like showroom guests that leave without buying, having no follow up. 

Well not anymore, our onboarding system synergizes with Firestorm email to identify anonymous website traffic and automatically trigger a friendly email inviting them to the dealership. 

Now I realize that some of you may feel that is a little creepy or stalker-ish, but it’s really not. First of all, you sell fun, you are a welcomed guest, not a nagging pest. It’s not like you’re selling washing machines or gravesites, right? Secondly, the email is carefully crafted and of course doesn’t mention that you know they were on your site. I mean think about it, there are times when a customer visits your website and by coincidence the following day you send your monthly e-newsletter. Do you think that makes the customer feel uncomfortable? Of course not.  

These are just a few key features of Firestorm.  But, there’s even more great information about Firestorm websites in Tory’s article on page 7. Give us a call today at 877-242-4472 to schedule a FREE demo of any of our marketing automation tools so we can show you how all the pieces of the puzzle come together.   

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to another 100 issues in the future!

 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 grow market share. The more you touch your customer base, the more responsive they become and over the course of the year, more of them walk through the dealership’s doors more often and the business grows.

The message we utilize is focused on inviting customers to a party. By focusing on what the customer wants (things like food, drinks, door prizes and demo rides), the dealership gets more of what they want (more P&A, service and gear sales and a few more units out the door). The reverse is also true; focus on the sale and you will alienate the 99.99% of customers who don’t have ‘buy a motorcycle’ on their list of things to do this weekend. Long-term, customers never get tired of being invited to a party so they end up walking through the doors more often and when they’re there, they can’t help themselves but to spend more money. 

With so much marketing going out the doors, it’s important to have it hit customers at just the right time to really maximize the response from each media. Our marketing begins hitting customers roughly 10 days before the event and gives them a different opportunity to respond to the survey site (to generate leads for every department) almost every day leading up to event day.

Results:

Lori Sinclair, General Manager, said the event went on, despite Hurricane Irma wreaking havoc on the state and many people evacuating. She had cancelled her live music and other outdoor vendors, but had BBQ sandwiches, beer, and margaritas for anyone who showed up and needed a break after all of the hurricane prep they had been doing. 

She was surprised that, all things considered, she did see good traffic through the doors that day!

Executing on all four pillars of the Sharp Shooter Program - Right Audience, Right Media, Right Message & Right Timing, really paid off. The program generated 151 responses to the campaign, which generated 124 sales opportunities, including 30 riders interested in a new or used bike! Even Hurricane Irma didn’t get in the way of her ability to track the results of her marketing. She is now able to follow up on over 100 leads to get folks back into the dealership and sell some more service, P&A and roll a couple more units out the door.

What’s next? 

October means Biketoberfest & Halloween! Check out the inserts for some killer campaign options for October and for more information on how the Sharp Shooter Program can help you achieve your marketing goals in 2017, call me on my direct line 877-242-4472 ext: 112. Happy selling.

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 that in addition to reaching a targeted, local audience and driving traffic to their website, they are also able to engage their local powersports community (for free!). Since the cost of advertising is charged by click (website visit), the engagement in the Facebook post are just free word-of-mouth, social advertising as a happy by-product of the campaign. For the Louisiana Power Sports campaign, they also had 32 people react to their ad, 4 people commented on their ads, 7 new people liked their Facebook page, and 1 person shared their ad with friends and family. Does your social media marketing campaign generate that kind of quantifiable results and increase in website traffic? If not, give us a call today to see how social media marketing can make a huge impact in your website traffic and online leads: 877-242-4472.

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 steps to get it in line. This happens on a small scale, like a register at the parts counter (rang up so many parts – better have the cash to show for it) on up through every department. Money spent on marketing should be no different. If you spend $1.00 on marketing, it should generate more than $1.00 in profit. 

The problem comes in when we get caught up in the cool factor of some marketing method either because it’s really edgy, new, or simply feeds our ego. And, it happens all the time.

