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NEWSLETTERIssue No. 9 | November, 2012

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In last months newsletter, we touched on challenging old

patterns in your business process since many things done

today are simply because, Weve always done them that way.

This month, I want to dive headrst into the Virtual Show-

room that is the internet. Its more than advertising. Its more

than Facebook, and its more than email. There is an entire

arm o your business that should be ocused on this rapidly

changing media. It can be the dierence between making

payroll, and buying another dealership. Yeah, it is thatbig.

To date, all o my training has ocused on the sale inside o

your building. Specically, setting up the ront o the sale so

slick closing lines are never needed. People naturally want

to do business locally, so set them up well. Much like ap-

proaching the girl at the bar in hopes or a date; kick o the

conversation right, and the possibilities are endless. Screw up

the rst swing however, and youre perceived as the grovel-

ing, desperate guy who cant get a date (Im told). On your

showroom oor, capture

relationships early with

your customer, and the

sale becomes a walk

in the park. Misstep onthe greet however, and

youre stuck in a cut-

throat game o price

wars and discounters.

What makes this work

is a commitment to a

rigid, structured, sales process. When asked in the past about

reputation management or internet marketing, Ive always

responded with, Why are you spending time and money on

driving a bunch o people to your door, only to piss them o

because nobody greets them?

Parr Moto is a nationally recognized marketing/advertis-

ing company in the Harley-Davidson motorcycle world. Bill

Taylor & David Grant, buddies

o mine, are two o the

guys who have been

with Parr rom the start. Last

year, I had the opportunity to

do some joint presenta-

tions with them or the Florida Dealer Association. Lets ace

it, many dealers consider marketing on the internet to be a,

Wow, its so cool, but sort o agenda item. Social networking

sites, text clubs, newsletters, and banner ads all take constant

attention and management. As a result, many dealers opt to

outsource this piece o the business. David got up and told a

story that happened years prior about blowing up a dealership

A dealership had hired them (Parr) to run an Open House

campaign. Parr was responsible or the entire campaign,

designing ways to get headcount to the store. From the tent

event, the promotions, social announcements, and calls-to-

action, they were quite eective in ooding the store with tra-c that weekend. As Bill and Dave sat high-ving each other

at the obvious success, they were unaware o the mess that

they had essentially hand-delivered to the store. You see, the

store wasnt even staed with hal o the necessary employees

needed or a normal weekend, much less this ull-on car-

nival they had created. The net result was a 6 bike weekend,

when all were anticipating 20-30. By David and Bills own

admission, they had caused more damage to the store than i

they had not run the event at all. It had ailed because nobody

took into account that the inrastructure and sales process (or

lack o it) was ill equipped to handle the trafc generated by

Garage Testimonials:Sam, I just wanted to say thank you for the training you gave us in March. Right

Side Info is common speak in our store even among employees that didnt attend

your training. Your online training is great, and is used in most of our daily training.

I look forward to a full store training meeting again soon. Thanks!

C.B. Standridge General Manager, North Texas House of Cycles

As always, please continue to give us feedback on the website and suggestionsfor training topics we can address: sam@samspowersportsgarage.comSam Dantzler

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the marketing team. At the conclusion o Davids story, he

had eectively tied together the similarities o a structured,

brick and mortar sales process, and the sales process needed

in the virtual space o the internet. From the greeting, to ask-

ing or the commitment, to staying in touch, these two phi-

losophies go hand-in-hand. You cant have a strong internet

presence without an actual store to back it up. But i A=B, then

B=A, right?

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, 62%

o Americans research online prior to driving to a store to buy.These purchases range rom cars to electronics to cosmetics.

Translation: Your Virtual Greeting better be as good as (or

better) than your live greeting or you may never get a shot at

seeing the customer in the store.

Pay Per Click (PPC) This method involves paying search

engine companies like Google and Yahoo to make sure your

ad comes up in the rst ew spots o the search results. You

only pay when the user actually clicks on your result, but not

or the impressions themselves. This can be useul or many

reasons including:

Instant visibility, ability to manage results

Targeting o keywords that may not be available

organically

Creating a uller presence on the search engines or

all relevant keywords

Its best to think o PPC as your Insurance Policy or the

dealership. I all other methods o getting in ront o custom-

ers ail, this will not.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Making sure the contento your site ranks well or organic keyword searches. Having

these words and key phrases in place optimizes the search

results to hopeully ensure your company appears on the rst

page, just under the PPCs.

Majority o users click here and not PPC

This is where you can optimize the Reputation

Management aspect o the searches, utilizing sites

such as Google Places & Yelp or customer reviews

Its best to think o this method as the Diet & Exercise o

your business. This is the daily routine that will allow or its

clean growth.

Strategic Targeting of Your Dealership/Brand

Behavioral Targeting Directs ads to site pages based on

user searches and ormer sites visited. This delivers

relevant ads to relevant prospects.

Demographic Targeting Are you a dirt bike store? A

Harley store? An adventure bike store? Know your segment

and you can target your demographic.

Geographical Targeting This gives you the ability to

ocus on a particular zip code, street address, etc. The

ability to do this with surgical precision,AND measure

the eectiveness o the results is incredible.

Retargeting

Tracks user history ater visiting your site

Builds a history with all users rom your site

Places ads on those sites to redirect back to your site

Social Media

Powersports is a social activity. Utilizing social media is

a antastic way to keep your customers engaged in your

events, model launches, clothing shows, etc.

Facebook and Twitter are aMUST

Instagram is excellent or the powersports industry Additional social media sites include Linked in, ickr,

Google+, Pinterest, etc.

I nothing else, go claim the others. Do not allow someone

else to go and claim your name on one o these sites, there-

ore leaving you no control over the content and users. Even i

you do not have time to manage them, claim them, and leave

them dormant until you nd the time to manage them.

My philosophy on the internet business has come ull circle

Where I didnt used to think it necessary to drive trafc to your

store only to piss them o by not greeting them, now I know

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you cant aordNOTto nd all avenues to attract new cus-

tomers. The Motorcycle Industry Council continues to report

more than 50% o powersports purchases are made by new

buyers, year ater year. Times are so dierent than just 2 years

ago. An online presence is a must, and requency is the key

conversion driver. 75% o converted customers visited a site

more than 3 times beore pulling the trigger. Utilizing just one

o the above avenues isnt enough. Oten times, the best way

to go ater this business is to outsource it. I youre looking or

a solid reerral, email me.Dont ignore the Virtual Greeting. With the economy as

ckle as it is, it just may be the only chance you have to drive

the incremental oor trafc you crave.

Sam Dantzler

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Sams Powersports Garages Facebook page

Wheres the Sam Show?NOVEMBER 2012

1-2 Denver, CO

6-7 Milwaukee, WI

11-12 Essex Junction, VT

13-14 Orlando, FL

19-20 St. Louis, MO

22-23 Angleton, TX

28-29 Houston, TX

DECEMBER 2012

3-4 Denver, CO

6-9 Oakland, CA

JANUARY 2013

13-18 Denver, CO

19-23 Phoenix, AZ

24-25 Las Vegas, NV

28-29 Dallas, TX

30 - 31 Las Vegas, NV

Visit us online at:samspowersportsgarage.com