For one Nanaimo auto salesperson, a video contest was right in his lane.
Stu Dancey, sales and finance manager at Woodgrove Chrysler, was announced this month as the winner of Jeep Canada’s Pick Your Power competition.
Sales reps across the country were invited to create four-minute videos reviewing their favourite Jeep plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and Dancey won both the regional and national competitions for his video about the Jeep Wrangler 4xe.
Dancey actually missed the initial e-mail about the contest, and didn’t find out about it until days before the application deadline. No matter – already a YouTube content creator with a channel called Driving With Stu, he had the know-how to put together something professional, accurate and cinematic.
“I scrambled, got a script together, got all my gear and shot and edited the video in two days,” he said.
Dancey said he enjoys working on his channel and putting in the many hours of work it takes. Researching and re-reading materials from the manufacturer helps reinforce his expertise in what he’s talking about, and he thinks that comes across in his videos.
“If somebody comes in to buy a vehicle from me, I want to have some validity to that. I want them to feel that I know the product, they’re in good hands with me, that I’m a professional,” he said. “Having a YouTube channel is kind of like a portfolio to show my clients and also give them more information on the vehicle they might be buying.”
Dancey said he thinks it’s a great idea for salespeople to build their brand on any social media platform, but acknowledges the time commitment outside of work hours isn’t for everyone.
He won $2,000 in gas cards in the contest and Woodgrove Chrysler ownership proudly handed him a bonus, but even when there isn’t a prize at stake, Dancey will keep on creating content for Driving With Stu to share his love of Jeeps in particular.
“A lot of salespeople are at a dealership for a job, to make a paycheque, make a sale, and it doesn’t really matter to them what brand they sell, what car it is,” he said. “For me, I got really lucky to get into this brand at the first dealership I started at. Over the years, seeing all the innovation and passion that the engineers at Jeep put into this product, I fell more and more in love with the product.”
His channel can be viewed at www.youtube.com/@drivingwithstu/videos and he said he considers any new local subscribers “a huge win.”
