Does your dealership need a vehicle exchange specialist? Do you even know what a vehicle exchange specialist is and/or does?

Are you looking for ways to increase your vehicle sales every month? These days, franchise auto dealers are looking for any and all the possible sales opportunities they can get. But you can’t just focus on new sales. Did you know that after inbound calls and leads from digital marketing, an auto dealership’s service department is what provides maximum sales opportunities? For every 10 opportunities that are added to the sales kitty, around 3-8 leads generally come from the service department. And that’s where a vehicle exchange specialist comes in. 

In fact, a vehicle exchange specialist can boost sales by 10% or more every month. Here’s why you should consider hiring a vehicle exchange specialist.

How to Hire a Vehicle Exchange Specialist

The first step in hiring a vehicle exchange specialist is reviewing everything about your dealership and service department. Every day, your vehicle exchange specialist will review service appointments, the equity position of the customer, vehicle details, and more. Their goal will be to identify and target the right candidates to approach. Because of this, you need to make sure your database and CRM are robust and in order.

While the vehicle exchange specialist will check that the customer is in a solid equity position, they will also ensure that their vehicle fits your dealership’s profile. For instance, if you’re an Audi dealer, you probably won’t be interested in a 10-year-old Honda Accord with a lot of miles on it. The vehicle exchange specialist will be able to spot the right customers — and the types of vehicles your dealership wants and needs — and make a timely appointment.

Things to Consider When Hiring a Vehicle Exchange Specialist

A full-time vehicle exchange specialist is also a dedicated sales executive. But, you don’t want to assign the task to one of your top salespeople. It will just take them away from the floor and potentially spread them too thin. You want a dedicated vehicle exchange specialist on hand. Besides the upfront work, this person will be responsible for performing thorough checks on the vehicle and providing the customer with exchange offers and deals. Such offers make way for a conversation between the vehicle exchange specialist and the potential customer — and potentially more sales down the road.

A dedicated vehicle exchange specialist needs to have the right attitude and skills, including:

• Prior sales experience.
• The ability to communicate effectively with both new and existing customers to generate new leads.
• The ability to quickly build rapport with customers over the phone and/or during the first meeting.
• Friendly, outgoing, professional, and motivated.
• Committed to customer satisfaction and delivering exceptional customer experience.

So You Hired a Dedicated Vehicle Exchange Specialist — Now What?

Once you have a dedicated vehicle exchange specialist, you can build a robust vehicle exchange program and promote it. The more people get to know about your program, the more sales you’ll get! Going forward, you can also include the details of your vehicle exchange program in your other marketing collateral and send them to your target audiences (including all customers in your preferred equity position).

By hiring a vehicle exchange specialist, you can boost your vehicle sales and surpass your goals to grab a larger incentive from the manufacturer. By bringing vehicle exchange offers directly to customers, you can see massive increases in new car sales. After all, it’s not rare for vehicle owners to trade up their old vehicle for a new vehicle. Just make sure they do it with you!