Some industry folks, especially OEMs, like to think of “conquest sales” as moving a consumer from one brand to another. For our conversation, I want to focus on a different definition of that expression, where the conquest has to do with where a consumer lives, not what brand they choose. This is a common definition for dealers who view “conquest sales” as those made by consumers outside their typical marketing reach. Maybe these consumers live in a different county or even a different state. The fact is these consumers choose our dealership rather than another one, which in fact may be much closer to their home. That’s a noteworthy conquest.

How do we get more of those? A simple and inexpensive way of doing that is communicating through Facebook how often this is occurring. Remember the guy who drove 40 minutes to purchase that one bike from you? That occurrence is a dream of a public relations story to relate to your Facebook followers in unit purchase posts. The post could be as simple as, “Neil of Roseville, Minn., drove 35 miles to purchase a new Bonneville from us. You can bet Neil’s ride home was much better than the trip here!” What does that type of post say about your dealership? Loads! First off, there has to be a very good reason why somebody is going to go out of their way to make that trip. Maybe it’s your customer service? Maybe it’s your special financing? Whatever it is, you can bet the enthusiast on Facebook will ask the question in their own mind why Neil drove all the way from Roseville to buy that unit.

If that enthusiast starts to read not only about Neil, but one or two other folks doing the same thing every week do you think that could impact where they buy their next unit? Big time. But not if you don’t start including the city and state along with a new unit buyer’s name in Facebook posts. The same, by the way, could be said of your repeat buyers. What percentage of your unit buyers are repeat buyers? Do your customers have any clue of that? If you don’t mention whether Neil or any other unit buyer is a repeat buyer on your Facebook unit posts, how would they? Let these Facebook units posts expand your reach and drive more conquest sales.