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| I can see both sides of this. I've been a part of many similar events. Very few actual leads are generated at these. Mostly it just costs money and is a PR thing for the dealer. On the other hand, it's probably the right thing to do.
Having been a sales guy (most of whom work on straight commission and get paid $0 for their time), the last thing I wanted to do in my very limited free time is spend my Saturday, unpaid, standing around talking to tire kickers. Not only do you not get paid for it, the dealer doesn't give you a different day off to make up for it or anything. You just donate your free time to help the dealer generate PR. I'd rather just go to the event as an attendee to enjoy it and talk to my customers if I run into them.
These things always start small, then the group expects more and more every year. A dealer I used to work for used to host a small tractor show for a local club. It started off with just being the host and staying open a couple extra hours on a Saturday so they had bathrooms to use. Then they asked us to provide free lunch for the exhibitors and attendees. Then they wanted us to provide trophies. Then they asked us to stay open all day, and have staff available to help load and unload equipment, as many of the participants were elderly. It went from $0 and a few hours of labor to a big thing that really only benefited the club members and cost the dealer money. We tried to scale it back down when it got out of hand, and they got mad. A few customers even quit doing business with us over it. It was really a no-win thing for the dealer from the start.
So yeah, I can sympathize with you, but you also need to put yourself in the dealer's shoes and understand that this isn't quite the slam dunk proposal that you think it is from their side of things, either. | |
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Big Corporate Dealerships ?
