Scroll Top
6060 Butternut Drive, East Syracuse, NY 13057

Marketing Your Dealership With An Eye-catching Storefront Display

Marketing-Your-Dealership-With-An-Eye-catching-Storefront-Display

Marketing Your Dealership With An Eye-catching Storefront Display

Successful retailers all know that their storefront display is a critical sales tool. The store’s overall façade sets a visual tone and reveals a name. Windows offer a display so tantalizing that shoppers are irresistibly drawn inside. Well, your dealership is a retail store, too. When was the last time you your storefront display in the role of marketing your dealership?

Maybe never. Let’s change that, right now, with a look at how you can transform your exterior – and your interior — into eye-catching points of sale.

Marketing-Your-Dealership-With-An-Eye-catching-Storefront-Display-3Nighttime visibility.
You probably have big signage – on the side of your building and/or out by the road. Is it lit up at night? Every time someone sees your sign, it reinforces your branding and reminds them of your location. Signage promotes your dealership 24/7 – as long as people can see it. During certain times of year, it is dark or nearly so even during your “open” hours. So make it easy for customers to find you!

Bright lighting is essential, and so is perfection. Damage, burned out bulbs, etc. do not speak well of your dealership. That goes for the rest of your exterior, too. Fresh paint and tidy surroundings tell people you care about every little detail. Customers can be confident you’ll care about their details, too.

Windows.
OK, your dealership is nothing like a brick-and-mortar store on the street or an inline store in a mall. Nonetheless, your windows offer superb opportunity for marketing your dealership. What could make a bigger, more eye-catching statement than a storefront display of your newest machines! Your construction equipment or truck dealership should be just as enticing as a snazzy car dealership. Your customers may be buying functionality, but there is a very strong emotional component to every purchasing decision.

Marketing-Your-Dealership-With-An-Eye-catching-Storefront-DisplayKeep your interior lit at night, too – or at least light your equipment display with spotlights. Again, this is a real marketing plus at dusk and after dark. And interior lights can be a smart security move, too.

Daytime interior lighting.
While we’re on the subject of lighting, make sure all the public spaces within your dealership are well-lit. Dark corners, dim hallway, and “cozy” bathrooms are kind of creepy, whereas every square inch starting with your entrance should invite people inside. In your showroom and other spaces with high ceilings, make sure lighting extends to the upper walls. And, use specialty lighting to highlight directional signs and add sparkle to equipment on display.


Welcoming space that draws people inside.

Don’t crowd your entrance with brochure displays or even machines. Retailers call the space just inside your entry the “decompression zone.” Customers pause here to get their bearings, so good lines of sight are crucial. Make it easy to find literature, etc., but locate those displays toward the back. And, by the way, another tenet of retail merchandising is this: Americans automatically turn right when they enter. So position your hottest equipment display to the right.

Make sure the “welcome mat” is out everywhere throughout your dealership, not just the front entrance, because not everyone enters that way. Service reception and waiting areas, the parts and rental counters are all equally important. If any of these have their own exterior entrances – likely they do – be aware that all the tips for your main entrance apply to these other exterior/interior areas, too.

Just as with your exterior, cleanliness is essential. All your spaces, including the restrooms, should be as clean as you can make them. Ask yourself if your mom would approve. Dust, grimy corners, and fingerprint-laden doors and jambs are not inviting.

Storefront display is just the beginning when it comes to marketing your dealership. But it could be exactly that – the beginning of a long and fruitful dealer-customer relationship. As long as you follow these tips. Download our Meeting Agenda and share these tips with your team!

meeting agenda cta-01

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.