These are unprecedented times in the automotive retail marketplace as our country and the world respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Your personal success and the success of the industry depends on your team’s resilience, hard work, and the smart business decisions you make today. Modern digital retailing tactics must be deployed to reach consumers, and new practices must be put into place to engage them. You must be flexible with your current policies and procedures.
We hosted a Live Telecast on March 19, hosted by Managing Partner Lawson Owen and Director of Training Matt Lowery, delving deep into this topic, which you can view here. Please visit our website here if you need assistance with hiring practices, email templates, pay plans, job descriptions, and much more that will help you during these turbulent economic times. Just fill out a short form, and we’ll get you what you need.
It’s become very clear from the data gathered by Proactive Dealer Solutions’ 1,000-plus dealership clients that there is still demand for both automotive sales and service. While Internet leads are down 22 percent, calls to the dealership are down just 1.2 percent. Consumers are calling in to check if the dealership is open. Make sure you let them know you’re open on your website, via texts where possible, and emails. If they are calling in or showing up at your dealership, they want to buy a car or need service — it is an “on-fire lead.”
You must explain to consumers what you are doing to protect them, your employees, and the vehicles they are buying or having serviced will be clean and germ-free. You must complete as much of the sales process online or over the phone as possible, and transparency is key. Customers are fearful. You must create a customer-centric process, alleviate their fears — serve not sell.
Now is not the time to focus on the negative. Control what you can control. Don’t listen to the news 24-7, and use your phone for calls and texts to customers and prospects not for social media and the news.
If there’s ever been a time for management engagement in the process it’s now. Sales, service, and general managers, and all assistants need to monitor every call, review every lead — hourly. This hourly level of awareness will get you through the storm by maximizing every lead. It’s our job to generate and work the lead and close the deal, it’s up to the finance company to fund the deal. Watch our webinar here, we will host another this week. Please visit our website here and connect with us so we can provide you with more information that can help you get through this.
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