We saw a September that was definitely’not a ‘September to Remember’. Toyota, Ford, Chrysler were all reporting that they are down between 30-40%.
But there are two points of good news:
1. It will not stay down forever.
2. If you remain focused on your marketing efforts, even though your traffic counts may be “off”, now is the best time in your career to gain market share.
When the pie shrinks, you have to get a bigger piece of it – that goes without question. To quote a great car guy, “All I want is my fair share and a little bit of everyone else’s”. If try something drastic at times like these – you can risk the opportunity to gain market share. If you are fearless and will not accept “backing up” in the market place and will sacrifice the glimmer of profit – you will come out of this market a lot stronger than you went into it.
If you reduce your budget – then expect to sell less. That is a fact. If you cut, you will sell less than you did the month before. If you add or maintain, you should plan, expect and demand that you are selling more.
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John Paul Strong
John Paul Strong combines his two decades of automotive marketing experience with a team of more than 150 professionals as owner and CEO of Strong Automotive.
