Selling a used car always involves some give and take. Sales reps can’t expect to be pushy and aggressive and make any progress; it’s far wiser to spend time building a rapport, understand the customer’s needs, and tailor your sales pitch accordingly.

This means having a real dialogue, not merely reciting a canned speech. As sales reps chat with interested customers, here are some questions to use—helping steer the conversation, gather information, and build trust.

What to Ask Used Car Buyers

1. What brings you to our dealership today? Maybe your buyer has already decided on the make or model she wants to test drive; then again, maybe your buyer is there on a whim, and just wants to browse. It’s good to have a sense of where the buyer is on the used car purchasing journey.
2. Is there a particular make or model you’re interested in? Again, some buyers may have more or less made up their minds already—drawing from online research. If that’s the case, you can jump straight to the test drive.
3. Who will be the primary driver of the vehicle? Sometimes, a husband will come to buy a vehicle for his wife to drive—and if so, that can help you frame your pitch a little more specifically.
4. Why are you considering a new vehicle? For buyers who haven’t already decided on a make or model, you’ll want to understand their pain points. Are they looking for a larger family vehicle? A safe car for a daughter or son? You’ll need to know what they are looking for before pitching anything specific.
5. What are your top three to five must-haves? This is another good way to determine the specific values or qualities your customer seeks.
6. What do you currently drive, and what do you like or dislike about it? Find out if the buyer is essentially looking for a lateral trade, or something totally new.
7. What about financing? Some buyers will be reluctant to give you a price range, but it’s important to get at least some sense of the financial status. Related: Ask if the buyer has a vehicle he or she wants to trade!
8. What’s your timeline? Does your buyer want to make a decision today—or is this strictly an information-gathering visit?
9. Do you have any questions or concerns? Ask this throughout the process! Make sure you are proactive in addressing your buyer’s needs.
10. What’s your dream car? Your buyer may think their dream car is totally unattainable—and perhaps they’re right—but maybe you can find something that gets them close, or closer than they expected.

Develop Rapport with Your Buyers

When buying a vehicle, consumers will want to work with someone they trust. The way you build trust is by engaging in conversation—not just pushing your inventory. Use these questions to keep that dialogue going—and for more tips on selling used cars, keep your eye on the Get My Auto blog!

The used car buying process has changed. These days, buyers don’t want to leave their home and venture down to your showroom unless they really have to—and if you can accommodate them, allowing them to at least start their shopping experience online, that will automatically give you a leg up on your less tech-savvy competitors.

One way to help buyers in this way is to use video marketing. Indeed, as consumers use the Web to do their research, video can be an excellent way to grab their attention and show off your inventory.

Or, as a recent article from Dealer Marketing puts it, video not only allows you to target consumers, but take your showroom directly to their living room or office.

Using Video to Take Your Showroom to the Consumer

The article goes on to note that “52 percent of auto enthusiasts watch videos to evaluate vehicle performance, and 42 percent of shoppers search inventory on a dealership website as a result of watching online video.” The implication is that video, when done right, can get real results.

The question is, how can you do video marketing right?

Focus on Value

One important point is that, by making video marketing collateral for your inventory, you have a chance to take consumers deep inside all the best features of your vehicles, without them actually having to leave their homes. So, instead of just giving rote sales pitches, you can show off elegant interior features, handsome exterior styling, under-the-hood features, safety add-ons, and more.

You can also make specific videos to tout the features that matter most to your audience. For example, if you’re trying to sell a minivan to a young mom, you might make a video that hinges on safety and convenience.

Provide Virtual Test Drives

Video marketing also enables your dealership to take the buyer on a virtual test drive. A virtual tour can provide a 360-degree overview of all the vehicle’s features, without the buyer actually having to set foot outside their home.

The benefit to dealers is this: Virtual tours allow the buyer to decide exactly which color and trim model he or she wants before coming to speak with a sales representative.

Take Your Videos Everywhere

A final point to make is that simply filming and posting a video isn’t enough; your dealership also needs to share its video content—and there is no better way to do so than through social media.

Dealerships can use social media to showcase what the buyers want—using videos that are designed to take advantage of the social platform in question.

Step Up Your Digital Marketing Game

And video represents just one way in which your dealership can improve its bottom line through savvy digital marketing. To learn more, we encourage you to contact us at Get My Auto today.

