As a dealership, you are often asked to attend or exhibit at an event or show. Shows are expensive not only in the dollars spent on the space, shipping, show services, etc. but the other costs as well. Items like staffing, transportation and the other opportunity costs associated. There is a cost for having your staff out of the business that needs to be accounted for.
With all of that in mind, there are five questions that need to be answered before you pull the trigger
- Why are we going? Be very clear and detailed. Without a compelling reason to attend, why make the investment.
- Who is our target and will they be there? Will your target customer be attending and more importantly will there be enough of them there to make an impact to the bottom line.
- What do we want to tell them? What is your message for the show? Why should they buy from you and not the other dealer? Without a message and a compelling reason to attend why are you attending.
- What do we want to accomplish? What’s your show goal? You need to have a goal set before the show and make sure everyone attending is working toward that goal.
- How do we measure success? Show me the money. Did you meet the goals you set in question #4?
So, shows can be a valuable part of your sales and marketing strategy. With very clear expectations and goals ahead of time and reporting following the event you can be sure to achieve success.
As always the ideas expressed above are my own and I make no claims to the success or failure of implementing them. They are suggestions to make you think. Please vet all ideas against your business plan before implementing them.
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