Service Providers

Answering the brochure debate

Motorcycle prospects walk into a dealership interested in buying a new motorcycle, but the facts say that half the time those prospects will walk back out the door holding nothing in their hands. No keys to a new bike, but also no brochure.

Why the reluctance to provide a brochure or other selling materials to prospects? Some dealerships argue it’s too expensive to hand out so many brochures, and others argue that the quickest way to send a prospect out the door without buying is to give them a brochure.

One of the most respected men of the advertising industry, David Ogilvy, famously said, “long copy sells.” His point was if a prospect was willing to keep learning about a product, the seller should keep providing material to teach. The moment the seller stops providing new material, the seller has stopped selling.

Considering that 80 percent of your dealership’s “ups” walk back out the door without buying, wouldn’t you rather leave them with “long copy” in the form of a brochure to keep selling to them after they walk out the door?

No, your salespeople don’t have to give them a brochure immediately during the visit, but make sure they are handed one as they are headed out the door. Or even better, give your prospects not only a brochure, but also something to sell your dealership too: a copy of a newspaper article or even a pamphlet you’ve created about what makes your dealership unique.

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2 Comments

  1. Excellent point Fran. This in fact is one of the base concepts upon which we developed the V-SEPT CRM tool. V-SEPT enables dealers to print a brochure for the specific model and color unit the customer is interested in. The key is, to your point, the brochure is customized to the dealership and the salesperson. THe dealership can put “Long copy” on the reason to do business with them right on the brochure itself enabling the selling to continue in a very meaningful way for thoes who won’t purchase on that visit. This solves a related problem you didn’t address (future article ?)which is getting contact information from that prospect. We train dealerships to ask the customer if he would like a brochure? 90% will respond positivley. Asking for thier phone number, to print the brochure , is a comfortable and effective way to capture that critical piece of information making follow up possible.

  2. The solution to this is really VERY simple. The OEMs need to supply literature at no cost to the dealer. PERIOD!!! The fact that the dealer is expected to carry this burden of marketing is utterly ridiculous.

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