Lets face it your customers are just like you and I.  They are hit with loads of advertising impressions every month.  With some coaching of your sales team and getting them to ask the customers one specific question, your advertising information will be extremely informative and dynamic:

May I ask “What specifically brought you into the store today?”

Most customers have risked their lives on the freeway to get to you and can tell you “exactly” why they’re in your showroom if asked properly.

We believe with proper coaching the following advertising reports will prove to be 95% to 98% accurate, and not take one extra second for most salespeople to learn.  The fact is that most salespeople already ask what brought the customer into your store.  It’s been the primary icebreaker for a long time.

·        Dollar Volume By Advertiser.

·        Cost Per Opportunity By Advertiser.

With these very simple reports you can hold your advertising companies accountable for poor performance, especially if they want to continue to earn your business.

Get “make goods” for poor performance, and see where your advertising dollars are being spent compared with sales achieved.

Increase your customer flow thus increasing your sales teams earning potential and your profits.

For example let’s say you spend an equal dollar amount one month in both television and newspaper.  For arguments sake let’s say you spent $3,000 each.  If you had 50 customers respond from the newspaper and 100 customers respond from television, your cost per customer from newspaper is $60 and your cost per opportunity with television is $30.  You can absolutely prove that you spent twice as much for newspaper and the rep owes you money or at least a better quality service. 

TRAX provides you the actual number of opportunities you had from each.  When you show this report to the newspaper rep, they will be shocked the first time they see it.  They will immediately realize that if they want a long-term relationship with you they had better deliver a quality product that brings in more customers.  When they go back to their office they will make sure your next ad is not placed in the gutter (lower center of the paper) and the copy is proofed and is crisp and clean of errors.  They will absolutely make sure that you will receive the best placement available every time because you are holding them accountable for poor performance. 

Please keep in mind that if you are going to hammer them for results (as you should), that it must be a two way street.  If they are doing a good job, let them know.  We have seen customers experience dramatic improvements here with a minimal amount of effort.  We have had several dealers experience improvements in sales and reduce advertising costs simultaneously.

 The bottom line is that tracking and measuring this activity over just a short period of time creates awareness that most dealers do not have the ability to view currently.  The most important point here is that your sales staff should understand and be involved with what you are trying to do with this information.  I promise that if your salespeople do not see some activity regarding this analysis within the first two weeks they will stop trying to get good information for you.  My advice is to make sure they know that this information is important to you.  I might also suggest that the first time you measure a savings or improvement regarding advertising you let them know and thank them for this wonderful new information.  Give them a win here in the form of a feel good thank you and this information will transform your media buying process. 

If you could bring in 20% more customers without spending any more money, or better yet reduce your advertising costs by 20% what kind of an improvement to bottom line profitability would this create?