Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/303681
www.PowersportsBusiness.com SOLUTIONS Powersports Business • May 5, 2014 • 39 SOLUTIONS It's a mobile world. Your smartphone buzzes and blips to life, and then text happens. The first text: "Hi Dad, mom is wondering when was the last time you put oil in the car?" My response: "Uhh …" "Mom just said something about 'dog- house' — I didn't catch all of it." "Oh boy." Mobile is communication. If you don't fully engage with the former, you're not accomplishing the latter. Text happens. Text happens now. The phone? Let it ring. Email? Let it sit in the inbox for awhile longer. Text happens now. "Dad, we're down 51-50. 50 seconds left." "Whose ball?" "Theirs." "Well? 50 seconds was 50 seconds ago!!" "It's tied! Anita just hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds left." Text is life, meaning it's as entertaining as you choose to make it. "Dad, I will be ready at 5:15. Pick me up outside, in front of the gym …. Actually, 5:10." "Not available until 5:11. Sorry." "Butt — just get here!" Text is life, meaning it's happening now and in conversations. It can be casual. It can be personal. And through it, you can accomplish a lot in a very little time. Now think about that: Casual, personal, time-sensitive, results-oriented. Can you think of four better adjectives to summarize a suc- cessful sales conversation? The funny thing is so many of us view a successful sales conversa- tion as a phone call rather than a text. A text? No, no, I'm told. We want our sales guys calling customers, not texting them. A phone call is more personal, and we'll have a better shot at making a true connection with that consumer. You sure about that? In preparation for a recent Domin- ion Powersports Pulse webinar on powersports mobile shoppers, I talked with one of the top sales guys at Pensacola Harley-Davidson in Florida. His approach is much more mod- ern than most. He embraces text conversations with consumers, as he has noticed this com- munication channel produces a more casual and beneficial conversation. Why? For some reason, the consumer feels less pressured and more comfortable, so a more rewarding exchange occurs. The fact is our shoppers are more mobile- oriented than ever. They live through their smartphones, and consumer studies show these shoppers are just as comfortable with texting as they are with emailing. In fact, a healthy percentage of our shoppers send more than 11 text messages a day to their partners alone, according to factbrowser.com. You live in a mobile world. Your sales department needs to embrace this. Your man- agers need to embrace this, ensuring your store's business systems possess the most recent mobile advancements. Casual, personal, time-sensitive, results- oriented. Four reasons to reconsider just what the right channel is for today's conversation with our consumers. Remember, it's a mobile world, and text happens. "Dad, did you notice the service engine light on in the car today?" "Uhh …." "Do you want me to tell you what Mom just said?" "Oh boy." PSB Neil Pascale is the industry communications manager for Dominion Powersports Solutions, a dealer solutions provider that includes DX1, ZiiOS, Traffic Log Pro, PowerSports Network and Cycle Trader. He can be reached at neil.pascale@dominionpowersports.com. Let it go. No, not the movie that we parents have been pulled into for the 17th time. That said, I do indeed, "… want to build a snowman." I digress. I'm speaking in reference to the apprehension of having rate (flat or not) dictated to you by the lender. As of this writing, one retail financing company had moved to a flat rate percent of the contract for finance participation, as opposed to the traditional rate spread. That move has irritated more than a handful of dealers, as wit- nessed by the conference calls I've been on as of late. The Big 3 frustrations are: Taking away one of our big products in finance Killing our PUS (per unit sold) I don't like the lenders dictating our business So let's tackle these in reverse order, start- ing with other people (retail lenders) dictating our business. First off, did we somehow forget who is writing the check? The lender is front- ing the dough, so isn't it reasonable that that same lender should be able to dictate certain terms? That is why when financing is secured through Yamaha, a YES (Yamaha Extended Service contract) can be offered and may drop the rate to the consumer. Yamaha is taking the risk of the loan, so Yamaha can stipulate Embrace the modern conversation — texting Lenders dictating rates? Ponder something else THE DEALERSHIP OF TOMORROW The number of text messages sent from a healthy percentage of shoppers to their partners each day, according to factbrowser.com. 11 NEIL PASCALE 38 • May 5, 2014 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com P38x39-PSB6-Solutions.indd 38 4/23/14 10:21 AM