You Can’t Afford to Lose Local Customers
We work with a lot of small tractor and irrigation equipment dealers. These mom-and-pop shops are legacy businesses in one-horse towns — to say the least, they are established. These dealers have a faithful base of local customers, who have been farming for as long the dealer has been selling tractors. Through replacement parts and maintenance visits the dealers are practically members of every local customers’ farming family. Since established local customers are the dealer’s key income, maintenance and replacing parts become the focus of the business strategy.
Despite these great relationships, this is a misguided business strategy. It’s misguided because while these businesses are excellent at maintaining local customers, they aren’t working to bring in new shoppers. And why would they?
Avoid Tunnel-Vision
Dealerships like this develop a type of tunnel-vision. They see only the opportunities in front of them. The majority of their money is made from maintaining the relationships they’ve already built. So they put their time and energy into serving existing customers — which makes them a little more money, and supports their limited focus. So we end up with established, small-town dealerships simply serving the same four farms for fifty years, and never growing their customer base. Tunnel-vision. That’s a problem.
As an advertising agency, we understand one of the cheapest, most direct ways to reach new customers is through online advertising, but these legacy dealers are hesitant…
“I’ve always been here. I’m the only dealer in town. My customers know where I am.” You can’t buy that type of assurance in today’s economy — but what about the people you wish were your customers? Do they know where you are?
An online presence might be a lot more important than you realize…
The Data Points In a New Direction…
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97% of consumers use the Internet when searching for local products or services.
The Internet is everywhere. A trip the grocery store isn’t complete without a quick online comparison of milk prices. Tractor shopping is no different. Regardless of where they’re coming from, shoppers are making most of their purchasing decisions before they ever leave the house.
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95% of smartphone users have searched for local information online.
The Internet is officially in everyone’s pocket. Most of today’s shopping isn’t even happening at home. It happens in waiting rooms, at stoplights or over a rushed lunch hour. Shopping — even locally — is no longer an event to be planned, almost everything is an impulse buy. Today’s consumers don’t have to spend long weighing options for the best deal. They just glance at the top five options in the search results — local or not. Where are you in those results?
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32% of consumers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a website.
So if all of this local searching is happening — what if you don’t have a website? It’s simple. You don’t get those customers. Today’s shoppers want to compare online before deciding which dealers to visit. They want to see products, descriptions, services and prices all online — and not having those things available on a simple, easy to navigate website is the quickest way lose that prospective sale.
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88% of consumers consult online reviews before purchasing local services or products.
Today’s shoppers have become savvy to most marketing methods. A simple, honest review carries a lot more weight than the most well-crafted advertisement. Websites like Yelp and Angie’s List have created an entire industry based on the popularity and effectiveness of online reviews. Small dealers should be working hard to find consumers willing to review you online.And again, these reviews should always be pointing back to your website!
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The #1 reason for online searches is to find the location or contact information for a “known business.”
This one’s the clincher. “My customers know me. They know where I am.” These days that’s only about half right. Memorizing a phone number or address has become a thing of the past. Even for businesses they shop at often, consumers are searching online for addresses or phone numbers.
There is no longer an argument against the need for a website and online presence — even for long-time agriculture equipment dealers. Online searches are clearly the key to being found by new (even local) customers.