Digital Dealer - July 2018 - 23

BUYERS ARE GETTING A HOLLOW, EMPTY DEAL
THAT MAY BE PROPPED UP BY ONLINE REVIEWS BUT
DON'T HAVE THE VALUE OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY
BUILT UPON SERVICE AND TRUST."
BUILDING
RELATIONSHIPS
AND LOYALTY

While used-auto sales
are currently experiencing
a slight increase, numbers
on a spreadsheet don't tell
the whole story. They don't
tell what will happen to the
future of the industry if we
diminish or eliminate the
human equation.
The online-only method
of selling cars is burning
customer loyalty to the
ground. Buyers are getting a
hollow, empty deal that may
be propped up by online
reviews but don't have the
value of customer loyalty
built upon service and trust.
And, you're basically throwing F&I, parts and service
under the bus.
When I ran a dealership,
I required all my sales staff
to do a dealership walk with
the customer and introduce
them to our parts department and service department. In fact, I reprimanded
salespeople who didn't
do that. There is no such
equivalent for online-only
purchases.
Let me tell you a story
about how I get great service
from the shop I bought my
boat from a few years ago.
Before I asked the salesperson to quote me a price
on the boat I wanted, I told
him what kind of customer
I would be. I told him they,
and only they, would service

my boat if I bought from
them. Now, they greet me by
name and move me to the
front of the line when I text
them to let them know I'm
bringing in the boat to get
it summarized or for other
repairs. That's the type of relationship-based loyalty and
service I'm talkin' about.

WHAT DEALERSHIPS
DO RIGHT

My message to all dealers, big and small, is that
this is not a lost cause. We
know that 94% of car buyers

keep in mind, your number
one objective is to get the
customer to your dealership.
That's where you will shake
their hand, develop the relationship, get them the car
they want, or source them
one from another dealership
or service you're affiliated
with. It's the human element
that is critical. Relationships
are your biggest asset, and
you lose it when there is no
customer interaction - no
face to face.
Marketing experts tell us

RELATIONSHIPS ARE
YOUR BIGGEST ASSET,
AND YOU LOSE IT WHEN
THERE IS NO CUSTOMER
INTERACTION - NO FACE
TO FACE."
research online before
making an auto purchase.
What we've got to do is give
them a great experience all
around.
Start with your website.
Take and post great photos.
Write an awesome description that is honest and
accurate, but that excites
potential buyers. I recommend that these write-ups/
descriptions be done by the
salesperson who took the
car in, or more experienced
sales managers. Price the
vehicle competitively to
move it (there are all kinds of
aging strategies for this).
All of this is great, but

millennials value experiences over possessions. Make
the dealership experience
a positive and fun one. Be
more engaging and inviting.
Heck, you can even go old
school and offer prizes and
incentives. To help speed
things up, give them the
option to fill out their financial
paperwork online.
Millennials are also more
trusting of personal referrals
than corporate messages.
Give a millennial customer
a great experience and their
friends will more than likely
trust their word over a paid
advertisement.
Another thing that dealerD I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

ships do right is manage the
relationship after the sale. A
great CRM tool will help you
establish follow-up routines
at specific intervals to keep in
touch with the customer. But
you can't just push out generic messages. Personalize it
and reintroduce that human
connection every chance you
get. Put some personality
in your social media and
remind your followers that
your dealership isn't just a
building - it's a group of great
employees who live and work
in the community. Remind
customers they support the
area by shopping locally.
All of these things help
stimulate the culture of
personalization and service.
Online buyers don't have
a chance to like, trust, and
respect whom they are dealing with. They experience
more buyer's remorse as
well and are harder to deal
with in times of car trouble.
Dealerships can win back
customers by treating them
like individuals and not anonymous online buyers. That's
the key to building relationships that will help sustain
the industry in good financial
times and bad.
TRAVIS WISE is senior
Vice President of sales with
DealersLink Inc. (dealerslink.
com), an automotive systems
integration and networking
technology company based in
Broomfield, Colorado. EMAIL:
travis.wise@dealerslink.com.

J U LY 2 0 1 8

23
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - July 2018
