By this time, you’re probably familiar with the fact that only about 2% of the population in any given market, at any given time is actively shopping for a vehicle. If you’re not familiar with this information, you need to listen up because the other portion of the market—the 98%—is an absolute goldmine for the dealers who are smart enough to pay attention to them. We call them the Sleeping Buyers because while they’re not actively shopping, they are dreaming of driving a Nicer, Newer® car.
Now, what comes next is really important. Because what you’re about to discover is a step-by-step guide with the proven strategy we’ve helped dealers across the country use to WAKE UP these Sleeping Buyers and forcibly pull them into the market TODAY.
It’s rather simple, actually. You see, most car dealers are so busy fighting over the 2% of people who are actively shopping for a vehicle that the Sleeping Buyers go completely unnoticed.
But when dealers start attracting the Sleeping Buyers, what they find is that they are still getting their fair share of the 2%. So ALL the additional traffic is incremental sales above and beyond what they’re already doing.
“I’ve watched this strategy work in dozens and dozens and dozens of markets with big stores and small stores, in great markets and in not so great markets, with new stores and with used stores. It just works.”
— Scott, Tucson, Arizona
Well, there are actually two big reasons:
Sometimes it’s because of a trade issue. Sometimes it’s because of a real or perceived credit issue. Other times it’s because they had a bad experience at another dealership or because the media has portrayed the car buying process as a chore as opposed to the blast we know it can be.
Whatever the reason, the vast majority of people are taking that dream they have of driving a nicer, newer vehicle and removing it from the realm of possibility.
And that sucks.That means they’re stuck in a car they hate, and it means that you’re stuck with ads that just DON’T WORK.
Which brings us to the second reason why the Sleeping Buyers aren’t shopping…
The second big problem for dealers today is that all dealerships look the same.
Now, we aren’t talking about the physical look, although that too, but the big drain is that most automotive advertisements look and sound exactly the same.
“What other car dealers do, I look to do the opposite! I want to be unique because it helps me stand out.”
— Kevin, North Carolina
Because not only do all of these ads blend together for the majority of people, but they are also completely invisible to the Sleeping Buyers.
Think about it: the Sleeping Buyer has taken themselves out of the market for a vehicle and yet almost all automotive advertising showcases nothing but pictures of cars and prices. Now let me ask you: when’s the last time an ad with pictures and prices of a washing machine caught your attention? For most people, it was the last time they were actually in the market for a washing machine—the rest of the time they just ignore those ads because they aren’t in the market. And that’s exactly how the 98% of the market, the Sleeping Buyers, feel about the typical car ad.
But are radio stations and media outlets giving you a 98% discount? We think not!
The key to attracting the Sleeping Buyer is to stop talking about the car and start showing them that you can help them with whatever has kept them stuck in a car they hate until now.
You have to stop selling cars and start selling solutions to their problems.
And here’s where the magic happens. Because when you do this, you begin providing real value and you allow the Sleeping Buyers to flip the switch from “not shopping” to “shopping” based on this unique value that only you provide.
In order to show them that you’re different, your advertising must be unique. But how do you break the mold? How do you break away and look and sound completely different?
To start this process, you must answer two questions that are on everyone’s mind.
Usually dealers want to race to say: “Well, we’ve got a great selection. We’ve got excellent service. We have a wonderful location. And we’ve been in business 75 years.”
And what’s worse is that in reality these are all things that customers EXPECT, so they don’t care when you talk about them in your advertising.
Instead you need to give people a real, meaningful reason to choose you. When you give people a relevant, meaningful, and emotional reason to choose you that actually helps them, you’ll wake up the 98% and see traffic increase, sales increase, and profit increase. Especially because people are willing to pay more for real value.
But ultimately this is only useful if once you wake up the Sleeping Buyers, you can get them to get out of bed and take action NOW! Meaning that you need to get them to BUY A CAR TODAY!
This is a very important follow-up to the first question because you want to sell more cars now (and later), not just later.
If you want the market to react rapidly to your advertising, you need to make sure that your offers include three very important elements:
Scarcity is when there’s a limit to the number of people who can take advantage of the offer you’re making.
Urgency is when there is a limited amount of time to take advantage of the offer.
Believability is when the customers believe it is true.
There’s a huge difference between believability and truth. They work best when combined, but don’t confuse them and try to substitute one for the other. Your offers need to be true and believable.
You see, most advertising makes the mistake of leaving out the reason why. This is a HUGE problem because most people do not trust advertisements or salespeople. In fact, between every person and every purchase stands a mighty wall of mistrust. And the bigger the purchase, the bigger the wall, which means that the wall is pretty high when it comes to buying a vehicle.
If you decide to do this on your own, you have to get creative and come up with new ways to explain WHY you’re having a sale or making a special offer, and you have to do it every single month in a fresh, fun and relevant way. When you do this, the Sleeping Buyers will be more than happy to rush to receive your offer TODAY.
If you want to see how we help dealers become THE trusted advisor in their community, click here for a free preview.
By now, you’re beginning to realize the true power of waking up the Sleeping Buyers. The results for many of the dealers we work with have been staggering and life-transforming.
Using a creative that transcends typical retail car advertising, that helps you stand out and sell more without spending more on advertising, that sets you apart.
Imagine being immune to market fluctuations. You no longer have to fight over the 2%. You no longer have to sacrifice profit to make a sale. You no longer have to accept the status quo. You have found the solution, and now you’re ready to grow.
This is strong stuff. Has it ever occurred to you that by making just a few simple changes to your advertising, like we’ve described here, you could dominate your market?
“You face a whole new set of challenges, like where am I going to get more inventory and how am I going to get more employees to handle all of these customers? As opposed to how do I get people in the door and how do I move this extra inventory?”
— Jef, Joplin, Missouri
We’ve got a proven method for doing this, and we can do it for you and make it fast and simple. Or you can do it yourself by using the methods we’ve laid out here.
We work with dealers selling Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Kia, Hyundai, Jeep, Mitsubishi, Ram, Nissan and more in the Rich Dealers® program. In fact, we’ve helped dealers spend more than $100 million in advertising using this approach and generate more than $12 billion in sales.
If you feel like you’re the kind of person who would benefit from some help and guidance putting this strategy into action, click here for a free preview of the Rich Dealers® program.
“It’s different than what everyone else in my market is doing, but that’s to my advantage. We’ve grown tremendously over the last 5 years. Now we’re doing more business than we ever have.”
– Tony, Kentucky
