The buzzword of the day in marketing circles is engagement.
Businesses should engage their customers, not just sell to them. Engagement is different than selling because it’s considered to be more consultative and less transaction-based. Engagement is something you do with family around Thanksgiving dinner, not something you do when someone walks onto your used car lot.
I was reading an article online recently that listed a number of strategies that bank marketers should employ to engage customers and increase their business. Beyond those ideas, there are other strategies that auto lenders could employ to engage their current customer base and also to find new business.
1. Know when to sell. And when to back off. One of my favorite plays/movies is “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Anyone in sales has seen it and has loved it. Alec Baldwin makes a cameo and has a great speech that is repeated as often in sales circles as lines from “Caddyshack” are on the golf course. One of Baldwin’s greatest lines in the movie is “A. B. C. Always. Be. Closing.” It’s a mantra that has been beaten into many salesmen and customer service professionals. But I think customers are getting smarter. When David Mamet wrote and when Alec Baldwin recited the lines in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” times were different. Today’s customers are savvier. Mamet didn’t have to worry about people walking into a Target with a smartphone, scanning products and being told where they could find them cheaper. Customers are more sophisticated. Sales should be much more consultative than ever before.
2. Mine that data. I love data. I have made no secret of that in the past. There’s gold for anyone willing to take the time to sift and dig and bore into their databases. Repeat business is in the data. Uncovering new trends is in the data. Upselling and cross-selling opportunities are in the data. The more data you have, the more opportunities you have.
3. A. B. C. This is a different A, B, C than Always Be Closing. This one stands for Always Be Communicating. If today’s customers are smarter and more sophisticated than ever before, then they need more information than ever before. That information can come from you. Content is an under-utilized marketing strategy. To be effective, the content has to be relevant and well-written. A good communications strategy will turn current customers into repeat customers and turn former customers into returning customers.
4. Network. My local chamber of commerce held an event this week called Bizmania. The goal was to bring businesses in the community together to network with one another, and to promote themselves to our township. There is a great opportunity in networking with other businesses, because what’s great about them is that they likely have customers that you don’t. By establishing networking relationships with other businesses in your community, you can open yourself up to the best kind of prospecting: referrals.
The buzzword of the day in marketing circles is engagement.
Businesses should engage their customers, not just sell to them. Engagement is different than selling because it’s considered to be more consultative and less transaction-based. Engagement is something you do with family around Thanksgiving dinner, not something you do when someone walks onto your used car lot.
I was reading an article online recently that listed a number of strategies that bank marketers should employ to engage customers and increase their business. Beyond those ideas, there are other strategies that auto lenders could employ to engage their current customer base and also to find new business.
1. Know when to sell. And when to back off. One of my favorite plays/movies is “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Anyone in sales has seen it and has loved it. Alec Baldwin makes a cameo and has a great speech that is repeated as often in sales circles as lines from “Caddyshack” are on the golf course. One of Baldwin’s greatest lines in the movie is “A. B. C. Always. Be. Closing.” It’s a mantra that has been beaten into many salesmen and customer service professionals. But I think customers are getting smarter. When David Mamet wrote and when Alec Baldwin recited the lines in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” times were different. Today’s customers are savvier. Mamet didn’t have to worry about people walking into a Target with a smartphone, scanning products and being told where they could find them cheaper. Customers are more sophisticated. Sales should be much more consultative than ever before.
2. Mine that data. I love data. I have made no secret of that in the past. There’s gold for anyone willing to take the time to sift and dig and bore into their databases. Repeat business is in the data. Uncovering new trends is in the data. Upselling and cross-selling opportunities are in the data. The more data you have, the more opportunities you have.
3. A. B. C. This is a different A, B, C than Always Be Closing. This one stands for Always Be Communicating. If today’s customers are smarter and more sophisticated than ever before, then they need more information than ever before. That information can come from you. Content is an under-utilized marketing strategy. To be effective, the content has to be relevant and well-written. A good communications strategy will turn current customers into repeat customers and turn former customers into returning customers.
4. Network. My local chamber of commerce held an event this week called Bizmania. The goal was to bring businesses in the community together to network with one another, and to promote themselves to our township. There is a great opportunity in networking with other businesses, because what’s great about them is that they likely have customers that you don’t. By establishing networking relationships with other businesses in your community, you can open yourself up to the best kind of prospecting: referrals.
The first thought that went through my mind as well was how will manufacturers draft if the lender restricts new advances to 90%…. a 100% advance with an immediate 10% curtailment due from the dealer perhaps?
I’m not aware of banks/lenders that are using the program – and while the $2,000m cap would preclude most if not all larger/high volume stores from participating, at the same time there’s a lot of smaller, non-metro stores who might be able to take advantage of this offering.
Mike;
Your training of thinking is 100% true for today’s market. The “tried and true” methods of selling are antiquated and outdated for technology savvy customers in today’s market place. While the “principles” of selling are much like the foundational truths of the bible, however, the methodology must evolve to survive in the new landscape of easy access to information for consumers that was not possible just five years ago.
I agree with your comments that the new ABC’s of selling mantra is “Always Be Communicating” (soon to be a classic much like Alec Baldwin’s line in “Glengarry Glen Ross” )
Hi Anthony. Hope all is well in Houston. Mike, thanks for the thought-proviking article. It confirms my thoughts about sales and marketing today. Today, consumers and business do not want to be “pushed” – they prefer to “pull”. The old push strategy involves calling, pushing, clawing, and badgering and “asking for the business”. The new “pull” strategy means having a value proposition that is clearly stated on your website, marketing pieces, and conference booths – so prospects can quickly evaluate what you have to offer and “call you” if you have what they want. This strategy is less invasive, more efficient, polite, and respectful of the prospect’s time. Glengarry Glen Ross is in my all time top 5. My favorite line is “PUT…..THAT COFFEE…..DOWN!”. And Shelley just freezes. Classic.