In Facebook, auto dealerships find an invaluable tool for marketing and outreach. Not only does Facebook boast incredible reach—literally billions of people—but its celebrated Facebook Ads platform allows for a staggering range of options, including different ways to target ads to likely buyers and even different types of ads to choose from.

This begs the question, though: How can dealerships get the most bang for their Facebook buck? Faced with the Ads Manager’s myriad options, which specific ad types are the ones most easily recommended?

Define Your Facebook Ads Objectives

There is no simple answer here, because dealerships look for different things from their Facebook Ads experience. Before choosing a particular type of ad, it’s first important to think about your goals. What are you trying to accomplish through Facebook Ads? Answering that question will help you select the best ad type.

Here, in brief, are the seven basic types of Facebook ads that dealerships can work with—along with some quick comments about what makes them effective in particular scenarios.

1. Page Post Engagements. These are essentially boosted posts—designed to get more people liking, commenting, and sharing your Facebook content, and in doing so providing your dealership with more online exposure.
2. Page Likes Ads. This is a type of ad campaign specifically designed to show off your dealership Facebook page and get people clicking the like button—building your Facebook audience.
3. Clicks to Websites. These ads are made to get buyers clicking through to an external website—like, say, your dealership website. If you’re looking to boost website traffic, this is the Facebook ad type you want.
4. Website Conversions. If you want to not only get people on your website, but also encourage them to take a specific action once they are there—like signing up for an email newsletter—this is the option you’ll want.
5. App Installs. These ads are made to get people to install an app. Unless your dealership has its own branded app that it uses for marketing, this likely isn’t relevant for your needs.
6. Event Reponses. Holding a big sale, promotion, or special event day at your dealership? Spread the word, and get Facebook users to RSVP.
7. Offer Claims. This final type of Facebook ad allows users to claim an online discount or coupon code, for use at your dealership.

Picking the Right Facebook Ads

All of these ad types have a purpose—and with the possible exception of app installs, all of them can find a place in your dealership’s Facebook Ads strategy.

But it’s important to really have that strategy in place. To make that happen, we recommend working with the pros. Get My Auto has unparalleled experience in making Facebook Ads effective on behalf of auto dealerships—and we’d love to talk with you about your Facebook Ads strategy.

Reach out to the team of ad pros at Get My Auto today to learn more.

When it comes to used car sales, trust is critical. We all know the reputation that used car dealers have—whether fairly or not—as being shady or dishonest. While that stigma is starting to fade, the fact remains that, before you can sell anyone a car, you have to win their trust.

The Internet complicates things. It’s never been easier for buyers to do an online search and quickly assess your dealership’s reputation—and the information they find will determine whether or not they ultimately give you their business.

Managing Your Dealership’s Online Reputation

For example, if a buyer Googles your dealership and finds online five-star reviews from previous customers, that can instill trust—and send foot traffic to your showroom. But if that Google search reveals customer complaints and bad reviews, you may lose business to your competitors. In fact, it’s almost certain.

That’s what makes it so vital for your dealership to be actively engaged in managing its online reputation—but how? While you can’t always control what people write about you on the Internet, you can actively court positive reviews, while also working to build trust through thought leadership.

Filling the Web with Positive Listings

First, it’s important to realize that, if you want Google searches to reveal positive information about your dealership, it’s up to you to create that positive information. Here are a few basic strategies:

• Make sure you have a strong dealership website that provides good, helpful information to buyers; use local SEO strategies to help your page rank.
• Start a blog, providing valuable information about the used car buying process—financing guides, how-tos, maintenance suggestions, etc. This is a great way to build trust and cultivate a positive reputation!
• It may also be worthwhile to generate positive media mentions; for example, if your dealership gets involved with a local charity or non-profit, send out a press release to let people know.

What About Online Reviews?

Online reviews, posted to sites like Google, Yelp, and Facebook can also be make-or-break for your dealership’s online reputation. Some rules of thumb:

• Always monitor your reviews, and be in the know about what people are saying about your brand.
• If you receive positive reviews, take a minute to offer a word of thanks. That kind of engagement goes a long way!
• If you see negative reviews, offer customer service. It’s vital not to get angry, or at least not to show it in public; instead, ask how you can make things right.
• Ideally, your dealership will have someone assigned to review management on a daily basis.
• You should also be active in seeking out reviews. Ask your satisfied buyers to leave you their feedback!

The bottom line? Your dealership’s reputation is one of its most precious resources. As you seek to uphold yours, be active in managing reviews, creating positive content, and engaging with your buyers. Learn more about auto dealership marketing by calling Get My Auto today!

