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Winter - Busy Time for Amsoil Dealers I
AMSOIL Dealer Newsletter - A Web Based Business & a Little Training!
January 12th, 2011 - Part I
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Greetings!
So far in as of today, the 12th of January I have done 80% of the sales we had in December - of course December is slow every year but a few times January has been the best month of the year.
In just over two weeks I have some 25 cases of Interceptor 2-cycle oil sold locally and about twice that over the phone. Several local dealers are really getting into the action with ads and shows. We have a local indoor car show in February which allows us to further expand which at a minimum I hope to gain 50 new PC's. The Pheasant Fest I hope to gain 100 to 200 new PCs minimum to split with two other dealers who will be in the booth. See last months newsletter as we could use one more dealer in the booth (Omaha) at the end of this month. It's worth the drive and there is still some time.
Many dealers are exploring website and web page design while several of my dealers have already started working on their own. A dealership which takes their business seriously through web and keyword advertising may have one to three thousand PC's and Retail Catalog customers in just a couple years. (About 500 of those PC's and 300 or more dealers). You can see the effort really pays off.
I spent the last week between other duties adding about 10 new pages regarding products which often are swept under the rug - the aerosol lubricants, greases and things like power steering fluid. Then linking them together with "customers who bough this also bought that" - seems to be working. I am focusing on complete pages with personal thoughts and quotes on each product for powerful high rankings. There is so mych relevant information to support each of these products. If you really focus and follow through with what you are doing you can make your page for the subject #1.
Just wanted to post this morning photo my wife took in the park across the street.
Now as February gets close the AGGRAND calls are coming back. I have two dealers who have expressed particular interest in my leads for that so I send them all out to Pino in Toronto and Dusty in Lubbock - they are doing a fine job!! Dealers who ask get the leads! There are dry spells where none come in but when I get a couple then they come in more than I can handle at once.
IMPORTANT:
If you are not getting the calls you want perhaps I haven't made you a link/info page on my contacts page. Just let me know and we'll work to get it done. If you do have a page on my site PLEASE provide me with updated info, quotes, stories, testimonials, anything!! The generally stop working if you don't keep them updated. All you have to do is grab articles from AMSOIL press releases and or magazines. Most of the material on my site is from the publishing's put out by Ed Newman and his staff at AMSOIL. Ed's the guy in charge of advertising.
If you search AMSOIL Phoenix for example we do pretty well for the dealers there but it can be better should someone send some material.
I have a couple newer dealers in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida whose telephone could be ringing off the hook if they worked with me on this. If you can't build a website at least let's focus on these locally ranking pages so customers can reach you but at the very least get T1 Certified so you list on Amsoil's site and get the Google local listings set. But you must send me material with some geographically related keywords so it will work and it does work!!
Shipping Rebates:
I will continue with the shipping rebates! But here are the rules. I will rebate any dealers products bought for their own local inventory (must ship to your location and not a drop ship somewhere else) when the order is $300 or more of commission value items. This is only for first line dealers. If there is a Direct Jobber between you and I then you should ask your Direct Jobber for this offer. It certainly has caused a lot of product to be sold and re-sold.
Rule #2 is if the order is for more than 6-cases of oil I will only rebate it if you do Truck Collect. That gets the best rate cutting it less than a quarter of what AMSOIL charges. So if you want the rebate please try to have the products shipped the best rate. Just call the warehouse to find out the carrier they use for large orders to your zipcode, then you call them to set up an account. I have pallets weighing 1400 pounds and pay less than $100 to get that shipped! Really!
Mobile Websites:
My last newsletter mentioned an 11th item which will help you get ahead of the pack. I wanted to delay that one because I was still doing some research on a tool to help you. Well I haven't had any time to nail that one down but I encourage you to look into it.The secrete is websites built in the format for small portable wireless devices.; "They" say that in 2 years 60% of web searches will be made by this portable device (I guess I'll be one of the other 40%).
One dealer did send me a link for one web development help site with a number of tutorials as he got screwed over by some web hosting company. He recommends Expression Web by Microsoft. Check it out. But I still don't know how to create the format needed for the mobile devices. I had a offer from APLUS to do one for me but I backed out as I would rather figure it out on my own too - I don't need any re-occurring charges for something I can do better.
Trade Show Tip
Make it a easy booth - Focus your efforts on getting the customers information. Offer trial Preferred Customer Memberships, sign them up then follow up with them with newsletter and calls and thank you notes.
Order yourself any one of many ballot or entry boxes such as this style. Then have some custom index cards made up requesting name, address, email, phone and a line for year make and model of their primary vehicle.
When you get home set them up as a trial PC and email them back the look-up page on their vehicle. Ask me for the email format I use to notify them that their "Wholesale" packet is on the way.
Basic items for a 10'X10 'trade show booth: 6 to 8 foot table & table cloth. A banner or backdrop of some type (available through AMSOIL), catalogs, G3500's and limited brochures. Some cheap candy to attract people and about 50 or so 7" AMSOIL decals (25 cents each - they will sell! Use that to pay for your lunch). If you want to step it up take a very limited sample or quarts relating to the nature of the show, a oil and air filter and/or bring a couple cases of add-ons such as PI, MP, grease, diesel fuel additive and Saber 100:1 pillow packs. Personally other than small items to sell like the PI and spray lubricants, I have the best sellers - AME gallon, and quarts of MCV, ASL, ATF, AIT and my Bypass Display which will be explained in a near future newsletter.
