Everyone has driven by, or visited, a dealership of some type in their lifetime. Do you remember that dreaded feeling that you were going to be attacked by a sales person? So, now you are the owner of a dealership… How are you loving life nowadays?
With the demand for high-quality buying experiences influencing the decisions of many potential customers, here are three ways you can start improving the sales in your dealership:
- Stop lowering your damned prices! Start thinking about the profits you are sacrificing every time you lower your prices to make a sale. Instead of lowering the price of your inventory, you need to be considering the reasons your customers should be paying top-price! Why did they come to you? Time is valuable for every buyer, and with the right blend of “A great experience and a fair price,” you will be setting yourself apart from the competition.
- Stop thinking about competing with everyone else, and start competing with yourself. How were your sales last month? Last year? The past ten years? Start challenging your staff, and yourself, with a “what can you do better?” attitude. Consider how you can instill a passion and caring in your staff that transcends to your potential customers? Offer pay-for-performance initiatives, and make sure everyone is up-to-speed on what you’re selling and servicing goals are. Get out from behind your desk, and meet your customers yourself.
- Treat your service department customers like royalty. Free coffee in the lobby is no longer going to cut it when making customers loyal to your brand. A local dealership, whom I’ve been a customer with for years now, earned my business by going above and beyond what I expected when having my vehicle serviced, offering free rentals and delivery to accommodate my schedule.
If you haven’t gotten the point by now, it’s the customer experience that is the most important asset in your dealership. You need to start considering the buying process both before and after the sale is made, and determine how you will not only gain the sales with a customer, but also retain them in the years that follow.
