'Tis the Season…for Traffic School?

Traffic school attendance often drops near the end of the year as students get busy with the holidays. You can still get a quick sales boost, however, with these budget-friendly tips. Promote your school while meeting the needs of your customers this holiday season:

• Host an open house. If you operate a local office/classroom location, plan an open-house event to showcase your products and services. It gives you an opportunity for some face time with the locals, and you could throw in a special offer or coupon that customers can redeem for a limited time.
• Get involved in community and charitable events. Supporting charities or getting involved in community events is a great way to generate awareness for your business during the holidays. If you don't have the budget to donate money, think of other ways to get involved—such as offering volunteer services, equipment, or even space.
• Enlist others to help you. Consider partnering with complementary stores to cross-promote each other's businesses. Any automotive-related store or service makes a perfect fit for a traffic or driving school.
• Offer gift certificates. No one likes to pay for traffic school—especially after shelling out for their citation and other associated costs. Gift certificates, gift cards, or e-certificates are a great way to give your customers a convenient gift option. These items also help you to generate sales well into the new year, with recipients often spending more than the value of the certificate.

These low-cost tips can help you to keep business as booming as Santa's laugh during the holiday season!

New Affiliate Team Member!

The Affiliate Management Team at Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) would like to take a moment to welcome a new member to the crew. Due to the frequent policy and procedure changes within the Department of Motor Vehicles, we have brought a new person on-board to ensure that all affiliate concerns and inquiries are addressed. We welcome Tara Williams to our team!

If you are unable to reach Chris Kalili for any reason, please contact Tara via email or by calling 800 . 863 . 2590.

Get Ready for Winter!

As we drift further into autumn and approach the end of Daylight Saving Time, now is a good time to think about getting vehicles ready for winter. While this is obviously more important for students of our affiliates in northern climes, it never hurts to give vehicles a periodic once-over to make sure everything's operating correctly. Encourage your students to…

• check the battery. Performing a battery load test (or having a mechanic do it) will ensure that the battery turns over on cold mornings.
• monitor tires for tread wear. Tires should always have plenty of tread to ensure proper grip, but it's critical in wet and/or snowy weather. Having the proper tires—with plenty of tread—will help to ensure safety on bad winter roads. Further, vehicles that will be driven in mountainous areas should be equipped with snow tires, and tire chains should be carried in case they are necessary.
• remember that bad weather reduces visibility. Vehicle lighting systems should be kept clean and in good working order; visibility can be enhanced by activating the headlights even during daylight hours. Windows—especially the windshield—should be kept clean and clear of obstructions. Climate controls, including the defroster, should be in good working condition, and windshield wipers should be replaced every couple of years (more often, as needed, if there are cracks in the rubber or if the wipers leave streaks on the windshield).
• avoid sudden turns and hard braking. Abrupt maneuvers on slippery roads can cause a vehicle to skid or lose control. Drivers must accelerate, steer, and brake gently when traction is limited. Ultimately, motorists should slow down and increase following distance when road conditions are poor.
• check weather and traffic conditions before they leave. Drivers should always allow themselves plenty of time to get to their destination, but this is even more important when the weather is bad. Travelers should plan ahead and leave route and destination information with friends or relatives, so rescue personnel know where to look if they don't arrive. Drivers should also consider abandoning the trip if weather conditions are exceptionally poor.

With these simple tips and some common sense, drivers can make it through even the harshest of winters. Encourage your students to stay safe!

National Teen Driver Safety Week 2013

Next week (October 20 – 26, 2013) is National Teen Driver Safety Week. The idea is to get teens from all across America to team up to tackle the greatest danger they face—vehicle crashes.

This year's theme is "It Takes Two: Shared Expectations for Teens and Parents for Driving." Part of the program is advocacy for 65+ hours of supervised driving practice for new drivers. While supervised driving practice is important, it's not the end of the story. Studies suggest that teen drivers often underestimate their level of driving experience and conflate the mere acquisition of a driver license with driving competence. It is critical, then, that parents remain engaged and supportive of their child's new responsibility.

In light of next week's event, there couldn't be a better time to encourage your students (or a family member or friend) to pick up a copy of Traffic Safety Consultants' outstanding parent-teen driving guide, Teach Your Teen to Drive…and stay alive. This fantastic parent-teen guide provides life-saving tips and easy-to-follow, structured exercises to reduce the stress factors associated with the up to 60 hours of supervised driving practice that's required by all 50 states.

If your stock of books is running low, or to get started with this excellent product, contact our Director of Affiliate Operations, Gloria Verver, for great affiliate pricing (via email or by calling 800 . 252 . 9488). Of course, you can always order via Amazon.com as well.

So…what are you waiting for? Let's get together and save some lives!

Reminder: Quarterly Reports are Due to CA DMV

Just a reminder to our California affiliates that quarterly reports for the third quarter of 2013 are due to the Sacramento office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles by October 30.

If you have any questions about preparing and submitting your reports, please contact Chris via email or by calling 800 . 487 . 1699.

We Have a Winner!

…well, four, actually!

The Sizzlin' Summer Sales competition, which ran from the beginning of July through the end of August, asked you to increase the number of paid student registrations, and the percentage of students who upgraded to the Completion Tracker, relative to your numbers in those categories for the month of June. We also included some useful marketing tips to help you meet your new goals.

After two months of heated, head-to-head competition, we're back to announce our winners:

• Student Registrations
  • First Place - $150: Fast and Easy Traffic School
  • Second Place - $75: Newport Driving School
• Completion Trackers
  • First Place - $100: Fast and Easy Traffic School
  • Second Place - $50: Nice and Easy Traffic School

Congratulations to our prize winners! Chris will mail prize checks to the winners in the next few weeks.

