5 reasons why Car Dealerships have Unsuccessful Shopping Mall Displays

Shopping centre displays are a well-known marketing tactic for car dealerships that have tremendous potential to generate a high number of quality leads. However what if the leads don’t come in? Is the tactic done and dusted? Or is the dealership doing it all wrong?
At Milkshake Promotions, a Perth based specialist lead-generation business for car dealerships and lifestyle brands, we present you with the top five reasons a car dealerships shopping centre display may fail.

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​1. Your sales staff don’t want to be there!
Leave your salesmen on the car yard to do what they do best, sell cars to people who are ready to buy them. At a shopping centre display, the sales team is entering the customers local shopping centre, it is their safe space. People want to have the time to be able to a look through the vehicle, ask questions, touch it, feel it and be treated to a positive experience. A salesman has a target to hit every month and will quickly qualify these people as tyre kickers and not take the time to engage with them. Using Milkshake Promotions brand ambassadors improves brand recognition through developing a positive lasting impression and experience, while delivering quality leads for the dealership to work through over the coming months.

A business card whipped from the pocket with the classic line “call me when you are ready to buy” hasn’t, doesn’t and will never work! Do you really want to risk it all on Dave the salesman’s witty banter…?

2. Not Following Up Customers
Studies show people spend 6-12 months deciding on a new car. They don’t engage with a dealership directly until the last 1-10 weeks of that process, at which point they will usually contact multiple dealers. Calling just once after these people have said they want more information or would like to be contacted IS NOT FOLLOW UP… Now is your chance to show them why you are better than the rest, you have been given the chance to get ahead of the pack, use it! 

Spend the time, build the relationship, and they will spend the money.

3. Bad promotional material
Not having promotional material to take-away is a sure-fire way to make certain people never think about your event or brand again. They may be excited and engaged on the display, but people have busy lives and half a day later when their partner gets home there are many daily topics to cover. A business card whipped from the pocket with the classic line “Call me when you are ready to buy...” hasn’t, doesn’t and will never work! Do you really want to risk it all on Dave the salesman’s witty banter…?​ Ask the Milkshake team for recommendations on the most effective takeaway material for your next display

Give them something simple to remember you

4. “Buying” or “Bribing” leads
Does this sound familiar? “Enter your details here and go in the draw to win a wonderful…”
Not all leads are created equal. A person who enters every competition they walk past and has a Gmail spam folder for just this kind of this thing is not a lead! They have no intention of buying any car and didn’t even see the car on display. They want free stuff. Not only does this waste your time at the display it also wastes the time of your sales team who follow up these ‘competition hungry’ fake leads.

Not all leads are created equal! Spend your time focussing on quality contacts, not just Jill wanting to win $500 of free fuel!

5. Base model prices on top-spec vehicles
One of the biggest ‘no-no’s’ with sign writing on a display is having a top of the range vehicle sign-written with base model pricing. A $48,000 SUV with “from $29,500” written in bold type on the side of a vehicle is misleading, and many consumers are aware of this ‘trick’. It puts a bad taste in the mouth of the shopper and stops any chance of a positive encounter before the first hello. 

You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression

Summing up…
By avoiding these mistakes or better still, having Milkshake Promotions represent your dealership at your shopping centre display you will improve the success of your lead generation campaign significantly. We specialise in high quality car dealership shopping centre displays and currently represent a large number of car dealerships and other lifestyle and service provider brands in Western Australia.

Contact Bevan from Milkshake Promotions today to discuss how we can turn your unsuccessful shopping centre displays into a lead generation monster for your sales team.