Generac Blitz: 54 Branches. Six ATVs. One Awesome Deal.
Goodbye, power outages. Hello, Suzuki KingQuad 400 ASI.
These same words were probably said by hundreds of customers last fall in Virginia and North Carolina — especially when the ATV they could win was right in front of them on their local branch’s showroom floor.
“Everyone was extremely excited about this Generac Blitz,” said Sam Morse, District Manager for Virginia Central. “I had customers sending me pictures of them sitting on the 4-wheelers, saying that we should leave it for them because they’re going to win it.”
In the end, six customers did, in fact, win it. But how did the winning customers go from sitting on the 4-wheeler to actually riding it out of the store?
Seven districts joined and more than 50 CES branches participated. When customers bought a Generac generator from September through November, they’d receive a single entry for every kW of generating power they purchased.
“This was probably the biggest promotion I’ve ever been a part of,” Morse said. “Working with Clint Brawner and Dale Matthews at Generac, we were able to put together a first-class, multi-state promotion. We have a great partnership with Generac, so any time we can work with them, we’re really excited to do it. ”
The Generac Blitz covered all of Virginia and three-quarters of North Carolina. Customers literally couldn’t miss it. After all, an ATV was inside the branch.
“Each branch in our districts had a chance to put the ATV on display,” Morse recapped. “Guys would come in and see the ATV at the counter, then they’d travel for a job, and see another ATV inside another branch. It was everywhere.”
And as winter closed in, generator sales were through the roof. Morse said they couldn’t get enough in-stock that’s how fast they flew off their shelves.
“We sold almost 1,000 qualifying generators, and over 21,000 kW of generating power during this promotion,” Morse said. “If we count just total generator sales, it was even more than that.”
The Winning Tickets
When it was all said and done, six lucky customers won their Suzuki KingQuad 400 ASIs. But that wasn’t the only prize given out. The branch in each district with the most sales also received $100 Visa gift cards to reward their employees.
“I’d like to thank VP of Operations Gary Smith for offering up a best branch bounty,” Morse said. “It was really exciting to see the customers win, but it was great that we were able to have a friendly competition among the branches to drive sales. After all, our branch staff promoting the contest is the reason it was so successful in the first place.”
As for the winning customers, more than a few took their brand-new ATVs out for a test drive right then and there.
Now that the Generac Blitz is done, what is District Manager Morse most proud of? For starters, just that they were able to pull it off.
“This was the biggest promotion I’ve helped organized,” he said. “I’m most proud of the way that everyone came together — seven district managers, 54 branches and our marketing department worked together to make it a success. Everyone put the work in, and it really shows.”
As for Morse, he’s excited for round two.
“I can’t wait to figure out what we can do to top this next year.”