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Old 12-03-2013, 05:48 PM   #1
79LilRedExpress
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Default Has your Dealership ever participated in an off-sight Factory Sale?

In the late 70's ('78 & '79) The Dodge Metro Dealer group did "Stadium" sales. All the dealers brought their hard to sell leftovers to one location and worked as a team to get rid of them. It was called Car Clearance Carnival I & II.

A company called Tail-lights brought in a management team, played auction barker announcements and pre-screened everyone who came in. A lot of people came for the free stuff; Kitchen knives, coffee makers etc. It was really well organized.

The funniest thing that I remember is...

When they pre-qualified the prospects, they gave them a balloon to walk around with, supposedly to ID them as to which team that they were assigned to.

The balloons were red, yellow and green.

RED = Hot, ready to deal
YELLOW = A bit of a challenge, but possible
GREEN = Hopeless

I remember at about quitting time, taking the golf cart up to one of the upper decks, and looking out over the field at all the green balloons still walking around ( probably for hours ) waiting for their salesman.

The other thing that I remember is that it was the first time that I saw a "WANG" machine. LOL
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Old 12-04-2013, 09:39 AM   #2
XDCX
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Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress View Post
In the late 70's ('78 & '79) The Dodge Metro Dealer group did "Stadium" sales. All the dealers brought their hard to sell leftovers to one location and worked as a team to get rid of them. It was called Car Clearance Carnival I & II.

A company called Tail-lights brought in a management team, played auction barker announcements and pre-screened everyone who came in. A lot of people came for the free stuff; Kitchen knives, coffee makers etc. It was really well organized.

The funniest thing that I remember is...

When they pre-qualified the prospects, they gave them a balloon to walk around with, supposedly to ID them as to which team that they were assigned to.

The balloons were red, yellow and green.

RED = Hot, ready to deal
YELLOW = A bit of a challenge, but possible
GREEN = Hopeless

I remember at about quitting time, taking the golf cart up to one of the upper decks, and looking out over the field at all the green balloons still walking around ( probably for hours ) waiting for their salesman.

The other thing that I remember is that it was the first time that I saw a "WANG" machine. LOL
That's awesome.....

I'm going to split this post off and create a new thread to see if many of our members have participated in an off-sight factory sale and if so, what their thoughts are.
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Old 12-04-2013, 12:53 PM   #3
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That's awesome.....

I'm going to split this post off and create a new thread to see if many of our members have participated in an off-sight factory sale and if so, what their thoughts are.
Here's the new thread.

I'd be interested to hear how many of our members have participated in an off-sight Factory Sale and what their experience was.

I can think of two distinct events that Chrysler held in the Seattle market - one was a huge success and the other was mostly a failure. I'll share some insights in this thread later tonight or tomorrow.

Anyone else want to share their thoughts/experiences?
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Old 12-12-2013, 12:18 PM   #4
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I can think of two distinct events that Chrysler held in the Seattle market - one was a huge success and the other was mostly a failure. I'll share some insights in this thread later tonight or tomorrow.
The sale that was most successful had an almost carnival-like atmosphere with non-stop music playing in a big tent where customers were brought for the write-up process. All of the cars were tagged with big mirror-hanger "Was/Is" stickers showing the deeply discounted price.

Similar to the concept that "nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd" the sale was successful because customers who just entered the event could see that cars were being sold and the could see all of the customers who were in the process of working car deals. The promoter announced every sale over the PA System and that furthered the atmosphere that this was an event where people were buying cars.

The sale that was mostly a failure lacked the carnival-like atmosphere and the energy of the first sale. While the event was arguably more classy or up-scale it didn't convey that the sale was an event where people were eager to buy a car before someone else got it.

The other key distinction between the two sales is the second sale didn't price their vehicles with "Was/Is" hangers. Customers had to ask their salesperson about pricing and that made the event seem less like a huge sale and more like a huge gathering of inventory.
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