NAVTEQ, a global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, reports a new survey that illustrates just how impactful GPS-enabled location-based advertising is when it comes to finding consumers at the right time and the right place.

In its simplest form, NAVTEQ’s underlying technology lets advertisers display ads to users of GPS products and services, while more advanced technology paves the way for advertisers to interact with consumers and glean key behavioral insights and metrics. The MRSI survey shows that NAVTEQ’s one-way connection on navigation devices is delivering high returns to advertisers longing for new ways to stand out from traditional ad clutter and more directly influence consumer buying decisions.

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Thirty-eight percent of U.S. auto buyers are willing to drive more than an hour for their best deal, highlighting the importance of aggressive advertising by dealers. The Fall 2009 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey also found online media is now more influential than social or traditional media on auto purchasing/leasing decisions.

Manufacturer Web sites influenced nearly half of recent purchasers. Search results and online video were also influential, and nearly twice as many males as females reported influence from online video. Traditional media is still influential for automotive sales. Newspaper was the most influential traditional media overall, particularly so for older demographics, Asians, and African Americans.

Social media had the most effect on buyers under the age of 54, females, and higher-income consumers. Auto purchasers who use Twitter say social networks influenced their purchase more than users of other social networks.

“The growing influence of online media has created the opportunity for price-sensitive consumers to shop beyond their own backyard,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Dealerships must promote themselves consistently because they have more competition than might be readily apparent,” Smith said.

Other key findings from the survey:

- 63% of consumers contacted more than one dealer during the decision-making process.
- Nearly 16% of U.S. consumers intend to purchase a new or used vehicle within the next year.
- After the vehicles themselves, the topics most researched online by auto purchasers were: Trade-in values, auto insurance, and gas mileage.
- Television was the most influential traditional media for 25- to 34-year-old auto buyers.
- Blackberry and iPhone users were more than twice as likely than other mobile phone users to have their auto purchase influenced by support of a cause or charity.
- The Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey is conducted throughout the year by Ad-ology Research to study on- and off-line media influence on buying decisions.

SOURCE

In his class “Increasing Gross Profit” Kelly Bennett focused on increasing gross profit.

Bennett says that shops should have $1.30 in labor sales for every $1 in parts sales. This is known as the labor to parts ratio, and if your shop’s ratio is upside down, there’s a problem.

“The question you need to ask yourself when expenses increase is not how am I going to pay for it,” Bennett explains. “The question is how is the customer going to pay for it. That’s business.”

“We sell more labor than parts, we have a higher gross profit, so why is it that most profit that most shops see more profit off parts?” Bennett poses. “It’s a lot easier to give away time than it is to give away parts.”

Your gross profit on labor should be 75 percent. Combine that with the 50 percent on parts and you can achieve the 60 percent gross profit in your shop. Bennett stresses that your labor sales need to exceed your parts sales.

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Tucker Rocky’s retail environment specialist Jennifer Robison wrought an awesome article titled “Can you get out of your own way?” which discusses the most common issues standing in a powersports retailers way of being successful. She writes:

I find a portion of the nation’s brick and mortar powersports retailers struggle with multiple issues that hinder sales and sales growth in their stores. Below is a checklist of items that may be in your way of such sales growth.

You can’t change the world, but you can change your world.

1. Leadership and drive
• Keep your eye on the prize!
• Make and set goals.
• You have to believe in you, your store and your people.
• You have to give up complaining.
• You have to give up all your excuses!
• Don’t like your outcomes? Change your responses.
• E+R=O (Event +Response=Outcome)
• You heard there’s going to be a recession and you decided not to participate in it.
• Someone needs to drive change (products/motivation and stores presentation)
• Regular rotation of the store’s merchandising and display.
• Salesmanship: Sales skills are practiced and trained (managers and principals responsibility)
• Promotional ideas with vision and persistence — you stay in your customers’ mind.
• Housekeeping issues (clean carpets/bathrooms/showrooms/burned out light bulbs ….to be done regularly!)

