Are your sales managers and employees fumbling with buyers who prefer to do some of the purchase steps online? Or in the store, where online customers prefer to finalize deals? You may need to take a closer look at your team’s modern retail process if you want to win in a competitive market.
We’ve compiled the top online-to-in-store mistakes and how to avoid them before they cost you sales.
Buying a vehicle is a big deal. Even the most routine car sale requires a series of steps including research, price negotiations, potential trade-in, and the completion and submission of lots of forms. Those steps take time.
Sometimes there are things people don’t see eye to eye on. When CDK Global surveyed over 2,000 service shoppers late last year, it uncovered what type of experience they’re looking for most from the dealership service department. Now, CDK has fielded a complimentary survey of nearly 300 dealership service providers across the country to see where their focus is and where a disconnect exists from the very shoppers they value.
Need good salespeople? You’re not alone. Hiring is a huge challenge for dealers across the country. Overall dealership headcount has fallen approximately 19% since before COVID-19 while sales representatives have fallen 35%, according to the CDK Global 2023 Friction Point Study.
Bed Bath & Beyond is the latest big-box retail wonderland lost to the ease of internet shopping. While mass-market physical retail dwindles, the good news for the retail automotive space is that shoppers still want to visit dealerships. In fact, our 2023 Friction Points Study found that 91% of shoppers bought from a dealer.
The past few years have been a wild ride for car dealers with no signs of slowing down soon. Some analysts predict new vehicle prices will plummet thanks to bullish automaker production schedules and the return of incentives colliding with rising interest rates.
While market conditions may be out of your hands, control over your operation isn’t. Your best bet to come out on top, whether the economy is lagging or booming, is to cut costs.
A good Net Promoter Score (NPS) means your customers are happy and your dealership has a good reputation. And a good reputation is linked to higher trust in your dealership, increased profits, and greater customer retention.
Equity mining is the most well-known tactic for finding new opportunities from both sales and service customers. However, there’s more than one way to mine your dealership’s CRM.
You may be wondering: Why do I need to mine my database for prospects at all when business is booming? Because you should always keep your pipeline full and stay top of mind with customers. And equity mining is your best bet to source quality used vehicles without any auction fees.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be on every newscast, in every headline and across social media feeds. And while it may be the hot topic for the tech crowd, car dealers have been investigating and investing in the technology for years.
In a new survey, CDK Global uncovered what dealers think about AI and found that it’s positively impacted sales, inventory management, service and parts. Nearly every area of the dealership can benefit from current and future use cases of AI.
