Ruling the Road
A Misunderstanding About the Auto Market
"I think the attention and focus on price is too high," said Stoeck. "Customers focus on the price when print managers aren't selling solutions, only products," he explained. "Establishing yourself as a solutions provider is the key." As an example of how to sell solutions instead of product, Stoeck took the company's cup holder coaster and suggested presenting it to car dealerships as a way to drive business to their service departments, rather than just another product with the dealership's name on it. "The 'coaster board' material can be printed with a dealer's name on one side and a coupon for an oil change on the other," he said. "If a dealer services 50 cars per day, times two cup holders per car, times 25 work days a month, that's 2,500 repeat customer referrals back to the service department. In short, sell the benefits—not necessarily the product."