Just as the preacher was put here to preach, the automotive retailer was born for a cause-to answer the prayers of DIYers.

"(Retailers) have to concentrate on the fact that they're problem solvers," says Ed Coffey, an automotive retail specialist and principal with Ed Coffey & Associates, Oakland, CA.

When it comes to chemical additives, DIYers need problem solvers. Often, problem solving can lead to an additional sale. Coffey relates a story about a potential chemical add-on sale gone awry.

Coffey knew someone who went into an auto parts store to buy a few quarts of oil. This person decided to install the oil then and there in the store's parking lot."I guess he didn't have anything to get the oil out of the can," Coffey says, "So he used a nail and a rock. He broke the first can, and the oil went all over his brand new shoes."

Coffey laughs when he recalls the story, but he doesn't find it funny that none of the salespeople in the store asked this person what he was going to do with the oil. "That's the kind of training that should be done, and we don't do a lot of it anymore," Coffey says.

If this person was asked what he was going to do with the oil, it could have led to an add-on sale. If the person said he was going to change his oil, a salesperson could have recommended an oil filter to do the job right and a quart of oil treatment to really do the job right.

Even if the person was just buying the oil to add to his car's engine, a salesperson could've recommended an oil spout to make sure the oil ended up in the car's engine-and not on the customer's shoes.

The key to add-on sales is not the pushy hard sell, Coffey says. It's for the retailer to act as the informer, whether it's through an informative display or a 60-second, face-to-face conversation with the consumer.

STARTLING STATISTIC-Retailers should never underestimate the power of the display. According to Steve Alexander, vice president of automotive for the Pittsburgh-based Howard-Marlboro Group and an independent consultant in the automotive aftermarket, 66 percent of consumers in a store make "unplanned and impulsive" purchases based on silent sales tools and the powers of merchandising displays. He says the statistic is so dramatic that people in the aftermarket don't want to believe it.

Alexander bases the statistic on a study he conducted that took two years of "intensive" work focusing on consumer and merchandising display research. He says the first inkling of the statistic showed up in the chemical section.

While the study reveals the power of the display, it also shows that retailers need to do more with human intervention. Alexander points out that retailers are losing plenty of add-on sales because salespeople are not creating them on a one-on-one basis.

It's important that a salesperson can communicate the benefits of a product, but the product must also be able to sell itself. Chemical additives have often been called “snake oil", so some consumers are cautious of them from the start.

Alexander claims that 70 percent of auto store customers make their final choice while in the store. A customer may have come to the store for a particular product, but what brand that customer chooses is up in the air.

"Deals get consumers in a store, newspaper ads get them in and the reputation of the store gets them in," Alexander says. "But when they're in the store they have a huge amount of choices. Brand loyalty in the automotive aftermarket is not as strong as a lot of people would like to believe. Customers are easily subjected to having their minds changed once they're in the store”.

Obviously, most manufacturers will beg to differ and they will claim success because of brand loyalty. And if a chemical product is successful, retailers can only benefit because many of the products have high profit margins.

J. Bur Zeratsky, marketing manager for The Shaler Company, Waupun, WI, says a retailer who sells a quart of engine treatment with an oil change can double the profit on the sale.

Zeratsky points out that a retailer will be lucky to make a buck when it sells five quarts of oil and a filter to a consumer. Like most oil additive manufacturers, Zeratsky says The Shaler Company has been a proponent of "buy four quarts of oil and a quart of engine treatment" and is, pursuing the strategy even more to educate new consumers.

Additive users are very loyal, Zeratksy says, adding that they usually buy an engine treatment every two or three months when changing their oil, Coffey says it's important to display oil additives close to the oil section because they’re usually sold as part of an oil change.

And retailers shouldn't forget about oil filters.

"It is amazing how people have gotten away with placing oil filters in sections away from the oil," Coffey says.

THE MEDIA NEVER HURTS-Chemical additive manufacturers know the benefits of advertising. Radio spots and consumer magazines are popular mediums. It also never hurts to sponsor sports teams and advertise products on the back of ticket stubs.

Retailers, too, know the importance of a quick radio spot or a half-page newspaper ad. Walt Kobilnyk, senior buyer for Royal Auto Supply, Colmar, PA, says advertising is one of Royal's "tried and true" strategies. He says consumers are most influenced by prices when they read an ad.

Another successful medium is in-store displays. A successful oil additive display seeks consumers who are changing their oil. For example, one manufacturer says: "The next time you change your oil, really change your oil into a patented engine treatment”.

Manufacturers, like New Jersey-based Fluoramics, maker of Tufoil, have made videos for retailers and consumers that tell exactly what their products do. The videos have played an important part in add-on sales, Andrisani says, especially when there aren't enough salespeople on the floor to attend to every customer that walks in a store.

Retailers are also educated through videos. They are taught about products and their potential profit margins.

WHERE DO I FIND...?- Coffey says related items need to be grouped together. He suggests using a "chemical wall", with related merchandise grouped vertically.

"Products have to be easy to find, and they have to be grouped together," Coffey says.

