Get it in Gear
"Its time to get it in gear for 2010" - Mike Van Horn
12 VOLT INDUSTRY, USA - New Year’s celebrations and CES are now in the rearview mirror. Its now time to turn the key in the ignition to get 2010 off and running. Let’s kick 2010 into gear!
February is a great month for that. The remote starter season is winding down, new products and programs are in place and it will begin to warm up in the southern US. Its time for 12volt retailers to make plans to attend distributor shows and training events. Its time for 12volt retailers to set their promotional plans for the spring and beyond.
Joe Palilla "Winking in the dark is no way to communicate."
Promoting any business, vendor or retailer, is a vital component for success. Every company must be visible in their respective marketplace. Slashing or eliminating marketing activities to cut costs is not the answer for success. Every business must include marketing funds in their business plan. Getting the most bang for the buck is of course as important as ever.
Our friend Joe Palilla of Potomac Electronic Sales, an active rep firm in the mid-Atlantic region says it best. Palilla says “Not promoting and advertising your business is like winking at a girl in the dark – you know what you are doing but no one else does”. How true is that!
P&E's 2010 show will fill the Nashville Municipal Auditorium
The month of February will see a number of unique opportunities for 12volt retailers in many parts of the US to attend distributor shows and/or product training sessions. These are really learn and earn opportunities.
Pioneer and Southwest Electronix, ,along with Metra, will host retailer training sessions at Dave and Busters in San Antonio on Monday, February 15th and Dallas on Tuesday, February 16th. Pioneer will continue north on I-35 and host dealer training sessions at the Petra Distributing facility in Edmond,OK on February 17th and 18th. Dealers who attend these events will definitely come away with great info to close sales on the retail floor and have a chance to win great prizes. Learn all you can about Pioneer’s new Fit Guide.
Keystone Automotive’s “Big Show” takes place at the Meadowlands Expo Center, just outside New York City, on February 20th and 21st.
P&E Distributor’s “2010- The Show” will take place in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on Sunday, February 28th. One lucky winner will take home $5000. cash in the grand prize drawing. Dealers receive a ticket for each $100. purchase leading up to “2010-The Show”. The more you purchase at P&E the better chance to win the $5K. 12voltnews.com has seen the smile of the faces of winners in previous years. It’s awesome.
Dealers attending the Keystone or P&E event will have the opportunity to see new products from well over 100 12volt and aftermanrket vendors. Take advantage of the opportunity.
Dealers fill the big top at A&W's show in 2009.
The distributor show schedule really hits high gear in March. The lineup as we know it today is N&H-March 4th, DAS-March 6th, Shiflet Dickson- March 7/8, ASD (Auto Sound Distributors)- March 17th, East Coast- March 18th, Big Daddy’s- March 25th and Angel Distributing- March 28th. Audio America and LESCO will host dealers during SBN 24 in Daytona Beach on March 13 and 14.
Manville Smith conducts a training workshop for JL Audio dealer's at last years Spring Break Nationals.
Key events for 12volt retailers to exhibit to consumers in March are Texas Heat Wave South Padre, TX March 6/7 plus Spring Break Nationals in Daytona -March 13/14.
Dealers can realize a big payout by exhibiting at off site consumer events. Cory Himel’s Prestige in New Orleans is an excellent example. Kevin Knox told 12voltnews.com “Prestige has exhibited in the “World of Wheels” stop in New Orleans for years. We see business from the show for months after the show”.
Texas Heat Wave's David MacDonald says "We will deliver a huge crowd at Spring Break Jam 2010 in South Padre."
A big 12voltnews.com hats off to CarToys Tulsa. Rob Rice and the CarToys team are a sponsor of the 43rd annual Darryl Starbird show that’scoming to Tulsa mid- February. CarToys will show their stuff to a spectator crowd expected to top 60,000. Rice told 12voltnews.com “This event will allow us to put our brand in front of a huge crowd coming from many miles around Tulsa. We have some unique plans in place to turn those who come by our booth into customers in our store”.
Let’s set our minds to CRANK IT UP AS AN INDUSTRY in 2010.
