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Objectives - Primary Income
AMSOIL Dealer Newsletter - A Web Based Business & a Little Training!
December 22, 2010
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Greetings!
Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope to churn out one more newsletter before that day. Lot's of new dealers so I want to give them plenty to toss around wile they are on break.
Last month I mentioned a list of 10 tasks to complete with the objective of reaching 4-stars. As of today I have only completed about 4 of those tasks but partially due to a increase in local sales, local dealers moving inventory and a few new dealers who I have been working with daily on the phone. There's actually a 11th task I forgot to add to the list but I will leave it off here. It's a secrete as this list now goes out to the public - call or email and I'll share this tip with you. You will be glad I kept it under-wraps. It's revolutionary!
I've completed a newsletter system with my prospects, retail customers, commercial accounts and now on to Preferred Customers!
 I have upped the Annie on the methods for securing preferred customers. I want to cover that here in a bit but that's how I come up with objectives. If something doesn't work or another function runs out of steam I keep looking to what will help me achieve the next goal. It's like running into walls knowing that sooner or later you will get through. I'll never give up.
In marketing when you have a commodity with unlimited applications it's easy to make the mistake of aiming too high (backed up by AMSOIL U stats on failed dealerships). What seems to be most lucrative or the place to spend your time I learned the opposite to be true here. Of course you don't know that's the case until you have gone through the motions or perhaps learn from other experiences such as the dealer interaction at AMSOIL U and the sales team discussions in the Advanced course. The key target for AMSOIL sales are vehicle fleet owners of 35 or less. They are the ones not services by the big guys!!
AMSOIL doesn't hand you success on a plate, you do have to work for it! That said, your downline isn't going to do it for you either. I know one thing for sure - we have a product in high demand and every day someone develops a more efficient way for those customers to find them and to secure those customers yet only a handful of dealers are looking for those tools and willing to loose a bit (generally time) for the larger payoff ahead.
All in all it's a numbers game and you devise routines to not only best serve your customers but you have to realize how much time you have to serve each one and secure and retain the next one and repeat that process in less time than before. This is done with technology and planning. As soon as I realized the small individual customer was more valuable in my business model that the large fleet or savvy commercial account with all the connections, I made Direct Jobber. Soon after that AMSOIL came out with the Preferred Customer and things really started to take off!
It has been discussed at AMSOIL U (so I'm not alone in this thought) that one of the biggest hurtles for a dealer trying to make Direct Jobber is the concept of negative issues which are associated with trying to secure a particular account. This can really slow a person down and create a negative outlook for the future. Generally the issue or objection is related to a disagreement to matters beyond ones control. Examples are account approval, product specifications, delivery arrangements, ordering issues and other problems which only effect the account in question. It's key that you avoid getting too wrapped up with it and move on to the next customer. There are many more which resonate with your model or terms. I reciently had to "fire" a customer.
And now that we have the new AMSOIL OE oil, for my business model I see this being more valuable for the individual customer than the lube center but again, that's the case with my business model.
This newsletter I will make a suggestion or two which hopefully will make one see just how much opportunity AMSOIL offers for a full time business.
 I have so much material I want to cover over the next three or so newsletters - here's what I am thinking - A deadline for a preferred customer newsletter by year end (Thank you message and product tech info)
Four dealer newsletters 1- regarding the OE market, #2 regarding planning for advertising locally and on the web, #3 - covering bypass kits and the display unit and this newsletter regarding items which don't fit the other three. I'll end this section with one thing which is really helping me achieve my next goals and that is fitness! I'm spending about 2 hours at the gym 6-days a week, eating better (for me that's eating twice what I use to), tracking the workouts and starting a winter outdoor schedule of skating and X-country skiing. I'll tell ya, it's making a difference! If something bad happened tomorrow, at least I'll have my health! Oh - The 10W40 AMO in the AMC parked outside in 5 degree average weather is starting up no problem even with the bypass kit. I do believe the Dominator coolant boost is indeed helping with warm-ups as the whole warm up scenario is working out better than last winter.
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Pheasant Fest - Trade Show Season
 Pheasant Fest - Get ready!