But, if you have the mindset that you will only market using methods that are trackable, measurable, and accountable, it makes it easy to quickly weed out methods that are a waste of your time, energy, and money.

When people are describing marketing and use words like “seems” “feels” “I think” “probably” “should” “believe” do yourself a favor and pass. These aren’t words that convey any certainty. They miss tracking and measurement, and are thus not accountable.

I have a great deal of confidence when someone can say you spent “x”, your response was “y” leads, which translated into “z” number of closes. At that point, you have meaningful information that you can use to make an intelligent decision about your marketing – using math. 

The alternative is when a marketing rep (or in some cases marketing manager) says “looks cool, huh?” Want to spend more? Based on what, exactly? It always boils down to feeling.  “I feel like it must be working.” Spend more. “I don’t feel like it’s working.” You didn’t spend enough. Spend more. 

Knowing what I know now, and seeing the data of tens of thousands of marketing efforts for thousands of dealers, there is no way I will engage in any marketing effort of any kind that can’t show me trackable numbers with measurable results. You shouldn’t either.

Once you commit to only marketing in ways that can be tracked, measured, and held to account, that’s when you hold fast to another of the 10 rules of Direct Marketing – Results Rule. Period.

In other words, if you can’t measure it, or if you can and it doesn’t give you the ROI that you need, stop doing it.

That’s where it gets sticky though, many marketing methods out there are fun – just not measurable. After all, it’s fun to hear yourself or your dealership’s name on the radio, or to see it on television or billboards. Makes you stick your chest out a little and is kind of an ego feed. Just can’t effectively track, measure or hold it accountable.

So, don’t do it.

And some of you are thinking I’m a crazy person for suggesting that. I can assure you that all across the country there are dealers who are doing EXACTLY that and have increased business. I know of one dealer who has gone from $11 million per year to over $30 million per year by eliminating everything except direct response marketing strategies.  

If you’d like to hear more about those dealerships (and we can name names!) or learn more about how to engage in those highly successful strategies call us: 877-242-4472 or email us at marketing@powersportsmarketing.com.

Talk soon,

Brad

For those who are unaware of our Firestorm Website Tracking system, it identifies when some of your past customers are browsing units/inventory on your website. We send you a daily report of these customers so your sales team can follow-up. 

This is an extremely valuable feature because only 1% to 2% of your website traffic fills out a form on your website each month. That means 98% remain anonymous; you have no idea who they are.

So, whether your website generates 20 leads per month or 200, we’ll identify and show you hundreds of additional customers/leads every month.

If this new technology doesn’t have you ready to do a back flip off of your desk, the light bulb hasn’t lit up yet.  I’ll elaborate… there are 3 phases of customers:

Phase 1: Ready to buy right now, just waiting for the right moment. With good marketing, they’ll buy now.

Phase 2: Planning to buy soon… between 2 – 12 months. Left to their own timeline they procrastinate. With good marketing, they’ll buy sooner.

Phase 3: Won’t be buying for at least 1 year out. 

The customers in Phase 1 & 2 are the ones browsing the inventory on your website; it’s typically not Phase 3 customers. Inventory page views make up 75-80% of your page views each month. Yet only 1-2% of your traffic fills out a form and identifies themselves. This is a problem that our new technology solves!

With Firestorm Website Tracking, we send you a list each day of those Phase 1 & 2 customers so you can engage them, which brings us to the original question. What do you do with this list of customers each day?

Our most successful clients do what we call a one-two-punch with the list, which is an automated email followed by a phone call. Here are a couple examples of the email we can setup to send automatically to customers who visit inventory pages on your website:

Email Option 1

Tory,

We’re inviting a few of our customers to stop by the dealership this week for a low-key, 1-on-1 experience with a dedicated staff member to check out the new models coming in, or our pre-owned inventory. 

This is a really low-pressure experience, but it is by invitation only. So, just reply to this email and let me know if you’d like to reserve a time slot for a 1-on-1 demo experience this week.

