ROI in Action

By Andy Ghillyer, NMEDA DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & TRAINING

Signing-up to host a CAMS Regional event requires a commitment of time and resources. Along with logistical planning and aggressive marketing, you will be disrupting the operation of your store for the day—clearing out your showroom to turn it into a classroom (if you don’t have separate meeting space) and arranging for a range of vehicles for the very popular walkaround portion of the day’s events. With so much work involved, the obvious question to be asked is: “Is it worth it?”

Presidential Conversions held their first CAMS-HP Regional event in their Little Rock, Arkansas location in October 2018. Owner John Wilson recalls: "It was a lot of work to get the CAMS organized—getting the store set-up to host guests for an all-day presentation and doing a lot of campaigning in our local market. NMEDA and our sponsors supported us with marketing collateral to mail to our State Agencies, which really helped."

The event attracted 23 influencers, including several visitors from John Wilson demonstrates WAV features at October 2018 CAMS event. Arkansas Rehabilitation Services (ARS) and the local rehab hospital. Attendee evaluations scored the event very highly, with positive feedback on the selection of vehicles and participation of cosponsors (BraunAbility, SureGrip, and Q’STRAINT). Shortly after, Presidential won a competitive bid for a five-figure order for SureGrip push-twist hand controls for the Arkansas Spinal Cord Commission (ASCC).

Looking back on the order, Wilson recalls,

We had received smaller orders from ASCC in the past, but this was by far the largest and reflected their growing confidence in working with us.

When asked to assess the Return on Investment (ROI) of his CAMS event, Wilson had this to say:

Having a course offering that educates our influencers can be nothing but positive for the dealer host. It helps to build rapport and trust, and that’s got to be worthy of a longer-term investment.