The Synthetic Warehouse AMSOIL Newsletter

AMSOIL Dealer Support Newsletter
 July, 2015
In This Issue
C. Card Processing & 800#s
Dealer Website - Thoughts
Quick Links


 

 
 This is my 2nd edition of the AMSOIL U newsletter sent out two weeks ago. Hope you had time to check out the fabulous Knowledge Base (new tool in dealer zone)!! It's an awesome resource and has already saved me a bunch of time.
 I want to cover a couple items I have not covered in years so let's get started.


First every growing business needs a way to process credit cards. Also a 1-800 number helps if you are advertising on the web but I think it's becoming less important these days.
Also without question a newsletter is a necessity to keep up with your customers and accounts. It's proven even the slightest communications can prevent the loss of a customer and customers are always happy to do business with those who seem the most interested in their business. I use Constant Contact which you are reading from now and I am going back to mailing short letters, cards and swag.

Below I will cover the tangible value of the proper website but as my site specializes on product entry pages (and now blogs) and due to their success I spend a good amount of time taking orders. BTW- as I have to figure shipping instantly I recommend posting the shipping rates on the side of your computer monitor.

And lastly I am quite pleased with our regional shipping company "Speedee Delivery" which covers ND, SD, NE, MN, WI, IA, and IL. I can ship for about 45% less than UPS's corporate rates anywhere in these zones so I can get products to customers in areas they have trouble buying locally. We don't have to charge the tax and a case shipped is about $8.00. Find one of these in your neck of the woods and see what it can do for you.
That said - nothing can match having product on hand and as I have everything here I can sell at retail or more. My discount purchase plan (after $200 spent the rest is 15 to 20% off) works well. My average sales in the store is right at $1000 daily now. Friday and Saturday I have reached $2000 or more often.

Oh - be sure to check the Four to Five hour Dealer Training locations on the DZ. For those who can commute to Lexington, KY (Aug 12 & 13) or Richmond, VA on the 15th of August please register. These feature a separate two hour dealer business opportunity meeting so bring a friend, prospect or someone from the military. Then the 4 to 5 hour training for dealers. Remarkable information you will want to absorb. In September the meetings will be in Chicago and the Twin Cities areas which I may make an arrangement for that one.

Ches Cain

Credit Card Processing

Not long after becoming a dealer I needed to start processing credit cards.  At the time I wanted to keep things simple and as many of the customers were over the phone I wanted a easy way to process cards using my PC's keyboard and later added the card scanner. This way we could set our own pricing rather than have to struggle with AMSOIL's pricing or sell PC accounts. It worked well. Not to mention we were in the middle of Dallas with a good inventory, something which few other dealers were willing to do.
Since about 2001 I have used JetPay which feature the "Virtual Terminal". And since joining with JetPay I have reviewed numerous other companies and offers yet still to this day no other can match the quality, bargain rates, instant customer service round the clock and simplicity. They operate from Carrollton, TX (my highschool town) and Berwyn, PA.
They also have smart phone options which simplify having to have two accounts. The smartphone rates are flat and the virtual terminal rates (PC) vary based on type of card and associated promos. Rates can be less than 1% but I don't recall any over 3.5%.

Please visit their website and consider using them. If you sign-up please tell them I sent you - "Synthetic Warehouse" in Sioux Falls.
My Mobile Money (Jetpay)


Toll Free 800# 
   

 

Still popular today there is a need for an 800#. Mainly it signals to your customers that you are by the phone for business and that you are not regional. If I only used my 605 area code on my site ads I doubt I would get so many calls. AN 800# adds instant prestige.
Someone from Florida or Arizona may (and occasionally do) think they called the wrong number when they ask where I am. No one expects South Dakota!
But anyway if you want to get a 80# I have always been happy with TELCAN. You can use it for Skype calls, conferencing and messaging too.
Check out all of the features and ultra low rates. They are the best in the business:

http://www.telcan.net/tollfree/default.asp

   

  
A Little on Dealer Websites - AMSOIL's new Website Options

The last newsletter I was entirely positive about the news and experiences at AMSOIL U. It was by far the most informative and useful series of lectures yet and for your benefit, as mentioned earlier - it has now hit the road to a city near you!

Now when it came to this new "Cookie cutter" website partnership I am not so enthused. Yes, it makes access to ones first website without the knowledge easy but just like "lubedealer.com" this new system is also a sub domain. The write-up on page 10 of the June AMSOIL Mag doesn't mention that but we saw that at AMSOIL U in the presentation. The problem is when a site is mass duplicated in a similar format AND carried in a sub domain, the search engines will not rank it highly at all. It will become entirely insignificant in the scheme of things.
Not only that but the extra charges for the upgraded plans are things you can do for free.

