This Week's Homework - Watch TV!
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I have another Last Call shout out for our "Become Wildly Successful"
course in Denver, CO next Thursday and Friday, April 13-14, 2006 @ Steam Way
Superstore. Please call 800-447- 8326 for more details and to sign
up.
Last e-zine I talked about the importance of an online presence and
registering your website with as many search engines as possible. The
ability for your prospects and customers to find your company online in a
sea of similar businesses is becoming more critical to your success than
ever before.
This week I'm "shifting gears", so to speak, to talk about a TV show I
stumbled across last week and how viewing the first episode has already
helped me re-discover some of the things in my cleaning and restoration
business that I had forgotten and overlooked.
I'm talking about taking offline self-promotion to the nth degree.
And self-promotion is exactly what car dealership Towbin Dodge in Las Vegas
delivers every single day. According to the station, Towbin Dodge is the #1
selling dealership in the entire United States. The name of the show is
King of Cars and is on the A&E Channel Tuesdays @ 10PM Eastern Standard
Time.
If you missed last week's episode, you missed one of the most fun business
and marketing lessons on the boob tube. If you didn't catch it, the star of
the show is "Chop", a burly rapper-esque fellow who certainly understands
the importance of developing a fun buying atmosphere for his employees and
customers. Does Chop look like a typical car dealer?
Pretty gaudy looking isn't he? If you think he looks like an interesting
guy, take a look at his star salesman.
Take a look at their video -
King of Cars Video. Now go ahead and tell me - I dare ya - these guys
look like typical car salesmen, don't they? There's also a salesman who
dresses as a Viking, another as a crossdressing female dancer, one who
dresses like a wizard, and yet another who dresses in a diaper with a large
plastic piece of broccoli sticking out the back.
Yep, just like a typical car salesman - NOT!
Each week Chop creates an infomercial on local TV called "The Chopper Show"
where these crazy- dressed salesmen drive up and introduce the car to the
audience. According to Chop, the infomercials account for 80% of his sales.
If that number is a trackable "hard" statistic, that's one powerful
infomercial!
As if the goofball dressed-up salesmen don't provide the prospect with
enough emotional curiosity to at least visit Towbin Dodge, Chop has created
more emotional attractants for their consumption. For example, every time a
car is sold, the customer hits a big gong and the entire staff cheers and
pounds surrounding surfaces with their hands in wild adoration of the
customer. Yet another example of Chop's way of providing satisfaction to the
customer is that the buyer gets to dunk the salesman in a tank of water -
just like the ones at a carnival.
In many ways, visiting Towbin Dodge seems like going to a carnival. It
genuinely looks like a fun place to shop. However, carnivals have their dark
side as well. When the eyedressing, dunktanks and zany outfits are stripped
away, it's still a car dealership and the high pressure salesmen are still
high pressure salesmen; but the hardest part of the sale - getting the
prospect to walk in the door - is accomplished with flying colors at Towbin
Dodge.
So what can we learn from Chop and his unique car dealership? The most
important lesson is to be different from your competition. The King of Cars
goes out on a limb and virtually takes the prospect to a different "planet",
let alone merely being different. Chop's success is no accident. He knew
that selling cars isn't sexy so he figured out ways to sell the sizzle on
top of the steak. Another lesson from the show proves that positive and
friendly competition amongst employees and staff is healthy for the entire
organization. In last week's episode the sales manager (a male) whose team
lost a sales competition had to dress up in a call girl outfit and be taped
for The Chopper show.
As I said I don't watch much TV but if you need me next Tuesday @ 10PM
Eastern, I'll be glued to A&E in front of my big screen picking up a few
more business and marketing tips.
