Do you think fast talking or fine print advertising works?

Just had a advertising guy tell me it's our job to get them in . It's your job to sell them. Just here a radio add that said $69 a month. At the end the words were so fast you could barely understand. It said $3500 down and a was a lease payment A news paper had a similar add and at the very bottom some really fine print . It stated $3000 down and a 72 month payment to qualified buyers plus taxes tags and so on. Do you agree with the advertising guy's response on getting customers in. Do you think this kind of advertising helps dealerships or hurt them?

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Comment by Fran Taylor on August 26, 2011 at 3:46pm: Jerry I work with dealers like this every year. So I have to have a plan before I get there. no difference than a one price store. You have to know how to work with that sales force the best you can. I believe there is enough out there without doing anything that will hurt the reputation of the dealership and the auto industry. Again I know some dealers that are effective doing this kind of advertising. Thanks my friend.

Comment by Fran Taylor on August 26, 2011 at 9:40am: Tony I believe this hurts dealers in the long run to some point. We had to take everyone on a demo for them to receive there gift. If I couldn't sell a car I did a good enough job to ask for referrals. If I couldn't get referrals I asked them for there birth date and put them in my system if they were really nice. It is selling when you have to tell someone they need $3k down plus taxes. To me it was better to go outside the dealership and get my own customers instead of waiting for an up to come in. I had about 15,000 names in my system in only three years. Everyone I met I tried to put them in my birthday system. This type of sales helped me that way. Best of luck Tony and thanks.

Comment by Tony Provost on August 25, 2011 at 7:55pm: FRAN- It hurts them. People like to be where the ACTION IS!!! The biggest issue, how does the dealership personal, handle the CRAZY objections, created from this type of ACTION? Great post.

Comment by Fran Taylor on August 25, 2011 at 7:16pm: Thanks Craig. A dealer asked me what advertising works the best? This dealer sells about 1700 cars a month with his locations , I told him I didn't know. He said I don't know myself. He said I mix it up every month so I try to hit all of them instead of putting all my eggs in one basket. Radio ,tv , and news paper one month. Next month is a mailer , cable and a radio station at my dealership for two hours. I mix up what I'am selling too. One month new trucks , then new cars then used and this is over a period of time. We spend a little advertising on all our units but have a big promotion every month with a different type of advertising and promoting different products. We have a six month plan ahead so we know what to get ready for. We look at the weather forecast as well so we don't have a sale in a snow storm if possible. It's hard to argue with success. Craig I like you asking for all the money to. I know a lot of people are sold on the net but I like the mix it up ideas a lot as well. Thanks.

Comment by Craig Darling on August 25, 2011 at 5:16pm: PS: DE needs a like button on Troy's comment.

Comment by Craig Darling on August 25, 2011 at 5:14pm: It hurts them... people get there and are bummed when the "sales person" or "manager" share the fine print with them.... usually after they were told all is well and lets pick, demo and write up the car you want.... ugh!

With social media and of course all the info available... just be up front, work your social media programs to bring in the traffic and lets go back to the good old days of asking for profit.... those are the customers you want any way..... they give the most referrals too.... just saying lol

We have one import dealer that has works the digital and social media end of marketing... after droping newspaper and other print adds... in 6 months he has a data base of 50K prospective clients.... they are also the number one dealer in the country in their brand.... It would be kind of nice to be spending only 3500 a month and killing the compitition that is spending 10X that.... hmmmmm?

Comment by Troy Spring on August 23, 2011 at 12:59pm: Fran, you and I both know the best salesman are not slick, they just tell it like it is :) I know enough of your clients and you personally enough to know.... You are doing great things right now.

Comment by Fran Taylor on August 23, 2011 at 12:44pm: You sure are a salesman Troy. Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.

Comment by Troy Spring on August 23, 2011 at 12:34pm: Well great prospecting is certainly a form of advertising as well, and I know there is no one better at it than you, so add that to the pile... Troy

Comment by Fran Taylor on August 23, 2011 at 12:19pm: I have seen it work both ways Troy. I like the idea of no gifts and just plain buyers. I agree with you that misleading advertising gets you unhappy customers . Nothing has changed in the last 20 years. The dealers that work smart and do business in a professional way will always make it no matter how bad the economy is. Good luck with your mailers my friend and thanks.