What is your reputation worth? What is your reputation? This is the essence of branding: What do people think when they think of your dealership. Branding is not etched in stone. It has to be maintained and enhanced or its value is lost.

Let's take a few mintues to understand Brand and how it can boost sales and visibility in your marketplace. Take for example a dealership that went out of business but is re-opening under new management. The old dealer was noted for high prices and poor customer service. The brand was badly tarnished. The new owners understood that. In order to re-position itself a mass mailing was sent out to all the prior service customers with a free oil change coupon. There was no experation date on the coupon. The title of the coupon was "Thank You" and nothing else.

That first month of the re-opening all the Sales and Service staff dressed in Hawaiian shirts and shorts and served barbeque to all the customers who came on the lot. There were even vegetarian skewers for those so inclined.

Did that win back every customer? No, but what it did do was pick up those who liked the old dealership and those who didn't but were willing to give the new dealership a try.

This is not necessarily a happy ending. The dealership may never regain those lost customers. A dealership's reputation is as fragile as reputation in a a small town. It can take many years to recover what was lost--if ever.

Branding is always better than Re-Branding. That is why brand maintenance should be part of every customer interaction: sales, service, parts. The positives are taken for granted, the negatives live forever.