Capital expenditure decisions have been really, really tough the last several years. Companies hoarding cash, afraid to grow, extending the life cycles from trucks to servers into the absolutely ridiculous. Maintenance and service expense is starting to really eat clients alive and the economy is improving. We saw some of the pent of demand for new commercial equipment break loose last year. What will 2017 bring?
2017 will bring more asset purchases. But how can you get your unfair share of deals and really blow the competition out of the park?
Here’s a thought. Your customer has changed the way they look for new purchases. In a recent survey:
- 82% of customers used the web and email “very heavily” when researching a purchase decision
- Two-thirds of customers are likely to click through an email from a dealer they find interesting
- 85% of customers prefer digital communications (web/email) as the primary resource to learn about programs, offers, equipment and technology
Now, marry those stats with these:
- Only 4 in 10 dealers have increased budget for digital marketing by more than 10% over the last 5 years
- 50% of dealers have not updated their website in the last five years
- 34% of dealers have no regular promotional or content driven email effort to their market
This quote from a dealer surveyed further sums up the point:
“We don’t really see the website as a critical part of our sales effort.”
According to this survey of several thousand commercial equipment/technology dealer customers, they disagree. 60% of the decision making process was complete before even talking to a salesperson.
To really grow, you might need to take another look at your marketing efforts. Your customer’s are building opinions about purchase decisions online and if you are absent or weak, how could that be you getting your unfair share of deals? Pay attention to your marketing and if you ever want to chat about it, give us a holler.