In today's digital age, where you can connect with and reach people from all over, the benefits of having your business on social media are endless. We've gathered tips from a handful of seasoned mobile tool dealers to help you on your social media game.
2. Keeping up with the group
"I have a huge Facebook following. When I was with [a flag], they recommended that you do a private group for just your customers, and as people came and went, you remove them from the group. I have 650 people on a private Facebook group that are customers, ex-customers, wives of customers, secretaries, parts guys, service advisors — people invite their friends to it now. I post specials, new stuff, and I also do TikTok ... all of that is good for business. It's huge. When I was with [a flag], I would bet that 10 percent of my business came from social media.”
—Mike Stoner, independent distributor
3. Showcasing what's new
“I have a thing called 'Cornwell Corner' on Saturday morning. Throughout the week if I see a guy’s using a tool in a way that I hadn't seen before or was pretty cool, I’ll video, I’ll photograph it, I'll put it up on my closed group, and next thing I know, I have three guys saying, ‘Well, I want that tool.’ So, I just sold three tools without even going to their shop.”
—Ron Davitt, Cornwell Quality Tools
4. Utilizing social for trade-in sales
When it comes to tool sales, Cameron Meyer believes that social media is one of the most important vehicles for distributors. He’s a huge Snapchat user, with about 500 business contacts. He reports that any time he takes something in on trade, he’ll post it on his account, and it will usually be gone before he gets to his next stop.
—Cameron Meyer, Mac Tools
5. Creating engagement through giveaways
Mac Tools distributor Tim Lyons utilizes Facebook to communicate with his customers. He’ll post some specials, and also humorous or interesting car-related photos on his page throughout the week. He’ll also encourage customers to like his page by offering a small giveaway, like pocket screwdriver.
“I know some guys are really heavy into it, and I just probably won’t be that guy. But I’ll be a guy where that’ll be part of my overall piece.”
—Tim Lyons, Mac Tools
6. Keeping customers in the loop
“I’ll take and post the current flyer for the customers that have moved offshore or are working on a pipeline, whatever they do, they can visit my pages for the latest list of things coming out. I also do a lot of promotional events, races, stuff like that [for my pages], but [customers] always like to be included in what’s going on with Mac and with me.”
—Robert Tolbert, Mac Tools
