For as much time and effort and money as dealers put into each automotive direct mail campaign, you might be surprised to learn how few actually take the time to take one crucial step: to have a right-sized amount of the promotional inventory in stock and ready to sell!
Seems like a no-brainer, right?
Still, all too often, automotive dealers will simply take the text from the promotions that are handed to them by their parent company and slap it onto a mailer – sending it directly to their targets – without considering for a moment, whether they have in stock what they’re pushing?
Yes, true, it’s easy to order stock as needed – but customers want to see what they’re looking to buy and to drive it.
So, instead of blindly sending out mailers – take a moment to consider if you’ve got the stock to match. And, if you don’t, there are a few clever ways to manage the issue without making it a huge conundrum.
For starters, you can count up just how many of a particular promoted item you have in stock and say precisely that on your mailer. If you only have 15 of a fantastic item in stock, say so – and make sure you promote the idea that they’ll be gone fast.
Second, if you don’t have enough of the sale item in stock but you know it will sell if you do – go ahead and order the right-sized amount of that item from your brand.
Thirdly, don’t be afraid to promote underselling stock. Perhaps it’s not selling because your targets aren’t interested. Maybe it’s not selling because the deal isn’t enticing enough – something you can work to address. Or maybe, just maybe, that vehicle isn’t moving because no one knows it’s there.
Remember, customers who have been attracted by your promotion are expecting to be bowled over by kept promises – and it’s your responsibility to deliver on those expectations by having the inventory you’ve promoted in stock and ready to sell. These follow-throughs can be subtle too. For example, if your mailer has a vehicle you’re promoting in a certain color, make sure you have more of that color in stock than others, or at the very least, make those particular vehicles visible from the road.
Remember, if what your targets expect matches what they find, selling the inventory will be considerably easier. Sure, you can likely up-sell them into a fancier, more expensive model once they’re on site, but you won’t get very far at all if what initially attracted them isn’t front and center.
