Tesla, the luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, has introduced a new referral program to encourage existing customers to buy more of its pricey cars. Under a new strategy, Tesla CEO Elon Musk will get a marketing team comprised of all the present owners of Tesla vehicles, thus giving them a broader reach.
Musk enticing owners in every possible way
Musk announced the new referral program on Wednesday. Now Tesla owners who buy their vehicles based on someone’s reference will get a credit of $1,000, and the referring owner will also get a $1,000 credit. The credit could be used on any service or accessories or for any future car purchase, Musk said in an email sent to Tesla owners.
Apart from the credits, owners get an invitation to the opening party for the gigafactory in Nevada if he or she is able to sell five Model S sedans. Plus, there is a possibility that the owner might get a chance to purchase a Founders Series Model X if they sell 10 vehicles. The special edition cars will include special badges, and Musk will “personally inspect each one.” A total of $25,000 in free options will be available with the Founders Series. In addition, the owner will also receive a credit worth $10,000 for selling 10 Model S sedans.
What’s more exciting is that the “first person to reach ten will get the entire car for free,” Musk said in the email.
A smart move from Tesla CEO
As the company faces auto dealership problems in a few of the states like Arizona and Texas, this program can be seen as a method to promote sales. Musk said the company has Tesla owners even in states where it is not allowed to sell vehicles. “But, customers who are not sales people can refer their friends. There’s no rule against that. It is kind of a guerrilla tactic,” Musk Said.
Musk said the program is just an experiment for now, and if it ends up working, “we’ll keep going,” he said. But even if the program is a success, it will not be replacing Tesla’s physical stores. “We don’t have any plans to shut down stores, and we’ll keep opening stores. It’s just a question of how many stores we’ll open.”
In 2013, Musk took a major step to reform the struggling company by gathering employees from diverse fields and making them work as an internal sales force. This helped in the turnaround, preventing a looming Google takeover. Now the same concept has been used by Musk, but in place of employees, he is now roping in Tesla owners, and the end result, hopefully, will be the same as earlier.
