Attracting Niche Customers

[boconnor]

The dealership I previously worked for, was recently purchased by an individual who has had great success in "flipping" failing dealership. In an effort to attract more business, I have been given the responsibility to come up with a plan to attract customers in the construction and skilled trade industries.

Can anyone here offer some tips on attracting this type of customer?
Should I stay general, or start with a specific niche then expand to other niches?
Do you typically offer any other incentives above and beyond what the factory is offering?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Rick Buffkin]

Work Truck landing pages / section on your website.
Maybe incentivize by throwing in a spray-in bedliner (Rhino Liner / Linex). Find out what the common upfits are for the diff trades and talk to some local upfitters in the area and workout some discounted pricing on the standard upfits to the vehicles. Quick videos on how easy it is to hose out / clean the inside of the trucks. Also, talk to a reputable local sign company and offer some sort of discount with them. Most of the folks buying these trucks also have a wrap or some sort of lettering added to the truck as well. Put this info on your landing pages or in your construction section. One major thing you need to do is streamline the process for the customer and reduce the amount of disconnect between what happens online to offline. Get the Desk and FINANCE dept onboard!!! The other thing is to make sure a good history is kept with these particular customers. Nothing sucks more than doing business with a company and each time you call that company, they have no idea who you are. Even though you spend thousand's of dollars with them monthly. Money is a big factor to these guys but Customer Service is really worth it's weight in gold with this particular customer.

Something simple you can do is simply getting in a new truck and taking coffee and bagles out to the jobsites.

Also, I would call up some of the local independent suppliers in your area and talk to some of their sales reps and maybe take them out to lunch or dinner and get a little of their insights as well. Those guys jobs solely rely on Customer Service for the account.

 

[boconnor]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will see what I can do to work them into my plan.

 

[joe.pistell]

The dealership I previously worked for, was recently purchased by an individual who has had great success in "flipping" failing dealership. In an effort to attract more business, I have been given the responsibility to come up with a plan to attract customers in the construction and skilled trade industries.

My $0.02
Pulling business from the construction and skilled trade industries is all about developing relationships. This takes lots of time and energy. It's illogical for a 'flipper' to do this, unless, he has a multi-yr plan, or, one time he got lucky and it boosted sales (aka crap shoot).

If you find yourself LIKING this sales job, and the flipper... flips the store, you'll find many stores that want your book of biz.

HTH
Joe