Long story short – you CAN sell cars with Pokemon Go! Check out the video for all the details

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Welcome back to another Wednesday Workshop with Happy Hao Car. This one’s a day late, cause I was on vacation – I needed a break after the craziness of Digital Dealer. But now I’m back, and today we’re talking about Pokemon Go.

Yes, I know you’re rolling your eyes – but I talked to a dealer at Digital Dealer who blew my mind with a story about how they used Pokemon Go to actually sell cars!

Yes – you CAN sell cars with Pokemon Go!

Sure, most of you think it’s annoying, but Brad Paschal at Street VW in Amarillo, Texas immediately saw the opportunity to do something awesome. They’re lucky enough to have a Pokestop at their dealership, and he knew he could figure out a way to boost sales. The weekend before Digital Dealer, he tested his idea – and for only $45, they ended up selling 3 cars to people who had never bought from their dealership before!

Here’s what he did… First, he put up this post on Facebook and Instagram, letting people know that they’d have lures running at the dealership on Sunday afternoon, when they’re closed. He spent $25 to promote the post on both platforms.

Then, he spent $20 on lures, making sure that a lure was active from 2 to 5 pm that Sunday. That week, they sold 3 cars to people who told them they were browsing the lot BECAUSE they saw the ad on social and came to play. That’s 3 new customers who never bought from them before, who walked right in the door and bought a car – for just $45.

They’ve even got their sales staff involved now – check out this testimonial – the customer was impressed because their sales guy dropped a Pokemon lure while they were filling out paperwork – so the kids would be entertained instead of sitting around bored.

Brad’s taking it to the next level next time – they’re going to have ice water and cookies set out the next time they run their Sunday Pokemon lure

You may not have a Pokestop at your dealership, but if you’re near one, water and cookies could be a great way to get people to stop by the dealership while they’re playing. You could even go to the Pokemon website and suggest that they add a Pokestop at your dealership.

Sure – it may be a fad, and could be completely dead in 6 months… but the important tip is that you should be thinking outside of the box at your dealership. Don’t just copy your competitors and do what they do – then you’ll always be second best. Be like Brad and come up with something unique that helps you stand out – THAT’S how you’ll win the game and sell more cars…

If you’ve got any questions or comments, leave them down below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can… or, find me at Internet Sales 20 Group in Phoenix or Driving Sales Executive Summit in Vegas and we can grab a beer and chat. And, don’t forget to come back next week for another Wednesday Workshop with Happy Hao Car.

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Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at Happy Hao Car. He has over 16 years of online marketing and web design experience, and has specialized in automotive SEO for the last 8 years, helping hundreds of auto dealers thrive while the industry has struggled during the recession. Greg speaks internationally at both automotive and SEO conferences, teaching thousands of small business owners and marketers how to get their sites to show up higher in local search rankings. Greg also spends his spare time doing freelance website design and SEO for local businesses. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BA in Cinema and Communications, and has an obscure movie quote for just about any situation.

Join the discussion 2 Comments

• Boris says: August 19, 2016 at 4:10 pm Awesome tip Greg! The current Niantic page to suggest to turn any location into a Pokestop is down ( https://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=319928 ) I heard it is because they have too many location requests to process. Do you know where can I fill the new form? Also, do you know where can I learn where are the closest Pokestops to my dealership? Thanks, Boris Marketing Manager, East Court Ford Lincoln Reply Greg Gifford says: August 22, 2016 at 9:37 am That’s the only place you can go You’ll just have to keep an eye out for when it’s back up. Best way to see if there’s a Pokestop nearby is to install the app. If you don’t see one right next to the dealership, you might be out of luck Reply

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