Buying a car is a big, expensive purchase that few people undertake lightly. So, of course you’re going to hear a lot of car sale objections. Don’t take “I need to think about it” personally. Your job is to be a consultant – there to answer every question with the goal of finding the perfect-fit vehicle and starting a relationship.

The majority of people visit fewer than two dealerships before buying. Chances are good that if you can overcome sales objections, you will turn that shopper into a buyer. Here are 5 tips to help:

1.    Do a thorough needs assessment. You need to understand “why” a customer is objecting to a sale, and that requires some upfront questioning. Do a thorough needs assessment before your sales pitch. This builds rapport and trust. As I’ve said before, people buy things from people they trust. If there’s no rapport, you may sell some vehicles, but not very many.

2.    Tell a story that shows empathy. Relate to a customer’s objection with your own story. Have you worried about buying a car in the past? Why? What was the outcome? Consider this example for a potential Subaru Outback buyer: “I understand your worries about fitting your kids and all of their gear in the car, but I’ve got three kids and it’s no problem to fit them and all of their stuff. In fact, the back is big enough for their soccer gear, plus I have one who plays hockey, and it’s no problem. My wife really likes it too because we get great gas mileage. Do you want to check it out? We can do a quick test-drive now.” Don’t make up a story. If you don’t personally have one, relate the experience of a colleague, friend, neighbor, etc. Customers can and will sniff out tall tales.

3.    Don’t lose out because of a trade. Every customer will go online to see what their trade is worth, and they will look at the value in perfect condition. Your job is to inject reality with logic. Value the trade during a walk-around. Touch the tires that may be bald, touch that gash in the passenger door. You have to touch flaws to make them real. Comment along the lines of: “Your car normally would be worth $15,000 but as you can see there are things we’ll need to fix before we can put it on our lot. Does it make sense to you that we can offer $10,000 because we’ll have to make repairs?” Common sense and logic will resonate with customers.

4.    Invite your sales manager over to help. You will know when you’ve lost a customer. That’s the turning point where you need your sales manager to drop in. Tell the customer you’ll get your manager to help work out a deal, then leave the two of them to speak privately. If you’ve lost the customer, for whatever reason, that customer will not speak frankly if front of you. Know when to bring in help, then remove yourself from the situation.

5.    Keep the relationship alive even if the customer does not buy from you. That customer will buy a car again. In the meantime, become their car guy with quick communications that play to their interests. Did you talk about their favorite sports team? Shoot a quick congratulations text when that team wins a big game. Have a video showcasing how to pair Bluetooth to the Cadillac model they wanted? Include it in a short email. Service specials are also a valuable way to get the customer back into your store. Offer a customer a free oil change to try out your shop. Make it a big deal VIP event for anyone in the family. Word of caution: Don’t let your service advisors scare them by saying the car needs $10,000 worth of work. This only gives credence to the old adage that car dealerships are there to steal money. Praise the car, tell the customer they’ve done a great job of taking care of it, then bring up a couple things to keep an eye on.

Sales objections are part of the job. Stop taking them personally and instead cultivate skills to overcome them. You’ll make more sales and be on the road to long-lasting customer relationships that produce for years to come.

In this latest edition of my series on modern retailing I’m taking on one of the biggest topics in our industry: the one-price store. This model has been around for nearly 20 years. Yet, few dealerships have adopted it even as this model is more relevant than ever before as Internet-savvy, smartphone-using customers increasingly hunt simple, fast, and transparent deals.

From a dealership standpoint, moving to a one-price sales model requires careful consideration and stamina to weather what will be a difficult transition. You will likely lose some salespeople, but as with any change there is plenty of reward. Here’s why you should take the leap:

It will improve the customer experience.

No price haggling, including financing and the sale of F&I products, is what customers have been wanting for decades. And they will reward dealerships that offer that experience. Consider Avondale Toyota outside of Phoenix which has been a one-price store for nearly two decades.  Dealer Brian McCafferty reports that customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive and almost half of business comes from repeat and referral customers.

Beaverton Honda in Oregon is another dealership that has been one-price for years and years. The dealership’s website clearly states there is no haggling necessary; everyone pays the same fair price for the same car. Customers love it. In 2019, the dealership was named a CarGurus Top Rated Dealer, which honors the best-reviewed dealerships for providing exceptional customer service.

It will deliver consistent profit margins.

