The Dealer's Dilemma: Spend or Invest?

Many dealers are caught up in deciding whether to spend more of their advertising budgets on digital, and reduce their traditional media efforts.

Even with all of the real-time, click-by-click reporting tools available with digital media, nobody has the perfect formula for success — or everybody would be copying it. The bottom line is this: If you knew what you were spending on advertising was working, you would spend more to get more. In fact, you wouldn’t call it spending.

You would call it investing. Think of it this way. If you gave me a dollar and I gave you five back, then you gave me another dollar and I gave you five back, how long would we play that game? Forever. So if you’re not constantly investing more and getting more, you must have some hesitation due to unknown results. The truth is, for most dealers, external advertising is still an expensive guessing game.

The biggest reason for this is most dealers haven’t studied the science of media math, and the research behind consumer motivation and behavior. Simply, they aren’t aware how to increase their odds of success. Learn about this in a free two-minute video at OddsCard.com. If you’re willing to switch your focus from spending ad money to investing in effort, you can make a big impact on your business for little to no cost.

The following are just two of a long list of super-easy solutions that you can implement immediately with only a very small investment — yes, investment — of money and effort. These internal marketing ideas don’t require external advertising. And you can quickly prove they work.

Your salespeople

Research confirms that the No. 1 reason customers leave your dealership is because of your salespeople. Your new salespeople, especially, cost you thousands of dollars because of lost sales. They often don’t know the answers to customers’ questions. The customers leave frustrated, without buying, never to return. A simple badge can change everything. Learn why it works, and what your salespeople should say in a free two-minute video at ImInTraining.com.

Your database

Here’s another idea. Did you know there’s an easy way to double your vehicle-owner database for free? And it doesn’t require any third-party tools. Dealers are so focused on getting leads that they spend thousands of dollars for information being shared with many other dealers in their market. By capturing other vehicle information in the households of your current customers, you can build a database entirely on your own, and no one else will have this data.

Learn how to start this idea immediately in a free two-minute video at DoubleDatabase.com. Business is going to get tougher and more competitive as you battle dealerships around you for the same customers in a more challenging market. You need to adapt. You need to make changes. If you want to outthink and outsell your competition, I invite you to check out these ideas for free. No registration, no obligation. Take the ideas, and then take the credit.

Scott Toland has more than 30 years of marketing experience with local dealerships, regional associations, national manufacturers, and media companies. In 2003, Scott established The Marketing Academy — then a four-day marketing workshop, today an online video platform with more than 200 ideas, strategies, and solutions. Visit TheMarketingAcademy.com.