Every year at this time, we all contemplate what will come this winter season and every year it’s the same for most of us. Reduced sales, higher operational costs, and overall concern that we are doing something wrong or if there’s a magic bean we could plant to lift things back to where they were during more prosperous times.
Then comes the most famous of seasonal questions, and it’s not “what did you get for Christmas?” It’s “Hey, are you guys busy?” If you feel compelled to ask the inevitable question of woe, then you’ve tipped your hand as to how things are going for you. It’s also the time of year when Facebook game requests go up 1275 percent, and pleas to stop sending game requests reach equally proportional alarming levels. Alas, the doldrums of winter are upon us as uneasiness sets in.
For this Christmas, my wish list included only one thing: consumer fear. Years of being in this business have taught me a lot, and my understanding of things is approaching ever closer to the point of singularity. The point from which all things emanate whether they are good or bad.
I have concluded that fear will make the next few months a little more palatable. In the automotive parts and service world, fear is the salmonella-laced food that sickens sales and surprisingly also boosts profits. Truly a live-by/die-by adjective, fear is fast becoming our cultural emotion for doing business, and generally getting what we want. Follow this fear-laden scenario.
Freddy went to college, not because he wanted to, but because he was afraid his Grandma would not buy him that car she’d promised him at high school graduation. As a result, Nana bought a used car from a respectable car lot that did a lot of work to fix-up the car to make it road worthy.
Those parts came from a local parts store, because the car lot feared using generic retail parts or online sources due to shipping, warranty and fitment issues.
Nana, being afraid that little Freddy might break down, took the car to her trusted repair shop to have it further checked out. Nothing was really wrong with the car on inspection, but Nana insisted on installing new tires, an oil change, new wipers and a new battery because she feared Freddy’s inept father (her son-in-law) was too stupid or unwilling to help little Freddy if he broke down at college.
Again, fear at work in our favor. Freddy has a new ride, yet he feared it was not flashy enough. So Freddy set about with haste to give it some “bling.” Freddy used the money he’d received as graduation from various relatives, who feared Freddy would not love them anymore if they didn’t contribute to the fund, to install new wheels, a heart stopping sound system and several shiny stick-on trim pieces.
Freddy was distraught at the thought of him being a small fish in a bigger pond, and a “fly” ride was possibly the only way he’d get noticed by a few pretty young co-eds. So, Freddy’s off to college. Things go pretty much as expected for a first-year student in the first semester: fraught with disaster.
Freddy’s bombing most of his classes, and the fear of disappointing Nana and the car being repossessed, results in a panic that can only be overcame with tutoring and study groups, which require much more use of his car. While filling with fuel one evening on the way back from a study group, Freddy becomes distracted by one co-ed and mistakenly puts diesel fuel in his gas-engine car.
Well, the car won’t run, and since Freddy’s not calling Dad, the car has to be towed to a service center where new injectors and spark plugs and the cost of a tow get the car back on the road. Fear in our favor again.
Well, Freddy’s Mom got the repair bill due to the fact she gave Freddy her credit card fearing a situation like this, and flipped out over the cost of the wrecker bill, let alone the repair bill, and afraid it might happen again, bought little Freddy a AAA membership. Paranoia gone awry, but still in the automotive favor it seems.
Well, Freddy’s panic over his lousy grades now abated, as he passed the first semester by the skin of his teeth, plans on coming home for the semester break. While watching the news, Al Roker predicts a horrible snowstorm. Terrorized, he hit’s Mom’s credit card again for a set of snow chains and studded tires. His Dad had been noticing all of these charges, and worries about the huge cost of keeping Freddy’s car on the road while in college. Freddy makes it home, then Dad takes his car, trades it in on a new 4WD at the same car lot where Nana bought the used car in the first place, and the cycle is set up to repeat itself. This example of extreme trepidation actually works to our favor in the automotive world time and time again.
I know we all dread winter in a northern climate. Do not dismay. Don’t get agitated, frustrated and aggravated. We should shed the phobia of the winter selling season, and embrace it with fearless abandon because we can’t stop it, and stoking the coals of a nightmarish winter is as easy as saying “boo.”
I suggest developing an advertising campaign that plies on the fear of being afraid. “Afraid your car won’t start when it’s really cold? Get a new battery from us! Terrified your wipers won’t work well in the snow? Get our new winter wiper blades! Mortified at the thought of warming up your car every morning? Get a new remote start system from us.”
FDR’s admonition that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” along with his confident tone soothed our national psyche during a critical moment in our history. This being a dark and dreary season for most of us, possibly a slight modification is in order. “The only thing we have to fear is a lack of fear I’m afraid.”
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