A one-price store requires dealers to price competitively for the market and implement non-traditional pay plans such as hourly or salary compensation structures. It’s a common misconception such strategies will erode gross. In fact, one-price can lead to consistent profit margins and a better balance in overall profitability since extreme discounting on the one end, and extreme mark-ups on the other, are no longer on the table.

It will reduce employee turnover.

The backstabbing and snarky behavior that follows when salespeople are 100 percent focused on front-ends sales disappears with a one-price model. This creates a more relaxed, team-environment that naturally reduces employee turnover.

One-price stores also offer the stability of hourly pay or a set salary that encourages employees not to jump ship. At Avondale, for example, the average compensation for a salesperson is about $480 per car with an opportunity to earn extra fees for selling F&I products.

Alleviating the stress of commission-only pay plans relaxes the buying process for employees and customers so everyone is happier and everyone benefits.

It will cut marketing costs.

We all know dealers don’t get rich selling new cars. Average front-end gross profit today is just over $1,000 per vehicle. Slim margins make reducing the cost of selling a unit more important than ever.

One-price helps to reduce costs by cutting out the cutthroat competition that often leads to big advertising bills. As an example, NADA reports the average cost to advertise a new vehicle exceeds $600. One-price dealers typically spend less than $250.

It will bring value back to F&I.

For too long F&I managers have been pushing products that are good for the them, not for the customer. No wonder customers hate the “box.” One-price stores typically offer a standard bonus for products sold so there’s no benefit to pushing high-priced packages just to get the pay-out. Instead, these stores are getting back to the “prove it” mentality and even using evidence manuals to make their cases for products.

I love evidence manuals because customers see in a real-world application what can happen with a vehicle four or five years down the road once service warranties expire. Customers are holding on to vehicles longer than ever before and evidence of what can happen encourages them to protect their investments without shady tactics or adding undue costs to a final payment.

A one-price sales model is a natural progression for dealers looking to adopt a modern retailing approach where technology and process come together to deliver the buying experience today’s customers demand. Yes, it will be a transition. And yes, you will likely lose some staff who are resistant to change. However, the reward is building trust and cultivating wildly enthusiastic fans.

Today’s consumers demand, and deserve, a fast and modern (digital) way to buy cars. Our industry has taken great strides to get there, but we still have a way to go. Especially when it comes to F&I.

The F&I process sucks time. It’s unlikely that buying a car will ever be as quick as picking up a few things at Target, but it doesn’t need to drag on for hours either. Including F&I as part of an easier, seamless process will help our industry attract younger customers and transition to modern retailing.

Quick refresher: Modern retailing refers to the marriage of technology (digital retailing tools) and internal processes to better serve customers in a virtual world. The idea is to create a customer experience where the dealership follows the customer’s lead for how he/she wants to purchase a vehicle. It recognizes that technology alone can’t transform the way we sell to meet current customer expectations. Internal processes have to change too.

In my last blog I talked about tweaking internal sales structures to implement modern retailing.

In this blog, I’m going to talk about why current F&I processes are a hindrance to a modern workflow and how to fix it.

The problem with F&I

Why did we create the F&I manager position? I’d argue the F&I office came into existence because dealerships hire salespeople but don’t train them to develop relationships. They train them to get the best price for a vehicle. Once they’ve beaten down the customer, they flip them to F&I where presumably the manager creates a relationship and gets the customer to buy additional products.

The thinking goes that it’s okay to pay F&I managers more because they have customer relationships, and relationships with financing sources. But guess what? Customers hate the F&I office, and no financing source is going to leave simply because the F&I manager leaves.

Why do we still do it this way?

I believe we still follow the same old process out of fear of letting go. Dealers don’t trust salespeople to present menus, make sure all the paperwork is correct, ensure all contracts-in-transit are clean, so that they will get paid promptly on purchase.

The current process may be good for dealers, but it makes it harder for customers to buy a car! It makes no sense.

Think about it: A customer finds a car, falls in love, negotiates a price, agrees on a monthly payment, and then goes into F&I to talk about add-ons, which increase the monthly payment. Why spend all that time negotiating price only to spend more time jacking it up again?

What’s the alternative?

The alternative is to bundle all aspects of a sale into one solution that reduces the paper trail and leads both salesperson and customer through each step of the process.

It starts with a robust CRM that accurately calculates all aspects of the deal, including agreed upon purchase price and licensing fees. The CRM then pushes the deal to a digital menu presentation customized for the vehicle and customer, and the final monthly payment is calculated. From there, the deal is pushed to a digital signing platform. Salespeople cannot screw up because they’re working within one platform with prescribed next steps that cannot be skipped.

