Two Kia Dealerships Give Gift Cards To Service Members And First Responders
Two Kia stores in Tennessee are reaching out to first responders. Universal Kia Hickory Hollow and Universal Kia Rivergate will be offering gift cards to active or retired military, police, firefighters or paramedics who come into their store. According to Michael Palmer, a salesperson at one of the Kia stores, this offer is about supporting those who support us. In an interview with local ABC affiliate WKRN, Palmer said, “It’s long overdue. I don’t think the public realizes the men and women who serve in the military, the sacrifice they made to their country and also being away from their family.â€
The gift cards are apparently redeemable at 70 participating restaurants and no vehicle purchase is necessary. This dealer is marketing itself as the place for first responders to go. The question is, will members of the military, police, firefighters and paramedics stop by the showroom for a gift card and leave, or stay to look into a vehicle purchase?
According to posts on the WKRN Facebook page, there is some skepticism as this promotion is seen in the most liked post as, “Like going to a time share meeting. No thanks.” Others posted it was a nice thing to do and some wondered why other groups weren’t included.
With Memorial Day weekend looming, this deal is timed towards a holiday that remembers those who gave their lives in the service of America. Perhaps this deal will also bring in non-military or first responders who are supportive of the dealership’s military and first responder promotion. Even if this promotion doesn’t sell as many vehicles in the short term, dealers taking a stance can cause a strong emotional response from consumers.
What do you think of this move on the part of this dealer to reach out to military and first responders? Have you had any success at your store in doing such a targeted sales promotion? Finally, do you prefer general sales promotions or those, like this one, which are specific only to a smaller part of the population?
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Excellent insight, Jeff! We really appreciate your feedback. We want to tell stories of dealers doing good in the community. We also like to find promotions that are working for one store so other dealers in our audience and peer into other methods of marketing or outreach. We strive to tell our stories to the best of our ability and your feedback helps us do that. We will keep your thoughts in mind for future pieces about promotions or community involvement. Thank you for watching!
This is not necessarily a targeted sales promotion or even a general sales promotion as insinuated by author of post. Why can’t this just be a nice gesture from the dealer to a sect of the community they feel compelled to acknowledge? I’m not saying that the dealer isn’t using it as a sales promo. I obviously don’t know their intent with this campaign. But I can tell you from experience that even if a dealers intentions are only to support any sect of their community someone will find something wrong with it. I hope that the dealer will disregard any naysayers out there and rely on their “why” regarding supporting their community. When the masses start getting down on dealers or anyone trying to support or better their community it can create an negative atmosphere and in turn the dealer may not want to do things in the future such as this. I know because I personally with the purest of intentions and with no expectations on any personal or business return held a Christmas gathering for foster and special needs kids in my area and invested financially/personally/emotionally into trying to make it a special event for these kids. When I saw that some of their Christmas wish lists ONLY included items for personal care like COMBS, Body Wash, Toothbrushes, Etc it made me cry. It still does today. In conjunction with the local Child Protective Services we decided to host the event at the dealership (when it was closed and still a respectable hour) and have Santa come and give the kids ALL of their requested gifts and more. I can still remember being so happy and high on the ether that we were potentially giving some of these kids their first Christmas gifts at age 12 because whatever situation they were in didn’t have the resources to do so or would just skip over it for a multitude of reasons. (Believe me the kids were telling us stories about their personal lives without prompting!) They were so happy to get anything even a toothbrush! Even the older kids wanted to meet the Santa we had arranged to stop by. The first negative comment I got was from an employee 5 minutes before Santa was to be there and that was that they were disgusted that I would put these kids on display for everyone to make fun of because they are underprivileged. I didn’t know what to say…… There was months of time for any employee to vent this concern as I asked for company volunteers to assist with the event planning and many did. but 5 minutes before??? come on. It wasn’t the last negative comment I received though. I can tell you in the end the negative reaction by few made me not want to have anything to do with this or any event in the like since. My wife tells me I shouldn’t let these people ruin it especially because of our intent to help our community was true. But I can’t lie. Christmas will never be the same as far as community involvement. On a more positive note I have transitioned our community giving and involvement around our veterans and first responders and the 4th of July as I appreciate all those who selflessly serve our country and communities and I love blowing things up!!!
Again in the end does it really matter what this dealers intentions are if it truly benefits the community? If they are a good dealer the public will already know that and it will just be reaffirmed by this gesture. Mr. or Mrs. Dealer don’t give up on doing good!!!! Best Regards and Happy Selling.
Jeff