2. Cycle of completion
Anything you do in business has these steps. Use them!
• Decide
• Plan
• Start
• Continue
• Finish
• Complete

3. Professionalism issues
• The maintaining of product and industry knowledge.
• Store employees will tend to dress for sitting on the couch all weekend rather than working in a professional sales environment.
• Poor or no salesmanship: Learn how to have an engaged sales conversation.
• Eye contact/customer acknowledgement.
• Eating or taking a break on the sales floor.
• Personal conversations that customers can hear.
• Texting or IMG.
• Pushing staff from comfort zones (product knowledge/daily responsibility).

4. Worldly outlook
• It’s not about you! Understand consumers have different taste than you or your staff.
• Knowing that products you did not sell yesterday you may need to sell today.
• Don’t stereotype that consumers are all cheap.
• Understand consumers don’t always have discretionary time, but they do have discretionary money.
• Women are riders too! Yes, even if it’s only twice a year, carry products for them.
• Off-season is a time to regroup, reconnect and prepare for seasonal sales
• Not all your customers are locals.
• Just because a customer asks for it doesn’t mean they would buy it. But when a customer does ask for a product and you don’t have it or sell it, at the very least write it down as a “lost sale” so the store buyer knows it was asked for.
• It’s not uncommon for a product you bought to not sell. Just move it to a new spot (remerchandising) or mark it down. Do something!

5. Showing, telling and selling (retail is in the details)
• Your showroom needs to be a buying environment, not a stock room!
• Trying new products and hyping products and services you offer with enthusiasm.
• Customers like to learn about new things and products (try store mini-seminars)
• Demo product: Have invited product launches (Once a month? Your call)
• Technology and tech products need to be sold and are in demand
• Be competitive — not just with price, but with effort.
• People like to buy from people.
• Give a show. Your customers gave you their time, don’t blow it off!
• Marking down old, stale product: If it has not sold in 6 months, time to mark it down!
• All retailers have to deal with mark downs. You’re not special if you have to as well. It’s part of retailing.

Do not get emotional about your products: Unfortunately, selling at a loss at times is part of the reality of retail.
• It is more lucrative for you to sell products rather than return products — improves cash flow.
• Customers love sales, so occasionally have products on sale or sale events. This also stimulates needed cash flow this time of year. January/February are excellent months for sale events. Plan now.The list goes on and on, so take a look at your challenges. What you can do? No store is perfect, nor no people are perfect, myself included. I can always improve and find a way to be the best. Know that you do not have to have a large store or a large budget to succeed. But you do need the right attitude. That’s what divides those who progress and those that may disappear.

A study examining causes for motorcycle crashes will soon get under way, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.

Announced by the Federal Highway Administration on Oct. 5, the study will give a fuller picture of how motorcycles fit into today’s traffic mix, a better understanding of what causes motorcycle crashes and insights into the best strategies to prevent these crashes.

The project, which will be done at Oklahoma State University, will be administered at the Oklahoma Transportation Center, an independent research facility. Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a pilot study in the Southern California area to finalize the methodology for the comprehensive research study.

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Most dealership owners have figured out they need to sell their dealership to customers and not just sell the products carried by their dealership. On the other hand, the facts say that most salespeople are focused solely on selling a product and not the dealership. In fact, when we recently measured nationwide how often a motorcycle salesperson gave compelling reasons to buy from their dealership, we found that it happened only 34 percent of the time. Two times out of three there was no mention of why buying from this dealership was a better idea than buying somewhere else. The focus was solely on product.

What about the master technicians in your shop, the customer track days or dual sport rides, the trips to Moto GP races or Supercross tickets, or your wide-ranging accessories department? What makes your dealership different? If it’s easy for you to answer that question, then it’s probably also easy for a customer to choose your dealership over another one.

Encourage your salespeople to sell not only the product, but also their dealership, and the end result will be customers who choose to purchase based on your dealership’s advantages rather than its price tags.

We thank Fran O’Hagan president of Pied Piper Management for this advice from the Powersports Business Insider Blog