Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/33237
Now, I understand that there are people who are “just look- ing,” and many of those will never end up buying equipment. Yet some will, and my son was one of them. With no one actively fol- lowing up with him, he ended up buying equipment from an- other cutter who was calling it quits. Money wasn’t the issue — apathy was. I know that my son was just a young guy that didn’t look like he could afford what he was looking at, but what the dealers didn’t realize was that my wife and I would be helping him finan- cially to get started. They made a bad assumption, and it cost them a couple of potential sales and a new customer that will continue to grow and expand his business. Get out of the box The question we have to ask ourselves in business is how do we find and identify this new potential growth opportunity. As I watched my son go through his process, I found that he spent a lot of time on Craigslist, looking for trailers initially and occasionally would run across ads for mowers, aerators and handheld equip- ment. He would make calls and many times drop by and look at what was available. He let friends on his Facebook page know what he was thinking about doing and would get feedback from them, encouraging him and letting him know they would like to be a customer. I am guessing that my son is not much different from those other folks that are looking to get started in the business. He doesn’t read the newspaper, so your ad there won’t catch his atten- tion. Most of his music comes from his iPod, so that radio station you market on isn’t probably going to reach him. Again, based upon my observations, it’s pretty simple: Craigslist, Facebook and outdoor displays are the keys. The beauty of Craigslist is the cost. It’s free! Your challenge is to create an ad that will catch the eyes of those that are looking to get started in the business. The best thing you can do is to spend some time on Craigslist and get a feel for the type of ads that at- tract you. Again, your goal here is to get a potential customer to pick up the phone or e-mail you for more information so you can start that all-important dialogue with them. Facebook is another area to which you can market. The great thing about Facebook is you can have your ad run based upon several criteria. It might be age, employment status or interests. While Facebook advertising is not free, you can easily control your costs and change your ad until you find one that works best for your dealership. Don’t forget the power of an outside display. As my son was es- tablishing his business, he would drive by dealerships and look at the equipment that was displayed outside. Had any of those deal- erships had a trailer display with a zero-turn mower, a backpack blower and a string trimmer — priced as a package — I am confi- dent that my son would have dragged me and my wife down to take a look at it. I know that many dealers don’t handle trailers be- cause of space issues, but I do work with several dealers across the country that have worked out agreements with their local trailer manufacturers and have a display unit sitting on their lot, loaded and ready with the basic equipment that a new commercial cutter would need to get started. If you have a finance package available, for $300 per month you can probably help a new commercial cut- ter get started. OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT JUNE 2011 17