Ok.. I'd like to pull together some ideas for a dealership letter. Here's the thought (my dealership is all for something like this).
Provide a letter with some basic information for new Solstice / Sky buyers. Let them know about the forum here, as well as the Michigan Kappa Club (e-mail address, myspace, website, etc.)
The intent is to provide this to local dealerships so they can hand them out, or contact their previous kappa buyers with this information. I think it's a great way to get the word spread around and drive more people towards the forum and group for various events.
**EDIT**
I've attached the most updated version of the letter. I think it's time we get these out there... maybe with many of us pulling the cars out of storage and heading in for the recall work, we might catch a lot of other current owners getting their recall work done as well.
I can't see dealerships doing this from a liability standpoint.
Hmm.. well, my dealership said they would certainly be willing to put out information to allow new customers to get in touch with other Solstice / Sky owners.
I guess I'm not seeing the liability issue here... the dealer isn't sponsoring anything, only providing a way for new Kappa owners to communicate with current Kappa owners.
Please let me know what the liability issue is that you see so we can properly address this.
Ok.. I'd like to pull together some ideas for a dealership letter. Here's the thought (my dealership is all for something like this).
Provide a letter with some basic information for new Solstice / Sky buyers. Let them know about the forum here, as well as the Michigan Kappa Club (e-mail address, myspace, website, etc.)
The intent is to provide this to local dealerships so they can hand them out, or contact their previous kappa buyers with this information. I think it's a great way to get the word spread around and drive more people towards the forum and group for various events.
I'll work on a draft letter.. but if you have ideas, post them up here and I'll start working on this tonight. I'm going to my dealership next week for service on my winter car, and I'd like to take the letter to them. They also mentioned about passing it on to the Area Sales Rep. who could in turn bring it to may dealerships.
I'm sorry, but I really can't comment on this any more.
This is a great idea.... I have left letters at the dealerships in the area. They will not provide to the customer but let me put them on the table for people to pick up. They didnt say anything about liabity to me.... They just treated as general information.
Kim
I'm sorry, but I really can't comment on this any more.
Well... then I don't understand the purpose of either of your posts.
If this something you can't talk about publicly, then feel free to PM me or PM your e-mail and we can discuss in that manner. I can and will be confidential if that is needed on your end.
I certainly don't want to cause issues for others, GM, dealerships, myself, or the MKC... so if there is anything you can share, it would be appreciated. If not... thank you anyway.
rlhammon: I was watching this post with interest and it just stopped on the 13th. What did you decide to do? Did you make up a flyer or letter? Sounds like a great idea to me. We need to get our fellow Mi Solstice and Sky owners together. Would be nice to just have information to pass along to other owners we meet.
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rlhammon: I was watching this post with interest and it just stopped on the 13th. What did you decide to do? Did you make up a flyer or letter? Sounds like a great idea to me. We need to get our fellow Mi Solstice and Sky owners together. Would be nice to just have information to pass along to other owners we meet.
I would be interested as well.
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I thinkits a great idea. I think the hard part is getting the dealer to actually give the info to the new owners.
You are correct. Some dealers will be more apt to do this than others, and we should find that out and target the dealers who will help us. For instance, my dealership loves the idea and is willing to hand them out to all owners, as well as send previous buyers a copy of the letter so as to not have them miss out.
They have also mentioned about leaving a stack in the service department to catch those who come in for service, but might not have bought the car from their dealership.
Once we hit spring... we can use the letters (or a slight different letter) to hand out at local events (if you show your car). Maybe Team Solstice 2008 (SolScuba and anyone else from Michigan) could be a distribution point as well.
The point is we need to get the word out to draw in people. Not everyone looks online for this sort of thing... so we need to let them know to look at least.
Absolutely love the letter, and think it's perfect. Once you give the go I will be taking it to any and all dealers in my area. I know the one in Plymouth, Flint, Fenton, and Roseville. I will continue to take it to dealerships though and give them my card so when they run out I can bring more. You give me the go, and I'll start getting them out there...
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I didn't think there was much interest in this, as nobody really replied. As typical, there were lots of views, but nobody showing support. Glad to see it's there.
I've attached a rough draft of the letter here in pdf format. PLEASE DO NOT start sending this letter out or taking it to dealerships yet! I would like people to review it, and provide feedback / input / changes / etc. before we get a letter out there. I'd like to ensure we all have the same letter and have an approach to what we are doing. If we take a little bit of time and have some structure and professionalism in the way we do this, I think we can see a huge benefit from this endeavor.
What I would like to see next is a list of dealers in your area that you could contact (either in person, phone, or e-mail) to see if they are willing to set these out or hand them out to new Kappa owners / leasers. If you want to call your sales rep. or someone at your dealership (provided you have a good relationship with them) that would be great. I'd like to hear back as to how successful this may or may not be with the dealerships before we get moving too much on this.
Also.. in the letter I did not include a picture of the car, or any logos as I did not want to cause trademark issues or raise concerns at all. I did leave room in the top right in case a dealership wanted to copy this onto their letter head. We can move the MKC logo around, or create a few different layouts to accommodate various letter head formats as well.
If anyone thinks of additional items... just post it on here. I'm gone most of next week and may not be on here at all, but I will be back.
The letter seems fine to me.. Not sure I see the liability issues noted before; however, I am not a lawyer. My only point would be to provide some type of incentive to the dealers, i.e. they need a reason to give it out. Perhaps a cover letter to them which notes the benefits of directing people to MKC? Their ability to communicate with a large group of folks to provide further services, equipment and even special announcements. Possibly even special events at a dealership where MKC members show up to help sell more Kappas?
As i said, not a lawyer, but I do understand "quid pro quo".
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The letter seems fine to me.. Not sure I see the liability issues noted before; however, I am not a lawyer. My only point would be to provide some type of incentive to the dealers, i.e. they need a reason to give it out. Perhaps a cover letter to them which notes the benefits of directing people to MKC? Their ability to communicate with a large group of folks to provide further services, equipment and even special announcements. Possibly even special events at a dealership where MKC members show up to help sell more Kappas?
As i said, not a lawyer, but I do understand "quid pro quo".
I'm not sure what the dealer incentive is really. They can put their logo on the letter, or copy it onto their letter head and use it as advertising I guess... but then again, they are giving them out to Kappa owners from their dealership... so do they need to advertise?
I think the big incentive is the word of mouth press the dealership gets from the group. Obviously those who find out about MKC via this method will talk about their dealership and that's ultimately free "good press" for those dealerships.
If anyone can think of some other incentives, or something to include in a cover letter... just let me know. I'd like to think about it and put together a cover letter we can all use as well... something that helps us all send the same message to the dealerships.
My ultimate goal is to get this into the hands of the regional sales representatives who travel among the dealerships. That's the person to get excited about this, as they have all the contacts to distribute this... just not sure if a GM employee hands it out if GM feels they become liable for anything. Maybe that's the legal issue? Not sure.
I'm not a lawyer either... but I have friends who are. I'll see what they can drum up. I also have friends who work at GM (tech center in Warren) as well as I know we have a Michigan owner who works in the Safety group at GM (Ren Center) so maybe they could be of some help too?
At this time, please do not start distributing the letter. We'll get a cover letter together and wrap things up first of the year.
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I would be interested as well.
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