Dealer Signature

Email Option 2

Tory, 

We have a shortage of pre-owned inventory right now and we’re offering Top Dollar trade-in values.

If you or anyone you know is interested in a Free Evaluation of their bike, please reply to this email or call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Dealer Signature

Again, these emails send out automatically the day after customers visit your website. You don’t have to lift a finger. Then the next step is to have your salespeople follow-up to make sure they received the email.

I’m sure many reading this article are questioning calling a customer who’s been on your website. It just feels weird to call people you know were on your website. But the reality is that your staff calls customers all the time who had been on your website recently. It wasn’t a weird call because your staff didn’t know. Customers don’t find it weird at all.

It’s not like you’re calling to say, “Hey Mr. Customer. I’ve been tracking you on our website. By the way, I really like the shirt you’re wearing today!”

The email and phone call have the feeling of, “We’re reaching out to all our customers and you were next on my list.”

In closing, if you want to quantifiably sell more units and make more money you should call 1-877-242-4472 or visit www.powersportsmarketing.com to schedule a demo.

If you’re not interested in increasing your sales and profit, don’t bother… this new feature isn’t for you.

Also, if you haven’t read my last 3 articles regarding similar subjects, go to 

www.powersportsmarketing.com/blog and click the Ask Tory section to catch up.

- Tory 

 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 enthusiast and an expert on the products (or so I thought) that I was a qualified dealer operator. Now, for me to even write that statement out is laughable. To make matters worse I had zero intellectual curiosity to seek out and learn dealership operating best practices.  Eventually, I was fortunate enough that my dad, the DP at that time, held weekly manager meetings and shared articles and best practices through his resourcefulness of seeking out quality information from seasoned experts. Per his military background he believed in training.  From time to time he recommended a book that I should read like, The E-myth by Gerber or Seven Habits by Covey. Initially I just thought my dad was super-smart and figured everything out by himself. But in time, as I began reading the trade publication articles and books he recommended, I started to connect the dots. What really made my father so smart was his ongoing quest to pro-actively seek out the necessary information to make our dealerships successful. 

As we grew from a single dealership to a four-store dealership group, we made some pretty serious mistakes along the way. If I had to identify the one thing that always allowed us to learn from and overcome those mistakes, it was our ongoing thirst for new information on how we could perform better, and not duplicate those errors of the past. 

At some point, to be successful in this business you must take off your enthusiast hat and make the transition to being just as serious about making money as you likely were/are about the products. To do that you have to become a student of business, and you have to invest in yourself and your team. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t still be an enthusiast on the weekends, I’m happy to report I spent this entire last weekend “camping with a purpose” with my family at a motorcycle event. But this Monday morning it’s back to enjoying the grind. I just read this:

“If you aren’t questioning yourself and others, investigating and detecting, worrying over what you really know, you are substituting arrogance and/or sloth for diligence, and you will be punished.” 

With that said, this is the last call for our Fall Marketing Boot Camp held here in Peachtree City, GA, October 23rd through the 25th, where we’ll be revealing real-world dealership truths backed up by real data, all the while exposing so much of the B.S. that is pedaled out there by outsiders who have zero understanding of the motorcycle business. 

If you’re interested in learning how to predictably grow your dealership regardless of the market, weather or economy using a tested and proven formula, you don’t want to miss this event. We’re going deep into the specifics of how you can grow new market share by targeting those who live in your back yard, ride what you sell, but haven’t done business with you before. But wait, there’s more. All too often dealers are so focused on going after new blood they completely forget about retention marketing. I’m talking about maintaining the customers you already have and even re-activating those lost customers who previously did business with you, but have quietly wondered off. 

But that’s just the beginning of what you’ll learn at this event because much of the magic comes from the other dealers in the room sharing their successes and failures. So, go now to 

www.powersportsmarketing.com/bootcamp and get enrolled. You have nothing to lose because we offer a money back guarantee. 

See ya soon,

Rod