But, of course, remember that everyone is a winner simply by increasing sales and growing your business. Good job, everyone, and good fortune to you all!

Marketing Tips: Small Changes Can Net Big Results

A few small changes to your existing marketing strategies can reap big results when it comes to attracting customers. Better still, many of these approaches involve free or low-cost techniques.

Consider employing these great tactics:

• Turn the back of your business card into a promotional item. The back of your business card is advertising real estate that you already own. Use that space to provide a list of your services, or a 10%-off coupon, to turn it into a powerful marketing tool. The information can be a conversation starter and conveys important facts about your business at a time when you already have someone's attention.
• Put a link to your social media account(s) in your email signature. You should always use an email signature with any business-related correspondence. It's professional, and it reinforces your brand every time you hit the "send" button. Including a link to your social media account(s) in the signature makes it easy for recipients to keep in touch with you—and the valuable information you provide—over time.
• Position yourself as an expert. Nothing builds your brand faster than free advice. Dole out a few juicy tips on your website or social media account(s). Once people know that you know, they'll seek you out. Soon, you'll have customers knocking at your door, offering to pay you to solve their problems.
• Test, measure, and test again. Don't sink your entire marketing budget into a single effort. If you try something new as a test, measure the results (and refine your plan) to maximize your returns.

You don't have to have a huge marketing budget to get your customers' attention. Just a few simple tweaks could net you a load of new business!

Marketing Tips: Stretch Your Marketing Budget

The ubiquity of soft drink and motor vehicle ads tells part of the story about why those companies are so successful. But, let's face it: Most small businesses don't have a lot of money to spend on marketing. That means you have to make every penny count!

Here are some simple tips to help you stretch your marketing budget—so you can draw in more customers without breaking the bank!

• First and foremost, if something is working, stick with it. Don't abandon older methods just because you're bored with them. If something you're doing still has legs, if it's still drawing in customers, milk it for all it's worth!
• Don't over-present yourself. You may be tempted to spend a load of money on four-color brochures or fancy embossing like Fortune 500 companies. Sure, it looks great, but it's far more effective to employ a well-designed piece that fits comfortably within your budget.
• Use modular pieces. Consider using groups of promotional literature that can be assembled (e.g., into a packet or folder) from individual pieces. That way, you can customize your presentation without having to create a specific piece for each application. Having a modular system also allows you to hand out individual pieces as needed, so you're not wasting an entire, expensive piece in a situation in which it's not required.
• Get maximum mileage out of existing content. Images, copy, and sometimes even layouts generated for one promotion can often be repurposed in other pieces to significantly reduced creative costs and effort. You don't have to reinvent the wheel for every project!
• Use outside creatives judiciously. If you can handle projects internally, you can save a lot of money. Of course, if you don't have a creative bone in your body, getting outside help can be crucial. But make sure that you hire talent whose portfolio—and fees—are appropriate for your needs. If you do use contractors, you can save money by taking advantage of discounts and avoiding late charges by paying invoices on time. You might also foster goodwill that can result in better service and reduced prices on future projects.

"You've got to spend money to make money," the old saying goes. But if you're smart about your marketing strategies, you don't have to spend a lot of money!

Americans Growing Indifferent to Dangerous Driving Behaviors

You've probably read some of the many pieces published recently noting the decline in the number of miles that Americans drive (here's one). While this development is probably a good thing in terms of safety statistics and our environmental health, you might think that it spells the end of traffic school. On the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth! Our primary mission has always been traffic safety education, and a new report from AAA makes it apparent that that's never been more necessary.

An recent analysis of survey data by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that Americans are now less likely to perceive a serious threat from dangerous driving behaviors than they were a few years ago. And while traffic crash fatalities had been on the decline in recent years, the decreased concern is accompanied by an estimated 5.3% increase in annual fatalities—totaling more than 34,000 in 2012.

Some of the dangerous behaviors over which survey respondents' concern has dwindled over the previous four years include:

• The number of people who believe driving after drinking is a serious threat declined from a near universal 90% in 2009 to 69% in 2012.
• The number of people who consider drowsy driving a very serious threat declined from 71% in 2009 to 46% in 2012.
• The number of people who believe that texting or emailing while driving is a very serious threat declined from 87% in 2009 to 81% in 2012. The number of people who admit to texting while driving increased from 21% to 26% during the same period.
• The number of people who consider red-light running to be completely unacceptable declined from 77% in 2009 to 70% in 2012. Over a third (38%) admitted to running a red light within the previous month.

It's clear that the traffic safety education industry still has quite a bit of teaching to do! Make sure you're discussing these extremely hazardous behaviors—and their potentially deadly consequences—with your students in class. And take every opportunity to advocate for safer driving behaviors. You might just save a life!

"Licensed" or "Approved"?

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) is writing to remind you that the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) does not allow you to market your traffic violator school (TVS) as "DMV-Approved". Rather, TVSs are licensed by the DMV, and must be advertised that way on your website(s) and in all other marketing materials.

Please check your website(s) for this language. If you are currently advertising your TVS as "DMV-Approved," you must have this changed to "DMV-Licensed." Have your Web designer take care of these edits. Or, if you have obtained a website through TSC, please e-mail Chris Kalili to request an update to the site.

Note that if this situation is not verified and corrected, as needed, you will be marked as non-compliant on the next regulatory review of your website! Please take a moment to check your site and ensure that the appropriate edits are made.