Your dealership website serves a number of purposes. Hopefully it ranks well, and helps your dealership be discovered by interested buyers—but if that’s all your site is doing, then it’s falling short. Remember that your dealership website is the first impression most buyers will have of your business. As such, it’s vital that it be user-friendly—welcoming, helpful, and service-oriented.

Easier said than done? Not necessarily. Here are five tips to ensure that your auto dealership website always puts the buyer first.

How to Make a Buyer-Friendly Dealership Website

Remember: You’re There to Serve

First and foremost, remember that your website is part of your customer service outreach—and that a good website is one that offers real help and assistance to the end user.

There are plenty of ways to offer customer service through your website—via phone and email links, live chat, FAQ pages, and more. The important thing is helping buyers feel like they can always receive the service they need, without any hassle.

Provide Useful Tools

Another step to consider? Add some tools to your website, empowering buyers to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Just as one example, some dealerships offer budgeting tools and calculators on their websites, allowing users to estimate how much their payments will be and how much car they can actually afford. Tools like these go a long way toward showing buyers that you’re a trusted resource.

Highlight Sales, Specials, and Discounts

Remember that a lot of the buyers who come to your
website will be looking for the latest deals. Help them out; make it easy for website visitors to locate money-saving options.

This could be as simple as creating a landing page where you highlight your latest inventory, or cars you currently have on sale.

Focus on Ease of Navigation

It’s also important that your website have a fluid, intuitive navigation structure. Basically, buyers should always find it easy to retrieve the information they’re after.

Be thoughtful in the page hierarchy of your website and organize all your content in a logical way. Having different sections for different kinds of vehicles—for example, a category page for trucks, another one for minivans, etc.—is one good solution.

Enrich Your Site with Great Content

A final tip: Remember that your site isn’t just about closing the sale. It’s also about earning trust. One way to do that is to offer free, valuable information that can help your buyers—similar to what we said before, about including useful tools.

And there are a lot of ways you can add enriching, informative content to your site. Just a couple of options include a blog and embedded videos, where you weigh in on topics related to used car purchasing, financing, maintenance, etc.

Is Your Website Doing What It Should?

You won’t have too many opportunities to wow potential buyers with your amazing customer service—so seize every chance you get. One way to do so is to build a website that puts service first. We can help. Reach out to the automotive marketing experts at Get My Auto today and ask us for a website consultation!

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any independent auto dealership—and as such, dealers simply can’t afford to have aging inventory that languishes on their lot. Inventory needs to be sold in a minimum of 90 days—and at some dealerships, the standard is closer to 45 days. Once a car passes that threshold, it becomes a liability. This makes it imperative for a dealer to have plans in place to address slow-moving inventory, and ultimately to turn it into cash some way or another.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you try to put such a plan in place at your dealership.

Hold a Sale

The most obvious way to move older inventory is to discount the price—creating a demand by improving the value, and promoting the sale heavily through your online marketing channels. Of course, this will eat into your profit margins, but again, aging inventory eventually becomes a financial liability—so it’s best to cut your losses.

And there are different types of sales you might consider:

– A clearance sale simply allows you to flush out all your excess inventory; you might even plan for a couple of clearance sales each year.
– A flash sale hinges on FOMO—the fear of missing out; create a small window for discounts, and instill in your buyers a sense of urgency.
– Item-specific sales—for instance, sales on pickups—might let you more precisely target your intended buyers.

Market Differently

Instead of holding a sale—or perhaps in addition to—you might try to sell older cars through different channels. A highly targeted Facebook Ads campaign is one example. And, if you haven’t listed it on Craigslist, that can be a great way to get some new eyeballs on the vehicle in question. Of course, Get My Auto’s Craigslist Wizard app can be helpful here.

Don’t Let Your Inventory Get Dated to Begin With

Finally, it’s glib to say that you should just avoid aging inventory in the first place—yet there’s an element of truth here: As you purchase inventory with your floor plan credit line, it’s imperative to be judicious, and not to buy more than you can realistically expect to sell. And it’s also important to have firm guidelines in place to move inventory within a certain timeframe—say, 90 days—before it’s essentially written off as a loss.

Strategy and sound marketing are both integral here—and if you need help with either, our team can help. Get My Auto is a marketing company that works exclusively with independent auto dealers, and we know how to move the sales needle on your behalf. Reach out to our team today to learn more.

