Silver: Best Dealer, Sales Force, or B-to-B Campaign

Kawasaki designed its Tery4 Side x Side off-road vehicle to have a unique selling proposition based on quality, durability, safety and comfort. In fact, it might have been too unique, were such a thing possible. Because off-road vehicles are, by and large, judged on how fast they go, Kawasaki dealers didn’t know how best to sell the Tery4. To educate the dealers so that they could in turn educate (and sell to) consumers, Kawasaki hit the road with a dealer demo tour.

Traveling the country with a mobile classroom, Kawasaki reps took dealers through a 45-minute presentation that outlined the key features and benefits of the 2013 Teryx4, followed by a hands-on comparison of parts to reinforce the higher quality of the Kawasaki off-road vehicle. The dealers were also ushered outside to view a cutaway Teryx4 and that of a competitor so that, again, they could see the better quality of the Kawasaki for themselves.

But while seeing is believing, driving is believing too. So dealers were then sent in demo teams to get their gear on, hop on the driver’s seat of demo vehicles, and follow a lead escort driver for a 30-minute drive through the roughest locale terrain the staff could find. Prior to each obstacle, the lead driver would explain the key feature or benefit the dealers were about to experience.

The experience did make believers of attendees. Of the 343 salespeople from local dealerships who attended the tour, 125 sold at least three Teryx4s within 60 days after the demo. And dealerships that participated in the tour grew sales of the Teryx4 by a whopping 178%. The moral of the story: When you have a product with a unique selling proposition, you sometimes need a unique way to sell that proposition.