I have two booths reserved and paid for. This is a 1st class professional & robust trade show where attention to AMSOIL & AGGRAND will be as high as any.
The last time it was in Omaha was 2005 which 25,000 people filled 15 isles of 250 vendor booths. If you want a chance for dozens of new preferred customers, farm accounts and sales or if you just want to experience how to set up and present a trade show booth, consider this one. I have invited Ron Ward the Direct Jobber who sponsored me as a dealer in 1997. He is the trade show expert.
We'll be using a simple display and customer data cards for following up and locking in PCs so it will pay off for you. It cost me $1500 which AMSOIL's Co-Op program will pay 1/3rd so if we have 4 people to split the booth it will cost each of us only $250!
Hunters and guests will be here from out of state and they expect at least 25,000 visitors again. Everyone here owns an ATV or other powersports equipment, trucks, some own farm equipment and many have acrages which use food plots so AGGRAND will be a hit.  | | This is how it was all day every day each isle. |
The dates and booth times are January 28th 1 to 9PM, 29th 9AM to 6PM and the 30th 10AM to 5PM. If you want to go let me know ASAP! Then we can talk about lodging if needed and the literature order I'm about to place. I think we could handle 5 workers including myself overlapping work times as the hours will be long. If you know you want to do this and you are a T1 Certified dealer there is just enough time to get in your literature order. Hope you join us!
Vendors:250 Website with hotel room block information: www.pheasantfest.org
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For Many AMSOIL is a Full Time Business
Specialize in making the purchase easy and the products known
My AMSOIL model is working well for one simple reason. I found a way to get the information a customer wants and get it delivered to them right away. I have also learned how to keep the customer informed about other products related to their purchase.It's a ongoing process to create a matrix of landing spots for customers but let's just talk about my efforts for my non-local sales as the topic here deals with mass loads of customers.With a good single website following a proven suggestion you can make a good $90,000 to $350,000 yearly. Is it worth it?What are they doing wrong?
Many dealers new to the web searches (or wanting to start a website) look at all these dealer websites when they do a search for AMSOIL and the reaction must at first be quite negative - I mean in a sea of 10,000 dealer websites how does one succeed? It's really a simple concept but it does require a lot of work but the key here is that itis worth it if you want to make it to the top.  Of course you must have something driving you to take on the extra load. Perhaps paying off the house, more time for family, a motorcycle or possibly a 2nd business you always wanted to start - use AMSOIL as the tool to fund it.My Suggestion is to open up the G3500 price list and scan through some of the products with specific and niche applications, then you do searches using keywords which generalize the product. Most of my customers who call or buy through the website never searched with "amsoil" in the search line. They might have searched "frozen diesel fuel", "chainsaw bar and chain oil", "SAE 30 oil for generator", "cold air intake filter for mini cooper", "low temperature grease", best Volkswagen motor oil" and on and on.. See what I mean. You design your product pages with those users in mind. The advice for this newsletter edition is consider taking classes at the local community college or continuing education school on basic web design using popular design tools.
It's like learning to weld - It gets easy when you learn from the pros!