Social media in general (and Facebook in particular) can be an invaluable outreach tool for used car dealerships. Powerful though it may be, it’s by no means foolproof. Social media marketing only works when there is a right strategy in place, and many used car dealerships frankly don’t have one.

Indeed, there are a number of ways in which used car dealerships go off the rails with their social media. Here are some of the most common pitfalls—all of which, of course, we’d urge you to avoid.

Avoiding Social Media Failures at Your Orange County Dealership

Neglecting the two most important social marketing tools available to dealerships. In our estimation, there are two social media marketing tools that no dealership should neglect—Facebook Ads, and Craigslist. If you’re not incorporating both into your online strategy, you’re simply not getting the most out of digital marketing.

Bombarding your followers with promotional posts. Your social media presence should educate, entice, and engage. What it shouldn’t do is irritate or frustrate your followers with a constant stream of promotional posts. Sharing one picture a day of your latest inventory is fine; one picture every hour is overkill.

Going off topic. Social media users come to you for information about used cars, and they expect you to be an authority on the subject. As such, all your posts should pertain to car ownership in some way. A post about the latest Netflix show, or about last night’s big sporting event, simply doesn’t help your dealership.

Copying your manufacturer’s posts. Your local Toyota dealership won’t stand out if the only thing you do on Facebook is copy and paste content from the corporate Toyota page. It’s vital that you provide your content with its own identity, its own point of view.

Not learning enough about Facebook Ads options. We don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but really: You must use Facebook Ads, and you must school yourself in all the options for targeting, bidding, etc. When used correctly, this can be an incredibly efficient advertising platform, and it can have a real, bottom-line impact for your dealership.

Assuming that social media is a waste of time. The main complaint we hear from used car dealerships in Orange County is that social media just doesn’t sell cars—but actually, it can be a powerful way to build and maintain an audience of paying customers. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Social Media Marketing for Your Used Car Dealership

These errors can all be grim in their effect, but they are also easy enough to avoid—if you know what you’re doing. And if you don’t, seek help from the pros. Get My Auto provides social media marketing for used car dealerships exclusively, and we’d love to talk with you about the results we can achieve on your behalf. Reach out to Get My Auto today!

Today’s auto sales landscape is a volatile, often unpredictable one—and independent dealerships face many challenges as they seek to capture and convert leads.

Some of these obstacles are the expected ones—hurdles that stem from the competition, or from changes to the economy itself. Other hurdles, though, stem from the increased digitization of the auto sales process. Simply put, many dealerships struggle to find the most cost-effective ways to generate, capture, and convert their sales leads.

Digitization is a Double-Edged Sword

Of course, there are many ways in which this digitization has made lead capturing more attainable—but then again, it’s also made the sales cycle longer and more complicated. Certainly, buyers love all the websites and apps that allow them to research cars before they arrive at the showroom; from the dealership’s vantage point, though, these resources muddy the waters considerably.

The bottom line for dealers is that nurturing leads has never been more important than it is today—so how can dealerships do it effectively?

Tips for Lead Management

The short answer is for dealerships to invest in lead management—ensuring they have the right processes and procedures in place to capture the leads that come in and then to guide those leads to the bottom of the sales funnel.

Here are a few of the lead management tips we can offer:

1. Have an automated lead tracking system in place. Make sure you’re automatically recording the leads that come in as well as the follow-up, ensuring that none of these leads are lost or forgotten about.
2. Use lead information to maintain a prospect database. Regularly update it and use it to guide future marketing endeavors.
3. Invest in customer service training for your sales representatives. And in particular, make sure potential customers are getting the highest possible level of friendly, personalized service.
4. Make lead follow-up a top priority. Ensure that each lead receives a personal follow-up as quickly as possible—ideally within a few minutes.
5. Ensure your CRM is synced with all online lead generation platforms. In particular, you’ll want to make sure it’s populated with any leads you receive through your Craigslist ads. This is something the Get My Auto Craigslist Wizard is good for.

Don’t Be Haphazard About Lead Management

The bottom line: You’ll only effectively capture and convert leads if you have the right systems in place. As such, building a strong lead management protocol is one of the best things you can do to grow your dealership.

It’s also something we can help with. This is our bread and butter, and we have both the experience and the software solutions you need to make your dealership more profitable. Start moving the sales needle today. Reach out to the team at Get My Auto.

For auto dealerships, all search—all marketing—is local. That much is evident from a recent Dealer Marketing report, which notes that, in 2017, auto dealers and manufacturers spent more than $12.06 billion on local advertising.