When you encompass everything in one solution and cut-out the time-intensive and unnecessary F&I presentation, the process is shorter, customers are happier, and you increase CSI.

How can we train salespeople?

You can’t expect to hire-away a kid from Starbucks and throw them into this new salesperson role. At the end of the day, vehicle contracts are lengthy and are legal documents. Salespeople must be trained for this new role.

Train salespeople on the contract. Review the pages, make sure they know how to explain them, and why they are necessary. Then, include salespeople in all finance and CIT meetings. 

Dealers also need to hire for personality. I want solution consultants who have great personality, really listen to what customers want, and work to help the customer, not just make a sale for the dealership. These qualities help build rapport and trust with customers which are essential to more F&I sales. After all, people buy things from people they trust.

F&I and modern retailing can co-exist if we forget the “box” and instead include F&I on one sales platform with prescribed steps that cannot be skipped. When the industry said we had to present the finance menu to every customer every time, there was backlash. Many good people quit, but today every store is doing it. I project the same trajectory for switching-up the F&I office. There will be backlash. Good people will quit. Eventually it will become standard practice, which is great for our industry. A modern, efficient workflow will make it easier for customers to buy cars. Isn’t that what we all want?

I’ve read a lot of articles lately about how dealers took a digital leap forward in 2020 due to the pandemic. In the majority of cases, this means they added digital retailing tools to their websites. Did anything else change?

I’d argue, no. In most cases, dealerships have not changed their sales processes to adapt to technology and changing customer behavior. We’re still pushing the in-store appointment, ignoring online leads and offers (yes, an online offer is a legitimate offer!), and trying to get customers to follow the path we want them to take.

Why do we make it so hard for customers to do business with us? The fact is, the way it’s been done for 50 years is pushing customers away. The day OEMs get the green light to sell cars, dealers who don’t adapt will be out of business just like that.  

Our business has completely changed; dealers have to change with it. Plugging in digital retailing tools and marketing your “digital sales process” doesn’t cut it. There also has to be a shift in mindset and processes towards serving customers in a virtual world and following their lead for how they want to purchase a vehicle.   

Industry expert Ron Frey calls this marriage of technology and process “modern retailing.” As he explained in an Auto News article, a dealer using the modern retailing approach would envision the type of customer experience he or she wants to offer, install the technology to support that experience, and change the organizational structure as necessary to implement it.   

There’s a lot to unpack there, so in this blog I’m going to talk about changing internal sales processes to implement the customer experience you want.

First, let’s look at the traditional road to a sale. The customer comes in, salesperson does the meet and greet, qualifies the customer, takes the test drive, haggles over price, then maybe makes the sale. The goal is to make the sale, at whatever cost. Cram that family of 5 into a 4x4 room, take away distractions, and get it done.

Today, the road has to start sooner. The salesperson needs to be involved from the very beginning of the internet lead, with all the customer information in front of him or her so the customer never has to repeat details. Every lead has to be worked as a deal because in reality it may be.

The attitude also must be different. Instead of a sale at any cost, salespeople must have a customer-centric attitude that’s about “I’m here to help, no matter the outcome.” Remember, customers can find all the vehicle details online. They know the price, they know what your competition is offering, they won’t stand for the hard-sell.

What they want is a consultant. A salesperson who can answer every question (online, over the phone, in-store), has a great personality, and is completely focused on helping customers answer every question and find the best solution – whether that means they buy a car today or not. A customer in the market is going to buy a car. Becoming a trusted consultant makes it 100x more likely they will buy from you.

Changing expectations from making the sale at any cost to delivering a great customer experience is a huge shift. The fastest way to get salespeople on-board the new road to a sale is by changing pay plans. Tweak pay plans to base part of pay on CSI, customer surveys, and customer retention (notice I am not including social media reviews which are notoriously unreliable and heavily weighted toward the negative. People just can’t help sharing bad news!). 

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it will be awful. You will lose good people. But with buy-in from owners and managers, salespeople will either adapt and enjoy the ride or go somewhere else.

I know some of you reading this just thought, “That can’t happen. What if the customer won’t take a survey? What if I lose all my salespeople?” There are a ton of ‘what ifs,” but the alternative is you continue to make it hard for people to do business with you so they simply don’t.