So as I went over in detail several newsletters back - the Wordpress method and learning via tutorials is the best bargain. You get to chose from thousands of themes, design the site and page structure as you like, add a blog and enjoy high ranking all together. Building a multi-page site with a blog is less complicated than the effort I go through to make these newsletters. It's really not difficult.. Here is a link to the common youtube page featuring several individuals with their own tutorials.

Wordpress sites feature both blogs (posts) and pages. This is key because you can make some simple static pages then use the posts as a way to comment on or update viewers on information. Blogs are a favorite of the search engines and Wordpress sites are the absolute best in regard to SEO. A successful site isn't about how fancy it looks but about the content. The neat thing about being an AMSOIL dealer is we don't really have to dazzle anyone - you let the AMSOIL site do that. All you have to do is have that unique page about (for example) engine flushing which links instantly to the AMSOIL site giving you credit..

Most of the themes (templates) in Wordpress are responsive, meaning they are formatted to work with all sizes of mobile devices. You need this option to remain afloat. Setting up forms, galleries, sliders, maps, buttons, sidebars, etc are all done by modules you add called "plugins". Most are free and there are directories to help you get the one you need.

I have three active AMSOIL sites at the moment. I have my old syntheticwarehouse.com (html), my new oilordering.com (wordpress) which is under construction and the one for the Omaha store (wordpress) www.syntheticwarehouse.net.
Shortly just after finishing the Omaha one which is the one I used a tutorial to learn, it jumped up high in ranking. It's the #1 organic spot if you simply search "amsoil" while in Omaha. We needed more people to buy the European oil so I made a page in the site and followed it with a blog entry and guess what - people started coming in for the European oil! We needed to move more Saber Pro so I did the same thing and soon after people started coming in! That's the power of a blog. You basically are writing a lure for people looking for similar products to find your business.

on another note my old site syntheticwarehouse.com has really come back. this was due to a change at google to stress uniqueness (ranking) on content and not on backlinks. So I thought I would show you just part of a months automatic results. This does not reflect the other 10 pages of CR (catalog Retail) sales it dd that month. - SO looking at the picture below, was it worth missing a few TV shows to build a site with monthly results like this??
Customer/Leads from Website
 
   You can see a good website can earn you a great monthly income. You just have to try and keep investigating what it takes to improve your rankings.

In summary the only reason I could see using the AMSOIL cookie cutter website deal is if you only wanted a URL on a business card to go to something. But then you would have to pay for a 2nd domain to forward to their subdomain which is inefficient.

As far as hosting I use aplus.net to register the domain then I use The Gage Team to set up the wordpress hosting and then I go from there.. Very efficient group with optimum service and I pay for one site and they roll all the others into that one as for costs.

  
Now is the Time

Demand is up. The number of lube centers looking to carry AMSOIL is up. AMSOIL's advertising is increasing, dealer training and help is intensifying in ways we haven't seen yet, and here in my store I am seeing record days from both new and old customers.

My best advice is to get your name out there. Have what the customer needs and never let them walk away w/o a copy of something, catalog, nice AMSOIL decal or at the very least your card. Check your area for festivals and car shows. Set up a table and see what happens.

Rather than a drawing this time I'll offer some sound advice which has become significant around here. Seek out the local Subaru club or enthusiasts and make them a good offer on product. They will become your clutch customer on a rainy day. That group is large and they love AMSOIL!! A welcome and shoutout goes to Jason Nguyen of our local Subaru group who just upgraded to a dealer. AMSOIL being an independent is the Hero to automotive enthusiasts - don't forget that!!

I am just about finished with that card I promised to help dealers secure Quick Lube accounts. I'll keep you posted. I have a draft, just need a graphic artist to help me make it look good. Any volunteers??

Note: Constant Contact tells me which dealers don't see or open these emails so I'll be mailing them out to them. It's proven that newsletters help sustain business and customers (in their various forms).. And I am thankful for the dealers in this group as you seem to enjoy them and consider the details. I have so much to pass along as time allows. It's Busy!! This weekend I'm working a "River Fest" carnival, car show and exhibits in the city of Bellevue, NE to promote the Omaha store. It's expected to have at least 31,000 visitors.

Good day! 


 Ches Cain
[email protected]