He points out that a salesperson has two responsibilities: to help merchandise sell itself and to know enough about the merchandise to explain its function quickly and concisely. By helping merchandise sell itself, a salesperson must have it placed strategically on a shelf with shelf talkers or other informational literature. Of course the salesperson must be available to talk about a product.

Alexander is all for making products more accessible to consumers, but he warns that the chemical wall should not become a blur. It's important that a product can attract a consumer within 18 inches of it to be successful. A product's design-typeface and colors-has plenty, to do with that.

WHICH PRODUCT DO I BUY?-In some cases, certain additives are not hard to find. Fuel additives, for instance, can dominate an auto parts store. There are plenty of brands classified as cleaners, octane boosters and lubricants.

Coffey says that unless a product comes down from the shelf, it may get lost in the shuffle. "Products need to be taken from the shelf and placed into some kind of promotional display at the right time of the year," he says. "And the signing has to attract the attention of the service that you're going to do."

Mike Zimmerman, First Brands' product manager for STP Automotive, Danbury, CT, suggests taking fuel additives off the shelf in the winter and displaying them next to gasoline antifreeze.

"[If retailers do that], they may be able to get some higher ticket sales," Zimmerman says.

C. J. Gardner, national marketing manager for Octane Boost, Mesquite, TX, says big retailers are doing a good job of pushing add-on sales, but the smaller retailers need to concentrate more on this technique.

Every spring, Gardner stresses that retailers should devote an end cap to DIYers who have spring and car care fever. He says retailers should place several products in the end cap, such as waxes, additives, touch-up paints and floor mats, to attract DIYers.

In the winter, when retailers "merchandise antifreeze, they should place snow brushes on the same shelf," Gardner says.

There is a problem in the retail end, however. Gardner says there's too much turnover of retail help and money and time is wasted in educating them on performance products and their functions .

"It's like a McDonald's," Gardner relates. "The same person never waits on you twice.”

Coffey and Gardner agree that there is a glutton of some chemical products. "We're multiplying these products unbelievably fast," Coffey says. "Sooner or later, retailers will have so many products on their shelves that their inventories will be out of whack."

"Everyone tries to copycat each other," Gardner says. "You'll always have knock-off artists."

COMMUNICATION, PROMOTION-Manufacturers and retailers need to work together on concrete plans for add-on sales.

Alexander says retailers have to better determine what their lost sales value is. They have to work with vendors on stronger promotional programs, and that does not mean the vendor has to lower a product's price.

Many manufacturers, such as the Shaler Company, work very closely with retailers. Shaler institutes a "Design Your Own Promotion Program" with retailers.

Cross promotion is a common technique retailers practice. Neck tags are placed on a manufacturer's most popular product that offer rebate checks toward the purchase of other products.

When the consumer sends in a rebate coupon, a check is made payable to the retailer that the product was purchased from. The plan is to get the consumer to come back to the same store or chain for more of the manufacturer's products.

Other techniques used by manufacturers, such as the Stewart Warner Corp., Mount Prospect, IL., are more simple but efficient. The manufacturer of CD-2 chemicals gives retailers a small poster with suggestions for add-on sales. Under several headings on the poster, such as air filters, batteries and replacement parts, are names of products with brief descriptions of what they can do for a particular part.

The idea is that retailers will put the poster where all salespeople can see it. The salespeople then have a better idea of what they can suggest to customers as part of add-on sales.

For instance, the poster informs salespeople to suggest CD-2 Wheel Bearing Lubricant if a DIYer is repacking a car's wheel bearings.

Octane Boost has taken an educational and fun approach to gaining additional add-on sales. The company's "Booster Test" promotion is designed to keep salespeople schooled on its 104+Octane Boost.

The company has designed a short questionnaire to test salespeople's knowledge of the product. Everyone who takes the test receives a prize, and the first 10 respondents that answer all questions correctly receive $104.

"This promotion is designed to improve understanding of our products among an important segment of our market: counter-help," says Faye Peevey, president of Octane Boost. "Giving consumers the right answers benefits them, the retailers and the manufacturer.

Of course, a consumer is always looking for a good deal, and retailers and manufacturers have to offer one. Bill Shewry, manager of automotive products/consumer products division for the Chevron Chemical Co., San Ramon, CA, says his company uses twin-pack promotions, free product offers and rebates to satisfy customers.

Some retailers, however, don't rank promotions as the No. 1 priority. Shawn Briggs, assistant manager for a Forest City Auto Parts store in Cleveland, says his company has instituted a simple program to deal with add-on sales for chemicals. It's called SOAP, or Selling Other Auto Parts. When a customer buys four quarts of oil, Briggs says a salesperson asks, "Do you need an oil filter or any engine treatment to go with that today?"

Briggs says the salespeople are not trying to be pushy just for the sake of garnering extra sales. "We just suggest everything to help customers get the job done right," he says.

Royal Auto's Kobilnyk agrees. He says Royal Auto conducts training sessions to suggest better selling techniques to its salespeople. Kobilnyk says it's not about being aggressive, but being a problem solver for DIYers.