Your competition is a click away. Beginning the shift toward modern retailing by changing the sales process from sale-at-any-cost to trusted consultant is the way to win today’s customers. Keep doing business the way we have for 50 years, and why wouldn’t customers go somewhere else?

It’s popular to talk about the chip shortage – and for good reason. The blows just keep coming. First, the slash in vehicle production. Dealers who typically inventoried 600 to 700 new cars now have fewer than 50. I spoke with a dealer in California last week who literally had two new vehicles on his lot. Two!

Then, the subsequent soaring cost of used vehicles. According to Manheim, index prices are 52 percent higher than a year ago and are predicted to stay that way through June.

Now, rental car companies are scooping up used cars leaving franchised dealers even more high and dry. Where does all this chip crisis go? I don’t have a crystal ball, but like everything else in life, this too shall pass. So, how do franchised and independents weather this temporary crisis?

Harness equity mining technology

It’s really important for franchised dealers to harness all technology to find equity in service customers and buy cars from customers already in their databases. A CRM equipped with an equity mining tool can help you identify owners in an equity position and provide incentives for them to simply trade-in, or trade-up.

It’s key to know your demographic and the vehicles that move quickly for higher profit. Even in this market, you don’t want to buy a vehicle you typically only sell once every couple of months. And please don’t call a customer who bought within the last 12 months. That’s sloppy strategy and more likely to turn-off a customer then net you any business.

I’ve also seen dealers succeeding with community outreach events like car shows and customer appreciation nights that motivate customers to visit the dealership – whether they are in the market or not. When you can spark a conversation with a customer in front of you about getting them into a different vehicle with a lower payment, you’re that much closer to a sale. 

Prioritize service staffing and training

Around the country, service departments are doing record business right now. So much so that customers are seeing record wait times. A friend recently told me his local dealership has a six week wait time just for an oil change.

Dealerships all over the country are flooded with repair work. That’s a problem if you need additional service techs. Techs are increasingly hard to come by, and hard to keep due to intense competition.

In a previous blog, I wrote about the need for dealerships to build their own technicians. By this I mean, recruit early in your local community. Volunteer to speak at a local high school or hold an informational event (food, and free items like movie tickets, always help with attendance!) where you speak to the benefits of the job. The promise of comprehensive training and competitive pay can get recruits through your doors who from the ground-up are trained to follow your processes and live your core values.

Reassign or furlough staff as needed

A dealership with few cars to sell does not need a fleet of salespeople. It’s inevitable that you may have to re-assign or furlough sales staff to weather this temporary crisis. Consider re-assigning some staff to your service department.

Walk your bays and see what’s really going on. Are ringing phones going unanswered? Are customers waiting too long for a MPI? Are techs leaving bays for non-technical tasks like delivering paperwork, requesting parts, and/or sending updates to customers?

There are some tasks that don’t take a lot of training, but when delegated to another employee, translate to efficiencies that allow you to service more cars in less time.

Stay true to your values

I haven’t heard of any independent dealers struggling. They’re killing it because they bought up a ton of inventory before this crisis hit. The temptation any time demand heavily outstrips supply is to charge customers a premium. Be cautious. This situation is temporary. Take advantage of a customer’s need today and they will remember and likely avoid your dealership the next time they are in the market.

For franchised and independent dealers alike, stay true to your values. If you promote fair pricing and then start talking about additional fees, that is not authentic. Customers are like elephants, they have long memories. If the price of a few more bucks is to alienate a customer forever, it’s not worth the extra cash.

There’s no crystal ball to see where this chip crisis will go. But history tells us that nothing stays the same forever. Be the nimble dealership that can quickly adapt and re-align, and you’ll come out of this latest crisis just fine.

Norm walks into Cheers and what do we hear? A resounding “NORM!” I think it’s true that “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.”

I bet your customers want the same recognition. After all, we’re in the people business. And what do most people want? Recognition. The feeling that someone knows them, cares about their wants and needs, and works to fulfill those needs.

In today’s fast-paced world where we’re bombarded with information 24/7, the best way to remember your customers and give them a Cheers-like, personal experience is by using a CRM.

A CRM allows you to keep all customer information in one central spot. It’s one login to access a customer’s past purchases and service history, and also a place to take detailed notes. Say a customer loves boating and you talked about it last time they were in. The next time they call, or you see them around town, you can ask if they’ve been out boating recently.

