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S e p t e m b e r / O c t O b e r 2 0 1 5 | | F i x e d O p S m a g a z i n e

What’s your biggest winner for getting prospects into your dealership? What kind of ads do you place? How do you mea-sure the results of your campaigns? Each of these questions are important for your dealership to answer. But the number one way to increase your bottom-line is to combine ‘Pull and Push.’ When used in marketing context, ‘Pull and Push’ can yield extraordinary results if thoughtfully coordinated in your marketing plan.

A ‘Pull’ strategy involves motivating cus-tomers to visit your store through adver-tising, referrals or discounts and promo-tions. (EG: OEM’s offer a number of ‘Pull’ opportunities during the end-of-the-year cycle in an attempt to move previous year inventories).

Combining the ‘Pull’ with a ‘Push’ strategy, by offering spiffs to the sales floor, your results will be immediately felt and easily measured. Spiffs are highly effective and proven daily in Fixed Operations Depart-ments. A well-coordinated spiff program, timed with ads promoting high-margin items or seasonal services, will positively impact your monthly Fixed Ops numbers.

What Kind of Pull Methods are You Us-ing?Step back for a moment and think about the ‘Pull’ efforts you’re implementing. Do you spend countless dollars on mailers, radio spots and television commercials, featuring your owner as pitchman? Yet your dealership revenue stream remains relatively constant -- yes?

Arguably, these ‘Pull’ strategies are neces-sary...but are they measurable?

How Effective is your Pull?Let’s say your dealership wanted to move a high margin item, like brakes, batteries or tires. You spend thousands of dollars on advertisement and promotions trying to get customers in the door and you really have no idea if your ads will work to in-crease sales – it’s just an educated guess what the results will be.

You run a television ad in an attempt to draw crowds and move vehicles. How do you know if this expensive advertising campaign is effective? Do your sales peo-ple ask ‘ups’ when they come in the door if they are there because of the TV spot?Bottom line: your sales personnel need to be active in moving the promotional product that you are advertising. You can’t leave the customer alone once they enter the door looking for the specific item they heard about in your ads. Spiffs will touch the sales floor and provide dealerships with levers to influence the point of sale - where it counts.

It’s going to require action on the floor by your salespeople to guide the cus-tomer and get that promotional item in their hands. Don’t rely on your advertising alone. Ultimately, it’s up to your staff to en-gage and close.

The Pull of Social NetworkingYour dealership Facebook page, LinkedIn corporate page, or Twitter feed are rela-tively newer social media for you in pulling in customers by offering them up-to-date discounts and special offers. This type of pull marketing can easily be used to place the emphasis and attention onto your cus-tomers who follow you. Social media lets you know who your target audience is, but

you must pay special attention and keep your message current and relevant to their needs (EG: don’t keep your winter tire spe-cials open in June). Your social media sites need to be increasingly managed and cus-tomized with content and offerings perti-nent to better suit your follower’s needs. Using social media sites produces ex-periential ‘Pull’ marketing, which helps your prospect become involved with your dealership, making them feel like they’re a part of your business. Dealerships also are finding that using social media is much less expensive than paying for print, radio or television advertising, allowing greater reach at a lower price. However, experi-ential marketing through social media re-quires that you give up some of your mes-saging impact – since it’s for a more broad audience and perhaps is less specific than your traditional marketing pieces.

What if you added a ‘Push’ tactic with a spiff on your dealerships social media ad-vertised products and services with sales-people actually selling to the clients you brought in?

The Pull & The PushAny of these Pull tactics certainly brings consumers to you. Marketing, advertising and branding efforts create a buzz that makes consumers seek your dealership and the specific featured products and services that you provide.

These ‘Pull’ campaigns are customer fac-ing and used to bring prospects to your dealership. However, most of the time you have no idea if those campaigns are working, unless your visitor is required to redeem a coupon for a product.

PUSH YoUr PEoPlE ovEr THE ToP oN ParTS aNd accESSoriES B Y S E a N U g r i N

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A ‘Pull’ will move what you provide to con-sumers by reaching out to them and plac-ing what you offer in front of them. It’s up to your dealership staff to engage and ac-tually sell the products and services you’re advertising.

Can you see how aligning the ‘Push’ spiff tactic with your marketing ad ‘Pull’ strat-egy would increase your gross profit?

Winning Top of Mind: getting TacticalA spiff takes the ‘Push’ to the tactical level; your people present exactly what you want them to present to prospective customers at a specific time to drive defined results. Why? Because you’ve motivated them to act by offering a reward (incentive) for aligning their behavior with your goals, i.e. presenting what you would like to sell as an option to the end-user.

Back up your marketing ‘Pull’ strategy with a complimentary spiff program to reinforce your efforts at the point of sale... where it counts.

accessory campaign:- The “Pull”: $1,000 spend on a redeem-able coupon, targeting 5,000 customers. Response rate: 2% or 100 consumers.- Conversion: 20% (20 sales). Cost of ac-quisition: $1,000 or $50 per customer.

- The “Push”: $20 spiff on accessory sale (paid to salesperson).- Consumer base: you have attracted 100 customers with the “Pull”.- Coupon conversion: 20 customers sold themselves.- Spiff conversion: an additional 20 cus-tomers are converted by your team.- Cost of acquisition: $400 or $20 per cus-tomer.

- Result: The conversion rate has doubled but combined costs increased by only $400

- Total cost of acquisition: $1,000 + $400 = $1,400 / 40 = $35 per customer

The End gameIt’s not your Grandad’s spiff anymore. Spiffs are highly tactical. When used to their fullest, they will add a ‘Push’ to your marketing campaigns. Sync a coupon or promotional ad with a complimentary spiff and increase your conversion at a much lower cost with 100% certainty that a dol-lar spent means something was “moved.”Offering incentives will power your sales performance and increase bottom-line revenue for your dealership. Creating a competitive environment in your Service drive will lift your campaigns and drive the bottom line.

Continue to advertise by targeting your prospective clients. Keep your message in front of them and they’ll remember to come to your dealership when they need to purchase a product or service for their ride. Mix up the spiff awards. Cash is king but merchandise, travel and recognition also win top-of-mind. Just remember to

offer your sales personnel a ‘Push’ incen-tive to help close the deal when the pros-pect walks in the door.

Next time you build a campaign, consider adding a spiff to drive ROI. When targeted and used in a supporting role, spiffs are sophisticated and powerful levers. Unlike marketing expenses, a dollar spent on spiff awards has a direct relationship to revenue generation.

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Sean Ugrin is the CEO / Founder of Den-ver, Colorado-based Spiffit. Sean’s motor-space roots come from working globally with Bosch. As an adviser and consultant, Sean designed and developed business solutions that tracked automotive produc-tion and drove sales efforts worldwide. Every automotive company who partners with Spiffit witnesses outstanding results as a result of Spiffit’s focus on the provid-ing the ultimate customer experience.