Something that also works with a clean table is a rack of hats. Sell them for $20 or give them away with a dealership or a $100 purchase if you have supply on hand.
The key here is to limit clutter. Past experience shows customers who stop by aren't captured by anything other than the AMSOIL Logo. When they stop they have questions which normally catalogs and data sheets can answer outside of your business card.
Ok, well good selling to all of you! On to the main subjects. A 2nd newsletter is being sent out with more tips and suggestions to help you.
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XL and OE
OE is introduced and XL sales get the boost!
  The XL product line seems to be the winner! The new AMSOIL OE is already showing some positive signs. I'm sure many dealers out there who specialize in the retail model are doing real well. My situation of massive internet sales and marketing, DIY (Do it yourself) customers and going back to revive several old commercial accounts has also seen a boost thanks to the OE.
Just like AMSOIL's statistic where as 50% of all AMSOIL Preferred Customers have never bought passenger car motor oil, my reciepts show the same thing. Having the low cost OE available and offering it at the wholesale price to increase the small ticket sales is working although so far it's nothing to write home about. The fact is you should never let a customer walk away with just a bottle of fuel additive or a case of motorcycle oil without discussing the products they use in their car. Most of the time it's not a big concern to them and the give the business to whatever method is most convenient to them. That's where your customer relationship kicks in - Show them that at $3.99 per quart there is little difference in price but there is a bit more to gain in performance and protection. I then explain we have three tiers of passenger car motor oil and each one is produced here in the United States. This is where the XL is the winner. 90% of the time where I discuss this with a customer XL ends up being their choice. A quick email to Tim Golden at AMSOIL verified they are seeing the same trend. The addition of OE has done more for XL than what was expected.
See here - Honda's oil change indicator alerts can be from 6500 to 10,000 so there's where the XL is the premium for the twice per year interval. (clicking on photo opens article)  | | XL has life beyond the average oil drain alert |
To get started get your hands on the G3413. That's all you need. That will coach you of all the materials and make all the points to arm you.
Think about this, "Currently there are as many as 100,000 businesses that offer an oil change, ATF flush or other lubricant installation as a standard service including more than 16,000 dedicated quick lubes, 21,000 car dealerships and more than 60,000 others such as tire & lube shops...
Amsoil says, "We have a virtiual unobjectional product as the synthetic market is projected to continue to grow significantly making this market one we cannot ignore."
All the G-Items are available for download in the dealer zone for review.
The G-3413 lays out all you need and mentions several other G-Items including the new Installer Kit - G250 which includes everything you need to make five short 15 minute presentations. $8.00 for a remarkable amount of sales kits. The main item is the G-3401 which I bought a few extras is a high quality thick papered professional brochure.
I'm working a 2nd trade show here in February which I'm hoping I can get a couple local dealers to take the booth and cross paths with owners of these types of businesses. There has been too many instances where I could have secured an account if we had access to such a program!
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 Review: There's a lot of information and suggestions available but here's how to get to the top. I am always asking these questions:
- Am I doing enough to get the word out locally? Is there a free or low cost way to do so?
- Have I thanked my customers for their business and sent some type of acknowledgment by mail (For larger online orders).
- Anyone in my city who may search for AMSOIL - is that connection leading to my group of dealers?
- Are there any local sales shows exhibitions which I could have a simple table to get leads or sell product?
- Are my downline aware of the great webinars and voice presentations and are they using them to their advantage?
- Do we have the products needed in stock or do I have a plan to get them to the customer the fastest way possible for the lowest possible cost?
- Have I explored all "Gorilla Marketing" techniques? (see AMSOIL University Material from Rob Stenberg) - I will get that posted on my site or try to get that to those who are interested.
- I can't always be there to serve the customers when they need something - have I done enough to get downline dealers locally and train them so they are confident?
Can my customers find them? - Am I keeping up with the technology? Do I have the key Data Sheets on hand or am I reading them?
- Have I reviewed the training materials on AMSOIL.com and have I checked the "What's New" and "Product News" sections in the dealer zone? And am I sure my Downline knows what is available to them in the dealer zones?
- Do I have a reliable system to thank and follow up with past customers? (Worth more than new ads) And am I certain my accounts know where to go for information should they not be able to reach me?
- Do my customers understand they can get the best price as a preferred customer and am I locking in all my non-familiar customers as PCs when they order a case to further expand volume?
- Before I give up on something which isn't working, have I exhausted all other methods?
- Have I reviewed the material and notes from AMSOIL U and shared this information with my potential dealers.
- Do I know anyone who would be an expert with commercial account sales? Have I reviewed the thousands of possible "small" accounts in my general area?
- Is there one AMSOIL product I really feel like the expert on? Do I really know why that product exceeds market standards and the level of quality control involved with the production of that item?
Ches Cain - Regency Platinum Direct Jobber 1-800-579-0580
www.syntheticwarehouse.com
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Want to Join?
This newsletter is now reaching out to customers who requested to see my dealer newsletters. If you are considering joining don't waste time - customers are looking for product. The #1 call I get is "Where can I find AMSOIL here in my town?" Or, "There's a dealer but they don't call me back or the message is rather unprofessional." Demand is there. Just go to syntheticwarehouse.com and contact any of the dealers in our contact list for their dealer form. If you want to be added to the contact list of dealers join our group.
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