By Gary Marcotte, 3 Birds Advisory Board Member

The Holiday Season should remind us all how much of a contribution America’s auto dealerships make to their local communities.

I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and everywhere I go I see a pink license plate frame.  When I go to my favorite breakfast place, there are pink cupcakes where all the proceeds go to breast cancer research.  When I drive downtown, I ride over streets that are painted pink. 

This is all because a local auto dealership chain has made breast cancer research a “cause” within the community and not just given its own money, but worked closely with its partners to extend the effort and the impact.  In my 30+ years working with auto dealers, I have experienced hundreds of stories just like this in countless communities.  Dealers make their communities better places to live and it is time to reflect on this, say thanks and let these works sing loudly to remind our fellow citizens that dealerships and their associates have a soul – and that soul helps us all.

So let’s look at the facts for a moment.  In most communities, the local auto dealership is one of the largest advertisers.  In most communities, the local auto dealership makes an enormous contribution to city tax revenue.  In most communities, the local dealership has the largest active database and among the most effective marketing tools. 

Stop and take inventory of the organizations your dealership supports.  Look beyond the money you give and look at the time your people volunteer and to whom.  Stop and look at the organizations your people give to – both time and money.  You may be surprised at the reach your dealership has, the depth of the involvement of your people and the difference your works really make.  When you take a step back, there’s so much more to your dealership than inventory.

I’d like to pose two challenges during this Holiday Season of giving.

  1.  Tell Your Story – Better yet, let your people tell your story.  I don’t mean in a commercial or self-aggrandizing way; rather, let your works sing.  Let your soul and the contribution you make help make you more than the brands you sell and the inventory you carry.  Give your community something more to be loyal to.  Here are a few examples I have seen over the years:
    1. Use your social media to educate the community about the organizations you support.  Your reach is much larger than their reach is.  Your partners are more widely recognized than their partners in most cases.  Your social media can support their events, highlight their successes, help with fundraising and support community projects.  How many more people would view your messages and like your pages if much of what they contained was about local community groups?
    2. Highlight these organizations inside your store.  You see many more customers than your partners do.  Display brochures, promote events and include talk tracks in your brand story and your sales process.
    3. Make your store available for community events, meetings, and other visible signs of support for community groups.
    4. Highlight the involvement of your people on their name badges, dealership staff signage, personal pages and other profiles.  Show your people off.
  2. Challenge Your People – Do your key managers serve on Boards of local organizations?  If not, they should and it should be part of your job expectations.  Your people are talented and can make a big impact on community groups with a very low time commitment. You’ll find that almost any group would welcome your people to their leadership team.  Here are some other examples:
    1. Organize community work days for your team and the groups you support.  Invite your best customers to join in.
    2. Make your trainers and other experts available to these groups.  They will welcome your help.
    3. Organize theme months during the year where you support a local or national cause. It doesn’t have to be the large one like breast cancer.  During these periods, challenge your people to lead the effort.  Involve your partners and vendors and make it a cause that pervades your entire month – from advertising to signage to social and beyond.

We spend countless hours and dollars trying to build our dealerships’ brands.  We employ many different tactics to help build the loyalty and engagement of our customers.  I challenge you to let your good works and the causes you support help carry some of that load.  You will see that it can only help enhance your brand and make an even greater local contribution. 

Share your stories with us.  We’d love to help spread the word and help build your brand.  Happy holidays.