By Mark Anderson
How would you like to set your business apart from the competitors, change someone’s life, create goodwill, and in the process, land amazing leads?
During the NIADA Convention, I will be part of a panel discussion to discuss ideas from the BHPH Dealer Forum, including our unique marketing campaign that we developed to help do exactly what I explained above. I shared some information on this campaign during the event in Indianapolis.
Our industry seems to get a negative view, because of a few bad actors. But we took a building block from our core belief to make a difference and in that journey, we implemented the “Christmas Vehicle Giveaway.” The effort has truly been transformative for our dealership, Anderson’s and Sons/Anderson Auto Group, LLC. We’re a BHPH operation in Southeast Illinois established in 2017. We have retail locations and centralized reconditioning and service departments.
Starting in the fall, we ask the community to nominate a family that is in need of transportation. We read through the nominations and picked out a family for each store location to receive a vehicle to change their fortunes.
Through these nominations, we capture thousands of leads. The campaign also generates multitudes of positive and encouraging comments on social media.
On the day of the giveaway (normally Christmas Eve), we capture the emotional giveaway moment on Facebook Live, and the community is just amazed at our goodwill and generosity. It makes the investment worth it, and we collect leads that pay off for the rest of the year.
As owners and operators in the BPHP/LHPH space, we must oversee a lot of the operations. We are typically not the best marketers or give marketing and branding much space in our daily activities. Without the same resources as the franchise operations, we must be creative in our marketing.
During our discussion, we will visit some of those things that you can do to increase your visibility and improve your reputation, as well as increase sales opportunities and profits. We will also be looking at the various other topics in the BHPH/LHPH space.
The NIADA Convention is ALWAYS a great opportunity to meet like-minded people who have common interests in a profitable and successful business. The BHPH/LHPH business is by far one of the toughest businesses to own and operate, and events like the NIADA Convention allow us to come together to share ideas, take away new thoughts, and encourage one another to be better. And in the end, have a profitable and successful business. See you in Vegas!
