Are you looking for a B12 shot or a multi-vitamin?

Every now and again, I talk to a general manager who tells me he just signed for a staffed event to help boost his month. Many times, a dealership turns to these “sales” in an effort to give a quick shot in the arm to a month that may not be setting any records. But some dealerships turn to these “events” with increasing frequency.

Not long a go, I was at a dealership training a BDC guy who was given the task of calling subprime leads generated from direct mail. That same day, the dealership was running an “event”, complete with vacation certificate giveaways. As luck would have it, the box with the vacation certificates was placed in the BDC guy’s office, and every few minutes, the event coordinator would come in a grab one to give to a customer. This went on for most of the day.

I finally had to ask the coordinator how many certificates he had given out. “Loads! We’ve had a great response to our promotion!” was his reply, as he ran out to give another certificate away. My next question was to the GM.

“So how many cars have you sold so far?” I asked, innocently enough, figuring with all the traffic, he must be having a great day. “Only 2, and one wasn’t from the promotion”, he responded, and I could hear from the tone of his voice, he wasn’t very happy. “We’ve given out a ton of vacation certificates, but most of the people coming in are coming just to get the vacation. They register, get their certificate, and leave.”

Years ago, I did a sale with a company that, instead of giving away gifts, gave away five silver dollars! They discovered it was easier to simply ask the customer if they had come to the dealership to buy a car or just get their five silver dollars. It was cheaper to give away $5 to these customers than find a premium, buy it, ship it to the dealership, and hope they had enough to give away. After all, don’t most of your employees end up with the mini boom boxes, golf umbrellas and MP3 players you gave away?

My point it this…if you’re looking for a quick fix, a staffed event will probably do just that – bring traffic into your dealership. While you may sell a lot of units in a short period of time, you may end up paying dearly for that “boost”, as much as 50% of the profit generated. And you’re typically stuck cleaning up the mess left behind! If your doing this because you feel you need to bring in the "gunslingers" becasue your sales staff is weak and can't close enough deals, what happens when these guys leave? How's the morale of the sales department when, with all the traffic, only a few, if any of YOUR sales people had the chance to make a sale?

Like a B12 shot form your doctor, you may feel pretty good in the short run. But eventually, you’re still stuck with the same problem that had you feeling poorly to begin with. Why not look for the multi-vitamin you can take everyday, to help you feel better and get healthy? Look for a long term solution, like a blind, targeted direct mail program, and you’ll get consistently great results month in and month out. Look to properly train your sales force. Take the misdirected process and practices that prevent them from closing more deals and retool them for success!