What Will They Think of Next?

Have you guys heard of this? Buy a Truck, Get a Free AK-47 Assault Rifle. Yes, that's right - buy a truck and get a free assault rifle. Now, I'm not going to go into whether or not this is "ethical" or into the whole gun ownership issue, all I'm saying is that this is incredible marketing and entrepreneurship. Why? Results of this campaign: SALES HAVE TRIPLED FOR THE DEALERSHIP. Who wouldn't want a nearly immediate 300% increase in sales for their business?

The article I read mentions traditional tactics used to promote vehicle sales like zero percent financing, zero-down and zero-payments. I believe most of us customers interpret that kind of talk as "blah, blah, blah, money, blah, blah, blah." The key to sales is relationships (and a good product). What this dealership did exactly right is connect with the customers. Apparently, this dealership's customers relate to trucks and guns . . . if you didn't read the article, the dealership's in Florida. If you've spent any time in the South, you know how true this gun-truck-love relationship is.

I am an advocate of gun control - only responsible, sane, trusted, and trained adults should own guns and they should be safeguarded on multiple levels so they don't fall into dangerous hands. But, the main point I wanted to highlight in this article is the ingenuity of the promotion - it broke through all my levels of cognitive barriers and I wanted to know more. The dealership abandoned what wasn't working (remember the "blah, blah, blah, interest rates, blah, blah, blah"?) and focused on an activity that drove sales, and drove sales hard.

What's the take away? Definition of insanity is doing something over and over and expecting different results (quote from someone somewhere) - if it's not working, try something different.