It’s the little things that build rapport, and add up to trust. And people buy things from people they trust. The CRM enables you to remember all the little details that over time make you a customer’s trusted advisor and “go-to” car person.

A CRM isn’t just for franchised dealers. It’s just as important if you’re out on your own. I have a lot of friends who’ve gone from selling cars to opening lots and the start-up costs are significant. You have to buy vehicles, rent space, pay taxes, and more. It’s no wonder most people start out really lean when it comes to technology.

But to get repeat business you have to stay in front of people. You need a way to communicate about new inventory or financing specials. A CRM is the best way to do that.

Sticky notes, multiple software platforms, or digging through files, is not the way to go. All these manual processes take a lot of time and are prone to errors or losing information. With a robust CRM, you can streamline communications, set-up tasks, and keep detailed customer notes. Many CRM platforms also allow basic email so you can work within one platform and have a complete record of customer interactions.

Of course, simply having a CRM won’t get you detailed customer records. Your employees have to use it. That’s why we say a CRM is only as good as the processes behind it. The struggle to get employees on-board is real. But it’s not insurmountable. 

A mobile-friendly CRM is one of the best ways to encourage use. Everyone is on their mobile phones all the time already. Allow them to access the CRM and enter details right from their phone and you’ll get more detailed records. Driver’s license scanners are also a great tool to save time – and employees like them because they don’t have to physically enter details.

A mandatory daily check-in is a good strategy to hold your Sales team accountable. During the meeting, review opportunities from the previous day and spot check your staff against task lists. If tasks routinely go undone, create a plan of action that includes daily one-on-ones, mentoring, and coaching.

CRM reports can show you where your team is succeeding and where it’s falling behind. The user activity completion report is especially valuable to track who is ticking items off the to-do list, and who needs help to stay on track. The activity performance report breaks out showroom, internet, and phone ups by salesperson, for at-a-glance insight into what activities are resulting in appointments and sales.

Be careful rewarding CRM use with bonuses. A bonus for completing all tasks (whether awarded weekly or monthly) may sound tempting, but shouldn’t proper CRM use be a requirement of the job? Instead, mandate its use and deal with outliers through mentoring and coaching. If it’s a required part of the job, your team will adopt the practice. And it will pay off. Proper use of the CRM is like the sales process. If you follow the process, you’ll make money. If you skip steps, you’ll lose gross.

CRM technology allows independent and franchised dealers alike to deliver a Cheers-like customer experience that builds rapport and trust – if employees use it. Mandate proper processes and lean on CRM reports to hold employees accountable, and you’ll give your team a leg-up on cultivating personal relationships that pay-off year after year.

For decades, the unofficial motto of the auto industry seemed to be “we’re for anything but change.” Then the pandemic threw our “normal” sales process into a tail spin. Seemingly overnight, dealership floors turned into ghost towns and the sales process moved online.

While some dealerships are in states that are now open with decent traffic in their showrooms, that is not the case for many others. How can a salesperson adapt and thrive in this new retail environment? Embrace online channels and enthusiastically develop a personal brand.

If you’re rolling your eyes right now it’s likely because you’ve always laughed at the idea of branding yourself. I get it. You’re used to customers coming into your store, or running into them at Starbucks, or chatting with them at your local café. That traditional way of doing business isn’t happening much right now. We all hope normal social activity resumes quickly. But even when it does, you can expect new contactless ways of doing business to stick.

People like researching and shopping online. It’s fast, easy, and convenient. If I’m a salesperson looking to adapt and become a top producer today, or a sales manager seeking to help my team expand their virtual selling skills, here’s what I would do:

Develop a personal brand.

A personal brand is simply how you promote yourself. It gives you the opportunity to highlight your strengths and it helps customers believe they know you, and people have much higher trust in those they feel they know. A personal brand also helps you stand out from everybody else and makes you memorable.

Your brand is not all about selling. It’s about identifying your target market, what is important to them, and how you can help. Once you identify who you are and what you have to offer, it’s much easier to build credibility and authority with every customer interaction.

Get comfortable on video.

It’s well known that people struggle with public speaking. Most also struggle on camera. They don’t know where to look, what to do with their hands, or how to adjust the lighting. The wrong tone, address, or even facial expression can offend a customer in seconds. Practice is key. Make a variety of videos and share them internally before you send them to customers.

Consider hiring a virtual or on-site expert to provide video training on a monthly basis, or as needed. An expert can share the most up-to-date practices and pinpoint areas for improvement.

