How simple strategies can yield solid results
The Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) is to be commended for once again pulling together a great lineup of speakers for its latest Digital Dealer event.
TADA’s leaders travel to various events, including some high profile ones in the U.S. to find speakers that have ideas, inspiration and something that dealership staff can benefit from.
For the most part, they hit the target with their choice of speakers, most of whom are regulars on the speaker’s circuit. Some have a subtle sales message beneath their presentations, but they are good at toning it down — presenting useful industry information — because they understand dealers are coming to learn, not to be sold. The recipe seems to be working, as the Toronto event was a sell out.
The session that I found the most engaging was from the morning’s first presenter Sean Wolfington, chairman and CEO of the Wolfington Companies, and an entrepreneur who has bought and sold a number of digital marketing companies. Basically, in this space, he’s a big deal and a big coup for the TADA.
Wolfington kicked off his talk with some interesting stats and video clips, and a motivational pep talk to inspire dealers to lead change in their organizations, and some of the usual stuff you might expect.
But where his presentation kicked into high gear is when he presented some case studies that showed how a New York Honda dealership (Paragon Honda) implemented some sound marketing strategies that delivered outstanding results.
In a day filled with complexity, it was the simplicity and common sense approach of how this dealership attacked its marketplace that was the jewel of the event and should have been the main takeaway for the dealership staff in the room. The message is simple. You can do this. It’s not that hard. Others are doing it. Copy them. Revise your plan. Do it again. It’s not that hard.
Too often speakers take to the stage and to establish their credibility drive a big wedge between them and you. After all, they are experts, and have been chosen to speak because they know more than you do. But Wolfington just tore down the wall to the strategic planning room of a dealership that has a lot of this stuff figured out, and let us look inside their strategy. It was elegant, simple, and repeatable.
It didn’t involve fancy new software, or expensive digital programs or campaigns. It was a back to basics approach about identifying who your key buyers are and where they live, developing the right message for them, finding the best way to reach them, and executing the perfect campaign. I don’t have the space here to do his presentation justice, but the key message for all dealers tackling digital marketing and social media is that some people have figured things out. Learn from them. Oh, and send more of your people to more events where smart people give them tips on how to make you more successful.
