The Driving Sales Executive Summit 2018 in sunny Las Vegas is almost here!  Many of us have been susceptible to putting too many eggs in the basket using that next shiny object, that one and done fool proof tool, that guaranteed be all marketing…that elusive elixir.  However, I’m pretty sure that if one did exist, we would all be using it and this blog post wouldn’t even exist.  So let’s ask ourselves an honest question that deserves and honest answer, we’ll get to that question soon.  I find it interesting that as a dealership in general, we spend incredible amounts of money on our sales departments while customer loyalty is at some of the lowest levels many of us have ever lived through, yet our service departments are on boot strapped budgets and aging tools.  I’m not suggesting that we should not invest in our sales departments or that stores have been doing it all wrong in service (in fact, some dealerships are doing it incredibly well), I’m merely suggesting that it’s time to take a hard look and make a concerted effort to catch our service department up to the speed of a modern dealership. I don’t necessarily adhere to sensationalist statements that some make about fixed operations being the most neglected profit center in dealerships.  However, I do think there is some truth to it and warrants us to ask the question, “Am I doing all I can to make my fixed ops the most profitable it can be?” Like any profit center, it requires hard work, great people and effective tools to help achieve the strategic goals established by dealership management. During my session, we’re going to cover some of these actionable items from marketing to process, and more. Everything is centered around you going back to your dealerships with fresh ideas and proven data, so you can implement change in your service department. So hopefully, in near time when the question is asked, you’re answer is a confident “yes.”

I am speaking at the DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas. In my session we’re going to cover some of these actionable items from marketing to process, and more:

• -Learn how to use transaction based advertising with improved content and targeting
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• -Enhanced voice search, go-to lead generation techniques, and social optimization methods
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• -Techniques that foster improved closing ratios.

Note: If you would like to have a one-on-one session during DSES, please reach out to me and we can make that happen. 

Okay, I know this may sound silly but the massive following around Pokemon Go is incredible. It also presents a terrific opportunity for your dealership to be relevant to what is trending among the masses and capitalize on the reach that the Pokemon Go phenomenon is providing. Below are tips to help get your share of reach, conversion opportunities and foot up opportunities. 

Use Pokemon to sell more vehicles and service (never thought I would be saying that!).

Pokemon Go Popularity Facts (as of 7/13/16):

• The majority of players are adults, not kids.
• Pokemon Go is now the most popular mobile game app ever launched.
• Pokemon go has now surpassed Twitters average daily users and people are spending more time per day on Pokemon Go (33 minutes) followed by Facebook (22 minutes).
• As of July 11th, Pokemon Go had 21 million daily active users and continues to grow daily.
• Pokemon Go is generating an average of 1.6 million dollars per day from in app purchases by players.

What is Pokemon Go?

It is a free mobile app available for iPhone and Android based on the animated/game/trading card Pokemon series. It allows players to physically visit real-world neighborhoods, landmarks, businesses (i.e. your dealership in some cases), to hunt for creatures called Pokemon. Players throw Pokeballs at the creatures to capture them. What makes this unique is that the game utilizes your camera and GPS on your iPhone or Android to find the animated creatures in the real world environment (see screenshots below that a player took while trying to catch a Pokemon creature in a real world environment and also a screenshot of what the player sees on their phone when using the GPS map overlay find Pokemon locations):

How Your Dealership Can Benefit From Pokemon Go (Just a few of the many ways)

1. Drive foot traffic to your dealership.

• Find out if your dealership is a “PokeGym” or “PokeStop”. If your dealership is one of these OR near one of these, you have an unprecedented opportunity to immediately increase foot traffic! If you need help finding out if your dealership is a “PokeGym” or “PokeStop”, please call me and I’ll quickly walk you through the easy steps. 
  • We have been hosting a "PokeParty" at a number of our clients dealerships that are seeing incredible amounts of foot traffic in addition the the massive social reach being garnered. People are literally coming onto the lot, engaging with staff, test driving vehicles, sales being realized all in a fun and engaging atmosphere. It sounds strange, but with a little creativity a "PokeParty" can be a lot of fun and profitible for the store.
    • A “PokeStop” is a physical location that has Pokemon creatures that players physically go to. What is great about these is not only is the location identified in the app but you can also lay down “Lures” to cause more Pokemon to appear which means you now have the ability to attract more people physically to the location! This is great to market via rich content with strategic targeting through social media, email, website, etc. to help drive more people to you.
    • A “PokeGym” is a place where players can compete and is a highly coveted location for businesses since it can bring lots of foot traffic especially if marketed properly. These are great places to promote giveaways such as oil changes or coupons, score counts, etc. and to get people engaged with your dealership many whom will be fresh ups!

2. Reach more people and engage with more shoppers by piggy backing on this hot trend.

• Integrate into social posts and ads by infusing your brand/products/services with custom Pokemon character assets.
• Utilize proper integration of Pokemon related hashtags.
• Run and promote contests where players can show their highest score on their phone to win a prize like a complimentary service or gift card, etc. (there are many great variations available to do this).
• Share valuable Pokemon captures that occur at your dealership; especially by having customers post screenshots of captures and tag your dealership in it.

3. Send your street team to the action.

• Since we all have at least one hot vehicle at our dealership, send a few team members with your nice rides, especially any custom vehicles to popular “PokeGyms” and “PokeStops”. Interact with fellow players, and run real time social posts as the action heats up. Plus, this is a great place to pass out swag such as coupons, put down “Lures”, or really get some excitement and pass out free pizza slices and include a dealership flyer with it!