Why Local Search Matters for Your Dealership

Why the big push for local? Simple: There are more than 16,700 new vehicle dealerships in the U.S. alone, to say nothing of used car dealerships—which means that, for your dealership to succeed, it has to stand out from the competition. And it’s especially important to outshine the local competition, winning the attention of qualified buyers in your immediate area.

According to the article, “59 percent of car buyers spend time online researching, trying to find the best deals, promotions, and incentives. Once they find the car they like, more than half of consumers will visit a dealership to test drive the vehicle and purchase in-store.”

In other words, establishing online visibility is the key to getting appointments set and driving foot traffic to your showroom. “Just think,” Dealer Marketing notes. “If a prospective customer can’t find your business via an online local search, how are they going to find you in 2018? Or worse, what if they get frustrated and choose to test drive—and likely purchase—somewhere else?”

Strategies for Boosting Local Search Visibility

But what practical steps can independent auto dealerships take to boost their own local search standing? Here are some basics:

• Make sure you include your contact information on every page of your website. Specifically, include your NAP information—name, address, and phone number. The latter should include your local area code. Display this information consistently across your website.
• Include some geographically specific keywords in your content, where appropriate; for example, if your dealership is in San Diego, California, you might include the city name somewhere in your meta description and naturally work it into your body content.
• Try to get plenty of consumer reviews! Reviews on Facebook, Yelp, and especially Google can boost your search standings.
• Also seek out citations from local directories or blogs. Even getting a link from the nearby Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce can boost your rankings.
• Invest in high-quality content that will educate and inform your readers—keeping them on your website for longer. A business blog can be especially beneficial. Rich content, such as video, can also help.

Is Local Search Your Marketing Priority?

We’ll say it again: For used car dealerships, all search is local. Being easily discoverable among your local buyers—that’s the whole ball game. And it’s a lofty goal—but not an unattainable one.

To talk with our automotive marketing experts about boosting your local search standing, reach out to us today. Get My Auto is here to make your dealership more competitive, and that starts with local search. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.

Facebook Ads is a complicated animal—a machine whose parts and systems must be firing on all cylinders, working in tandem, to produce the kinds of results you want on behalf of your dealership.

On a purely technical level, there are a lot of considerations to keep in mind—considerations about budgeting, about ad optimization, about image selection, and more. With that said, there’s a strong creative component, too—a need to create content that is engaging and valuable to your human readers.

That leaves some room for trial and error, and for ongoing discovery. To guide you in that process, we’ve got just a few basic tips and techniques to offer here—some strategies to help you keep your Facebook Ads campaign on the straight and narrow.

Best Approaches for Facebook Ads Marketing

Always be honest and up front. Your ads should deliver on the promise you make in your headline and in the ad content itself. If you advertise a coupon for $500 off, that’s what people should get when they click your ad. And if you advertise used Kia Optimas, the ad should connect to a page about Kia Optimas.

Target your audience narrowly. The Facebook Ads platform offers you many ways to narrow your audience—and we recommend as much precision and specificity as possible. The narrower you target, the fewer wasted clicks you’ll have! Use buyer personas to guide you.

Write headlines that draw attention. Our best advice? Convey value. Show your potential customers and clients what’s in it for them.

Choose compelling images. Some general recommendations here: Smiling faces are great for selling products. Bright, vibrant colors can also help. And make sure you pick imagesthat are high-quality—nothing warped, distorted, or blurry.

Test everything. There’s really no part of your Facebook Ads campaign—from the headlines to the images to the targeting—that you can’t tweak, track, and test. Always be working to make your ads better, to learn what works and what doesn’t!

Make good landing pages. Ideally, your ads will lead buyers to a landing page you’ve made specifically to welcome them, and to lay out the promises you made in the ad itself.

Don’t bid too little. Remember that you’re in an auction with other dealerships—and if you bid too low, your ads simply won’t get displayed.

Don’t forget about remarketing! If you haven’t created a Facebook Pixel to follow up with your website visitors, you need to. It’s one of the most potent features that Facebook Ads offers.

Use Facebook to build organic reach. In addition to paid ads, you should also be doing some content marketing through your dealership’s Facebook page. That’s critical for fostering trust.

Get Help with Facebook Ads

One more thought: Invest in some true expertise and guidance. That’s what Get My Autocan provide. Reach out to us today, and let’s talk about Facebook marketing. We’d love to tell you more about what we can do to help!