This week, myself and Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke, caught up on a video call with our friend and regular contributor to the magazine, Sara Hey of dealer training experts in the States, BCI.
It's always great to chat with Sara to hear her take on the current dealer scene over there. As we heard when our intrepid dealer correspondent Jo Balmer spoke with her at Equip in Louisville last November (which definitely wasn't a holiday!), whilst there can be great differences between the networks on either side of the Atlantic, there are undoubtedly similarities.
One area that Sara mentioned this week which sounded remarkably similar to what UK and Ireland dealers are currently facing, is a notion that we've spoken about a lot so far in 2025 - and that's uncertainty. It seems American customers are also sitting on their hands more so than in some years, when it comes to making new machinery purchases.
Perhaps it might give our dealer readers some comfort to know that what they are currently experiencing is indeed a worldwide phenomenon. It sounds like contemporaries in the US are also battling market uncertainty this season. I'm sure it would be increased sales that would give our readers actual comfort, but it' something to consider none-the-less.
What this area of conversation led Sara on to discuss though, was how are dealers tackling marketing in this current climate? Her concern for dealers in the US was that she felt there wasn't enough dealer marketing happening - or more specifically, not enough of the right type of marketing.
Sara argued that fundamentally many of the dealers she sees are relying too heavily on their suppling manufacturers' promotional assets - to the detriment of selling their own dealership's brand. Simply re-posting a manufacturer's push on one of their new products, could end up being noise in the social media space, was a concern she voiced.
Manufacturers, Sara believed, can often be preoccupied with chasing the elusive new customer. If this is the case, dealers could be missing out through failing to properly market themselves towards the potential "gold mine" of customers already known to their business. These are ripe targets, who dealerships could be overlooking, she said.
Sara explained, "A dealership's current customers are actually their best leads for future business. They know the business, like the business, and have already bought from them. But they don’t always know how to do business with with them again. This is where timing and messaging comes into play."
She illustrated her point with a story about a dealership who her company had delivered a list of hundreds of hot customer leads to - all of whom had shown interest in the machinery they sold. When Sara followed up a couple of weeks later to see how they had done with selling themselves to these contacts, she was told by the dealer that they had been 'too busy' to action anything!
With these thoughts in mind, Sara was interested to hear what marketing techniques UK and Ireland dealers are utilising now to combat this customer malaise. So, are you approaching your messaging differently? Can you rely solely on your manufacturers' assets? How are you getting your own brand into the minds of your local communities?
Please let us know in the comments below or, as always, feel free to drop me a line.
