MaximizeDealership Profitability

As your staff gathers inside the auto dealership conference room, the mood is somewhat somber.

Another month is complete and the results are underwhelming. Your sales team has yet again fallen short of its monthly quota. As revenue remains stagnant, your team’s collective frustration level is on the rise.

That maximizing dealership profitability has proven challenging is certainly not due to a lack of effort. Hard-working and self-motivated, your sales staff boasts the qualities any dealership manager within the retail automotive industry would seek. Yet something seems to be missing.

With your staff awaiting your morale-boosting pep talk, you’re looking for answers. Here’show to arm your automotive sales staff for success:

Take Full Advantage of The Internet

Long before many of today’s perspective car-buyers enter a dealership, they’re conducting extensive research online. When you can succeed at converting your dealership’s website into the premier online car-buying resource within your region, you’ll give your sales team a leg up on the competition. But don’t stop there —capitalize further on the Web by engaging in email and social media marketing campaigns targeting Millennial car-buyers, and by utilizing the Internet to scout prospective customers who visit your dealership.

Optimize Your Customer Relationship Management Strategy

It’s estimated that approximately 80 percent of prospective customers leave a dealership’s showroom without finalizing a vehicle purchase. With the presence of increasingly fierce competition, your opportunity to close the sale diminishes considerably as soon as these potential customers walk out your dealership’s door. Consequently, your approach to customer relationship management should include a strategy for contacting these vehicle-seekers during that critical 24-hour window following their visit. Remain top-of-mind with these prospective customers, and your team’s close rate will improve.

Offer a Dealer-Owned Complimentary Maintenance Plan

Arm your sales team with a Maintenance-Included strategy from Performance Administration to bring customers in and bring them back. The goal of complimentary maintenance is the retention of every vehicle and every customer. When car-buyers return to your dealership to fulfill their service needs, it stands to reason that you’re molding them into return buyers —much to the delight of your sales-minded staff. The achievement of service loyalty typically translates into repurchase intentions.

Implement Customer Retention Technology

Once your complimentary maintenance plan is in place, it’s time to complement it with the appropriate technology. Equip your sales team with Performance Administration’s dealer maintenance software and reporting tools to track the performance of customer service and repurchase retention. This software keeps you connected to customers long after they drive off your dealership lot, and your sales staff will salivate at its improved prospects for converting the transactional value into lifetime value.

Develop an Effective Referral Program

Referrals represent a prudent means of growing your dealership’s business because they require a relatively minor investment of resources. When you satisfy a customer’s vehicle purchase or maintenance needs, chances are that customer thinks highly of your dealership. Why not harness that perspective for the betterment of your dealership? Incentivize that customer to actively refer your dealership to friends and family members seeking to make a vehicle purchase by offering complimentary or discounted service in exchange for anyone he coaxes into your showroom. Both your sales team and your bottom line will benefit from an effective referral system.