If you go through the tutorials in one of these classes, there is no end to what you can do. Then you can be in charge of your own website 100% but you can still take advantage of a 3rd party design company, just have them create the fancy template or logos but you add in the code your way and manage it. But the bottom line is you have got to get started somewhere otherwise the same 5 dealers will be absorbing up all the business because out of 90,000 dealers only a handful saw early on that income could be made right away if they used this model. (And have the ability to focus on one task.) The long term task of most is to have several downline dealers to build security but a keyword based dealer website will generate sales almost immediately and start building 100's of PCs and CR accounts. I think it would help to explain what I have been working on. I already have about 50% of the product pages I want. I am adding new product pages weekly but I am more focused on making sure that in bold titles and lettering each page gives the customer all the options and is updated with easier to read text (to my best ability). I have to assume they landed on that page so I want their next step to go right where they want to go. #1 Question is - "What is the price?" I have that covered. There's a Buy/Pricing button at the top and in the text there are several (grouped together) links to instant PC membership, AMSOIL's online store, a form to get the price from me, my phone # and a form to get either the wholesale price list or a catalog request all instantly. Since I made the change it is working. Just last weekend I had over 10 PC requests in one day alone for trial memberships. Here's one of the new pages for the Synthetic Polymeric Truck Grease I built. Very mild in appearance but it's working far better than a prior format.In this page there are several options in the white space as well as at the top and on the left. As I repair the 300 or so many other pages I see sales ramping up again. (My rankings have fallen drastically as I wasn't keeping up with the updates.) The main improvement on these pages is the updated technical information and personal quotes I'm adding making the material unique. On non motor oil products I am adding information about our low cost OE for them to look into and also adding tables showing customers who were interested in this product were also interested in product A, B and C. This cross linking matrix is very helpful in rankings. Jim Hunt out of St. Louis recently sold a couple drums of the Severe Gear SAE 250 because he had a page on that one which no other dealer thought to "fiddle" with.I did some searches on product keywords relating to the Heavy-Duty MP and the USDA H1 Silicone Spray and there is NOT ONE AMSOIL result for common application searches. I did learn that other "Silicone Lubricant Spray H1" products cost more than ours wholesale and are smaller containers. Try this one "Low Temperature Power Steering Fluid" - The only one recognized was Red Line who also owns the market on that Water Wetter.. We need to get our name out there but using appropriate search terms.So to sum this up I am increasing the likely hood of a conversion (sale or lead) and at the same time increasing the number of visits to my site through the product pages.In the past I covered local ads, free online Google and Yahoo local listings, decals on your vehicle with AMSOIL "basic" information, trade shows, Craigslist ads, newsletters and now all out master websites. Having your own website which you created pays off and has paid off for me better than anything else I have ever done. When I created this site I wasn't trying to really educate the customer with this mess, I was only trying to get the broad bandwidth in the search engines. It worked but as with anything it does require maintenance. I should end this topic reverting back to the last newsletter when I mentioned my dealer in St. Pete, FL - Kevin Morrison who has been creating all these individual websites on single products. It's paying back already. He started with a couple a year ago and now is busy adding his 12th site! If you search in Google "AMSOIL ATF" he has the first link just below Amsoil. Not bad!By the time you finish building a general product page you will also rank #1 locally as well.
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Quick Tips!!
Sales Videos, Pillow Packs and My Garage
Sales Videos
There are a lot of dealer businesses becoming known through their Youtube AMSOIL videos but the ones which are more effective are found by search terms other than AMSOIL. How about Oil Filtration, earn money from home, worn kingpin steering, rear differential, and just think what you could do with automatic transmission fluid??
One I will be doing is for the 15W40 high Zinc and bypass kit in the 57 Studebaker and another for the AMSOIL MP-HD regarding sealing roof mounted electrical and antenna connections from the weather (ham radio subject matter). Every Ham radio guy will be calling me for a can of MP to seal soldier joints and then oil for their cars as these folks are very technical. See where I am going with this?
Click on the link to sample the George Douglass Video.
Best Camera Well it's a little to late to ask for this for Christmas but...
I took the time to find the very best low cost camera for youtube work.. Yes, I did your homework for you. The best camera to make this easy, new or used are the new Kodak Playtouch ($140 to $200) and the earlier model also by Kodak - the Zi8 ($50 to $150). What makes these the best deal is ease of use, low cost, external mic jack and the folks at CNET seem to think so too. Those helpful videos are fun to make and point attention to various problems.
Amsoil My Garage
Review the article on the updates to the popular amsoil "My Garage" and then be sure to ask your local customers for permission to create an account on the website. Create their account with the primary vehicle then send them the link. Naturally they can change their password and add vehicles and equipment. This will create a great long term relationship between you and the customer.
2-Cycle Oil Pillow Packs
From up-line dealer Ron Ward, Richardson, TX - Ron suggests buying a case of the Saber Professional 100:1 pillow packs (product code ATPPK). These make a great promotional item along with your business card attached. Use them before or after the sale. Where I live this is the season for these 2-cycle augers (ice fishing) and sales are up on that product too. They remember me from handing these out at local trade shows.
Click on the image to open the video!!
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| | Chuck Evans AMSOIL Sales Center |
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