The Ides of March are upon us!

In fact, so is the quickly oncoming Aftermarket Spring Activity! This is the time of year when there is always a huge surge in our business mainly because of winter’s damage. The weather gets a little warmer, the windows on the car get cracked open, and it is finally time for the snow tires to be switched for summer rubber. This always generates the opportunity to get our customers in for the Spring Inspection, Tune-Up and Repair if required.

So… we want to get in front of our Distributors and their Automotive Service Providers to tell them all about our products and services and low and behold, we get that familiar retort: “I just don’t have time!”

Getting to the WDs and ASPs
From the Manufacturing base, we all attempt to get our entire story in front of the right audience—you know, the 60-Slide Power Point Presentation that illustrates our products features, advantages and benefits along with all the value-added services we can provide that separates us from the rest. But our distributors are busy taking orders and managing inventory, and at the same time, our ASP’s are dealing with full bays and lots of demands to service their clients.

We still need to get our message out, but in order to do that and be cognizant of our customers’ valuable time, we need to be extremely well prepared. The 60-slide presentation is important, and there are times when you can obtain several hours of a customer’s time to review your capabilities, but by and large, when you hit the street, you need to consider these attributes in order to be effective.

Know your products! Coffee and a chit chat about last night’s game is fine, but the purpose of your visit is to inform your client about your product.

The customer needs to know what benefits your product can provide.

You need to be clear! The customer needs to know about the attributes of the product, not necessarily how it’s made but rather what benefits your product can provide.

Your message needs to be concise! Short bullet points can provide an explanation and can generate questions. Those questions are important as it means your customer is listening and is looking for more!

If possible, have a sample to show or leave behind for the customer, a brochure with more detailed information and your contact coordinates.

WDs need your info
Our distributors do not have time to be interrupted from their primary focus, but they do need to hear the information in order to assist in doing what’s best for their clients.

So, it all comes down to what I have observed from many companies that serve our industry, which is what I call “The Threes”. We’ll cover the Threes in upcoming issues, but the first one where it all starts is this:
• Information
• Explanation
• Game Plan

Inform the customer about your product. Explain to the customer what the product can do to help them and their clients.

A Game Plan as to how to execute in the way of obtaining the product.