Create social media accounts.

Part of personal branding should include having social media accounts on the social networks where your audience spends their time. You can start by experimenting on one or two, such as Facebook and YouTube. Share content that is useful, thought-provoking, or just entertaining. Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise as your customers “go to car expert” with social media videos showcasing vehicle safety features, financing tips, weather related service tips, and more. The opportunities are endless.

Very few dealers currently use TikTok, which means you should get on board now. It’s a great platform to reach first-time drivers, young families, and Millennials. This 60-send TikTok video showing how to use park assist in a Mercedes-Benz E-Class has already been watched 48,000 times. Can you do something similar?

Leverage technology.

As more companies gravitate towards video to interact with customers, new technology has emerged to help. Many platforms now offer video hosting, video analytics, and personalized video creation. It’s key that any technology integrate with your CRM so that you can track interactions and conversations. A flexible, open CRM should allow you to work with third-party providers of your choice so you can elevate your video strategy.

Change is coming fast and furious to our industry. I believe this is a blessing in disguise, especially for enterprising salespeople. Embrace the opportunity to create your personal brand and leverage video and social media to reach more customers, generate more leads, and close more sales.

In today’s retail environment, why are so many dealerships still playing games with customers? Sales Managers and salespeople dodge questions and push hard for appointments. They’ll also play bait and switch with website offers. Are you among them?

Playing games ruins your reputation and costs you sales —I know this from a personal experience. On the day before Christmas, I was going to buy Dodge Charger for my daughter. I went to the website of the closest Dodge dealership and saw a special offer for a 2020 Charger for $29,000. That’s a great deal! Other Dodge dealerships had prices upwards of $35,000. 

I called the dealership and the salesperson immediately asked for an appointment. But I had questions —how much does the car cost? He came back to tell me that with taxes, title, and license, the price went up $10,000. He also said that the car didn’t have paint protection so I would have to add that in too. None of this was detailed on the website. There was no special offer — it was a bait and switch. Trust me, I will never go back to that store.

Today’s customers are smart. They also know when they’re being played, so stop doing it. For the next few minutes, let’s pretend I’m the new Sales Manager at your dealership. Here’s how I would design the ultimate lead follow-up process:

1. Answer every question. Give customers what they want before you ask for the appointment. Tell them the price, tell them about available rebates or specials, and get it all out in the open. You’ll sell more when you’re transparent and helpful from the beginning.
2. Run a 30-day follow-up plan. Use your CRM to make sure every salesperson is following the process. One industry benchmark is seven calls and five emails per lead over a 30-day period. Test it out. If this works for your store, great. Fine-tune the plan as needed.
3. Warm up cold leads with video. You’ve worked the process, but the lead’s getting cold. Now it’s time to warm it up with video. Write the customer’s name on a piece of paper, then film yourself holding the sign and say something along the lines of: “Hey Phil! I haven’t heard from you in a while and I want to make sure you’re taken care of, whether you buy a car from me or not. I’m here if you have questions about any part of the car-buying process.” Make it personal, upbeat, and above all, helpful. You will get clicks!
4. Transition to BDC follow-up. If the video doesn’t get a response, turn the lead over to your BDC for continued follow-up. Don’t set an aggressive communication cadence — once or twice a month is plenty. And don’t bombard leads with boring emails or irrelevant content. If they initially contacted you about a particular vehicle, send specials for that vehicle. If they mentioned a current vehicle during the conversations, send service specials.
5. Prepare for the test drive.  The hot lead is coming in, so now’s the time to make them feel special and valued. Pull up the vehicle, make sure it’s clean and park it in a special VIP area. Grab a Sharpie, write the customer’s name on a piece of paper and put it on the dashboard. Now they can visualize it as their car.
6. Shut up and drive. Don’t try to make conversation during the first half of the test drive. Let the customer take it all in, get a feel for the car and have fun. Do initiate a conversation during the second half of the drive. Ask what they like about the car, what they don’t like, etc. You’ve already done your discovery, so you should know about kids, pets, long commutes and hobbies. Talk about those things and how the car meets or doesn’t meet those needs. Build a sincere relationship where your only job is to find the best fit between customer and vehicle.
7. Return to a VIP delivery area. Instruct the customer to park in a VIP delivery area that is separate from where you got into the car. This sends the message that it’s time to finish the deal. Walk around the car, pop the hood and trunk and answer any additional questions.
8. Minimize alone time. Walk inside the dealership and sit down with the customer. Don’t leave the customer in the booth without you. That’s when the excitement wears off, or their companion starts talking about how the dealership is gearing up to play hardball. Minimizing alone time will really push your sales.
9. Eliminate F&I, or at least stay with the customer. I’ve written about this before, but it’s controversial: Get rid of F&I and have the salesperson handle the deal from start to finish. I firmly believe that 100 percent transparency with one person throughout the process is the way to go. You state the price of the car, present a shopping cart of optional add-ons and tell the customer why they’re recommended. Open and honest communication is how you build trust and sell more. Not ready to ditch F&I? Go into the finance office with the customer and help them through the process.

