Did you ‘wow’ the walking billboards you met today?

Posted 3/15/2012
By Ron Nagy, AAM, Chairman

Anyone else out there rebuilding their marketing plan? Print ads, coupons, newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc, etc, etc. Where do you put your marketing dollars?

So many things have changed in the world of marketing. But even after you figure that out and get the customer to the door, you still need to make the sale. And one thing I do not think has changed is that person-to-person contact of selling the job.

One of my favorite quotes on selling is by Patricia Fripp, a fantastic motivational speaker. She says: “It is not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.”

So many times we view marketing as all the things I listed above. But every single customer we deal with daily is a walking billboard, a radio commercial, a post on Facebook. You get the idea!

Recently I was in a review meeting with the company we use for our social media. They showed me a photo that was posted on Facebook. By the time various people had posted several comments, the total amount of “friends” who viewed this photo was more than 80,000. That’s right, an “eight” with “four zeros” behind it!

Now, think about every customer you’ve dealt with this week. Have you dished out what we call the “wow” factor? I know I may make some enemies with this comment, but I’ll ask anyway: Have you had any sales training? I know your mom says you’re a really nice person. But seriously, have you ever thought of taking a sales training class? We have put all of our CSRs though sales training and plan on doing it again this year. Why is it we will spend thousands of dollars on I-CAR training (and I do mean thousands), send our techs to class for A/C, alignments, flashing ECMs ... but not the very thing that gets the customer in the door initially!? So let’s start with this month’s issue. Read and re-read the article, “Educate, Offer and Ask” on page 28 about selling skills. Now … back to figuring out if I should facebook, tweet or google. By the way, feel free to follow me @nagy64.

On another topic, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s an election year. Whatever your thoughts, beliefs or feelings are toward the presidential campaign, there is also another important election under way – ASA’s! So take the time to vote! Remember, ASA is the relevant association and needs the best people in place to keep it there!

Editor’s note: While you’re at it, follow ASA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/asashop and Twitter at www.twitter.com/ASAshop, as well.