The
"Turning Car Prospects to
Buyers" Screensaver
Showroom
Traffic that Goes Up in Smoke is
Costly
Almost
every car dealer spends up to
hundred of dollars in advertising
and promotion for every
"up" that crosses his
threshold and makes his or her way
into the showroom. The industry
average is that only one in five
or six of these prospects is sold.
That means that four car prospects
exit your showroom and are not
likely to come back despite your
best efforts. What's worse is that
many of them will buy a car
somewhere else within the next few
weeks.
Getting
Prospects to Return is Job 1
If
you can get that hard won
"up" to return, your
closing ratio zooms up to 50 or
60%, so even getting a small
fraction of prospects back yields
big dividends. We will assume that
your sales people have done a
great job in showing your car line
and that the manufacturer has been
on the ball in creating and
enhancing the brand. But how do
you reinforce the message once the
prospect has left?
The
"Turning Prospects to
Buyers" Screensaver Method
Once
the prospect has left the store,
it is difficult to reinforce your
sales message short of badgering
him with incessant phone calls or
emails. Since the majority of your
prospects have access to a
computer at home or office, a more
subtle, persistent, yet effective
method is to employ the BMS
screensaver program along with
your current follow-up methods.
The
BMS Screensaver Program Equation-
Reminders plus humor equals more
sales
BMS
will develop a customized computer
screensaver that will reinforce
your sales message during the
crucial few weeks after a first
meeting or test drive. The
screensavers will include any
information or photos that you
feel will help induce a prospect
to buy. For example, a page could
be titled, "Ten things you
didn't know about our Car".
The screensavers will also include
top-notch Cartoonjazz cartoons
that can even be customized for
your dealership. People like
humor. You can choose from over
twenty cartoons related to the car
buying experience so the
screensaver becomes
"infotainment".
Prospects
will have strong incentives to
load the screensavers on their
office or home computers (or even
both) for several reasons...
-
Reinforce
Your Dealer Message - The fact
that they have come for
information indicates that the
prospect is seriously
interested in buying a car in
general and your brand in
particular. The screensaver
can even convey additional
information that the
salesperson didn't cover or
that isn't even on your
website or sales literature.
-
Instant
Screensaver Contest - Instant
lottery tickets have become
very popular nationally
because they provide instant
gratification. We can provide
the same incentive by having
an instant contest winner, say
$100, for every few hundred
screensavers handed out. The
key is that prospects have to
download the screensaver to
see if they've won. Experience
tells us that screensavers,
human nature being what it is,
stay up for weeks or even
months after they have been
downloaded because most people
don't bother to change them.
-
Monthly
Screensaver Contest - As an
added incentive for prospects
to load the screensaver we
recommend a monthly contest
with a prize of a choice of a
$500 savings bond, a digital
camera or even a pearl
necklace. In order to enter
the contest the prospect will
have to fill out a short form
that will give you additional
information about their
interests and likelihood of
buying a car in the short
term.
-
Getting
the Prodigal Prospect to
Return - A token gift of a set
of inexpensive Pearl Earrings,
or a set of State Maps for
about $10 will yield big
dividends when the prospect
returns. In order to receive
the gift, the prospect will
bring with him or her the
answer to a question, which
they will only know if they
install the screensaver. Don't
be surprised if a few friends
and relatives of the prospect
stop in because they have seen
the screensaver and were
intrigued by the car.
The
"I Luv My New Car"
Thank-You-for-Buying-From-Us
Screensaver
Your
Best Sales Force are Your
Customers
Of
course you appreciate their
business but how are you currently
letting your customers know it?
Some dealers send a thank you
card. Others send a fancy wine and
cheese basket. Either way, the
gifts are gone and forgotten in a
week and haven't helped you to
sell a single car.
The
"Thank You Gift" That
Keeps on Giving
You
know that your customer's car will
never look better than when it
comes out of the showroom. It is
also a given that buyers of new
cars are proud of their
acquisitions and given the
opportunity will talk about and
show their cars to friends and
foes alike. So we have developed a
product that incorporates digital
photos of your buyers and their
new car into a screensaver that
they will be happy to have
displayed on their computer for
months to come. Wouldn't it be
nice for your customers also to
see to see a screen entitled
"Ten great things you may not
know about your new car" to
confirm their buying decision?
"I
Luv My New Car" Screensaver Logistics
Typically,
the car salesman is the one to
show the buyer the car features
after the car is prepped and ready
for pickup. As such, he is the
logical candidate to take a few
photos of the happy buyer in front
of his or her new car. These
photos will be emailed weekly to
BMS where we will turn them into
customized Screensavers with a
greeting on each page like
"Thank you John Smith for
buying your new (insert type) car
from us".
Once
a week we will send you back the
customized screensavers, each CD
attractively packaged in its own
jewel case, so you can send them
back to your customers with a
thank you note from the salesman.
Big
Sales Dividends
In
addition to your customers getting
a warm and fuzzy feeling about
your dealership from both their
new car and their personal car
photo screensaver, you can provide
them with additional incentives to
return soon and often. For example
you can direct them to a coupon on
your website that entitles them to
an oil change for only $9.95 when
they return, or a discount on some
other product or service. On the
one-year anniversary of their
buying the car, the customer and
his family could be invited back
to do a new screensaver when
everyone is a year older and
wiser. Staying in touch will yield
big dividends when it is time to
buy or lease a new car.
Summing
Up The Screensaver Rewards
BMS
screensavers provide you with the
best return on investment because
they focus on retaining your
business' most precious and hard
won possessions- your prospects
and customers. Beyond enhancing
your image and providing you with
something different, they will pay
for themselves many times over in
helping to convert prospects to
sales and getting your old
customers to keep coming back.