Make 2021 the year that your dealership stops playing games. If you adopt these nine lead follow-up steps, you will earn more sales and loyal customers. Be the dealership that succeeds in your market because you treat your customers like friends, not competitors.

The New Year is shaping up to be a good one for dealers. According to a report by the Economist, new car sales will be up by 15 percent in 2021.

I think we’re all happy to have 2020 in the rearview mirror. Now it’s time to refuel, refine and ride into stellar sales numbers. Get every department in your dealership in tip-top shape and drive into profitability with the following five tips:

Tip 1: Market to new audiences

This year, commit to reaching new audiences. Millennials and Generation Z (those born between 1993 and 2007) are rapidly gaining buying power. Generation Z alone is estimated to have direct spending of up to $143 million, according to research company Frost & Sullivan.

These digital natives prefer to do their vehicle research on YouTube, and spend their days using apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat. It’s smart to add these channels to your marketing mix. When it comes to messaging, authenticity and transparency are critical to them. They don’t want to be sold, they want to be informed. In their minds, your role is a consultant, helping them to find the best vehicle for their needs.

Many dealerships are outsourcing their marketing, which makes a lot of sense. An outsourced firm has many employees with different ideas and skill sets who can help to vary your marketing messages for different audiences.

Tip 2: Manage leads with an outside BDC

Furloughing staff helped keep profits up during the pandemic shutdowns. At the same time that stores were running lean, online and phone leads spiked. It’s likely that leads fell through the cracks.

If your on-site employee numbers are down and you are struggling with lead management, lean on an outside BDC. A professionally trained automotive BDC can expertly handle an influx of leads, as well make CSI and service calls. All lead information flows into your CRM so your salespeople can spend time closing the best opportunities.

Outsourcing is also a solid cost control move because you don’t have to pay high employee wages plus benefits. Yet, you get all the benefits of a professional team who will work long hours and never call in sick.

Tip 3: Sell with digital retailing

The pandemic proved that shoppers are ready for rapid digital change. Dealers with digital retailing tools experienced a spike in activity that’s likely to stay. It seems shoppers like to search inventory, take a 360-degree walk-around, review all pricing options and get trade-in information, without stepping foot in the dealership. Yet only 15 percent of dealerships offer this online experience. Digital retailing tools that offer “the Carvana experience” and seamlessly interact with salespeople to create quick and accurate quotes are needed badly. Dealers who continue to insist that shoppers come into the store will lose out to more forward-thinking competitors. 

Tip 4: Build your service techs

As of late June, vehicle travel steadily ascended to pre-pandemic levels as most states and municipalities reopened. It follows that dealerships all over the country were, and continue to be, flooded with repair work. That’s a problem if you need additional service technicians. Techs  are increasingly hard to come by, and hard to keep due to cutthroat competition.

The answer is to build your own technicians. Hold an event or volunteer to speak at a local high school. Bring in someone young that you can train in your core values and processes. Then value them for their work. Younger generations thrive on praise and positive reinforcement. Hold daily or weekly meetings to talk about wins and single out top performers. Competitive pay plus recognition can stop attrition in its tracks.

Tip 5: Train employees to wear multiple hats

Leaner operations likely mean employees are wearing multiple hats. You may have a service marketing person taking over sales marketing. Or a service advisor who’s now in the service drive. Don’t throw these employees to the wolves. Offer some type of training so that employees don’t get frustrated, and so that customers receive a uniform experience. Consider job shadowing or informal one-on-ones. Always reward good work with some kind of recognition since you are asking employees to go above and beyond.

Wave goodbye to 2020 and get every department ready for a profitable New Year with these five tips. The dealerships that learn from the events of last year and adapt will survive. Be one of those dealers!