The newest ads say you will not have to pay over $2.99 per gallon of gas for the next 3 years if you buy a new car from Chevrolet. Let's examine this deeper using Critical Thinking.
Car companies are struggling to sell their big gas guzzler cars as the price of gas continues to rise. People look at the price of gas, the cost to fill up the tank and they are saying, "enough!" So lots are piling up with hummers, SUVs and minivans that can't be moved. Rebates of $1,000- $4,000 dollars haven't been helping until someone figured out how to speak the consumer language.
Consumers dismissed the idea of rebates because their mind still said, "but I have to pay all the gas for that vehicle and it will be too expensive." So now they advertise that you will only pay $2.99 a gallon for the next three years up to the first 12,000 miles That captures people's attention.
Now let's compare that to a rebate.
If you take 12,000 miles and figure on the low end 15 miles per gallon for gas that comes to 800 gallons of gas. Gas is currently fluctuating between $3.89 to $4.60 per gallon of gas. So let's take the high of lowering gas from the present $4.60 per gallon down to $2.99 per gallon. That comes to $1.61 per gallon of gas. For 800 gallons that comes to only a savings of $1,288.
So imagine, the ad captures a person that is holding off because of the gas prices and now they feel they can afford it. Once they come in you show them the savings with the gas plan of $1,288 or you tell them they can go for a straight rebate of $3,500 which would, based on today's gas prices, have them getting their gas FREE for the first 12,000 miles if gas stays at $4.33 a gallon.
Hmm, get a small car and no rebate and still pay all that gas or get the bigger car and get FREE gas for the next three years.
Now of course there is always that conscious mind that we should be driving cars that are better for the environment but if you are a car company that is not your biggest concern right now. Your concern is getting rid of your excess stock without having people see it as a liability to them.
By looking at it from the consumers viewpoint you can see how to make the numbers and rebates tie to their current logic, not yours.
Take ACTION: Look at your current business. Is there something that is stopping the client from working with you? Can you rework, rephrase, or update it to show a whole new viewpoint?
Anne Warfield, www.impressionmanagement.com
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