Clayton Johnson is part of the second generation of Guy’s Outdoor Motorsports & Marine of Lewiston, Idaho. He recently signed up with Rollick, a relationship-based marketing technology company, to drive new sales to his dealership. So far, he is seeing about 2 extra sales per month since he signed up with Rollick’s SalesDriver program last November and he thinks that could grow to an extra 10 sales per month.
“The program is partially co-oped through Arctic Cat, so it only takes one extra sale per month to pay for the service,” Johnson says.
In addition to Arctic Cat, the dealership carries Bad Boy, Honda Power Equipment, Husqvarna, Polaris and Toro as well as other powersports lines.
Relationship marketing is based around building customer loyalty by providing them with information or products that fit their needs. In the Rollick model, the relationships actually start with companies like Progressive Insurance, State Farm Insurance, credit unions, AAA and others. Those companies, along with the dealers participating in the program, offer promotions to their customers, such as special offers on equipment, service, or parts and accessories, to reward them for loyalty. The Rollick system links the member organizations online to dealers like Guy’s.
“We’re always looking for ways to extend our reach. If we can quote more machines, we should be able to sell more machines,” Johnson says.
Integrating the Solution
The promotions are available on the member companies’ websites as well as Guy’s dealership website through integration that Rollick coordinates directly with major website providers. The online user integration includes an inventory data feed to ensure that new and used equipment is in stock and ready for purchase.
The dealership’s sales team can also use the Rollick SalesDriver program on their mobile phones, so they can respond to leads quickly.
“We’re constantly trying to figure out what we need to do to capitalize on our online leads. In addition to quickly responding to our Rollick leads, we are experimenting with adjusting our quotes to highlight special offers for the purchase of parts and accessories,” Johnson says. He’s also working through the aspect of the Rollick leads getting pricing up-front, rather than customers coming in store first. The solution may involve having the same special offers available for qualified in-store customers.
Johnson keeps in mind what he’s learned through a dealership peer group he belongs to. “Write it, don’t fight it if a customer is looking for a price less than what you want. You need to ask yourself, ‘Can you replace the customer or replace the unit?’” he says.
Building Trust
Bernie Brenner, Rollick CEO, says the program helps build trust in the sales process. “It starts building the relationship between the consumer and the dealer. We’re trying to change the experience and enhance the conversation,” Brenner says.
He says dealers that follow the Rollick system and process diligently are experiencing up to a 40% increase in close rates. The program costs a nominal subscription fee per month as well as an additional introduction fee for qualified leads coming directly from member organization’s websites. Rollick actively markets its participating dealers’ inventories through dedicated monthly marketing campaigns and sales initiatives.
Rollick also offers what they call a “nurturing platform” for customers who are not yet ready to make a purchase. “Dealers generally need help following up with customers and the system does that as well,” he says. Dealers can access the system’s analytics to check on the status of those communications.
“We don’t have a direct competitor. Our competition is where dealers want to spend their dollars. Our system can offer some tremendous ROI over other places dealers are spending marketing dollars,” Brenner says.
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