Digital Dealer - November 2019 - 33

...SINCE HE HAS FOCUSED ON HIRING THE BEST
'LISTENERS' FOR THE SALES TEAM, OVERALL
CLOSING RATIOS HAVE DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED."
vehicle, explaining how the
dealership will work with
the customer to offer the
best possible option.
MORE TRADITIONAL
ADVERTISING FOR USED
VEHICLES.

The dealerships reporting the greatest revenue gains have had the
greatest gains in used to
new sales ratios. That just
makes sense in a market that is seeing almost
three to one used to new
vehicles sold in America,
coupled with the shrinkage
in new vehicle gross.
I've heard from quite
a few dealers that have
re-balanced their ad
spends to incorporate more
radio and television, both
cable and broadcast. In
some markets there has
been a dramatic increase
in 'over the air' digital
reception of networks
where most new televisions
can now pick up crystal
clear digital reception of
the major networks. These
networks are also offered
on many of the new smart
TV apps as free local
channels.
One dealer in a major
metro market told me when
he shifted some of his digital spend to radio, he experienced a drop in traffic
but an increase in average
used vehicle gross, as well
as F&I revenue.
ELIMINATING FUNNEL
FRICTION. Dealers tell

me there is often discon-

nect and drag from the top
of the lead funnel to the
business end where leads
are converted to meaningful
action. Before the Internet,
dealerships had controlled
protocol for visitors and
phone inquiries.
Today, there is often
confusion in the funnel as
sources vie for attribution,
resulting in an unfocused,
impersonal response from
the dealership. Often a

BETTER TRAINING.

Some of the youngest
dealers and managers I've
talked to have shifted more
of the dealership marketing
resources to better control
the process and internalization of their brand strategy.
More than ever, I'm hearing
front-line leaders say
they're doing less selling
and more development of
synergy between dealership
personnel and customers,

...THEY'RE DOING
LESS SELLING AND
MORE DEVELOPMENT
OF SYNERGY BETWEEN
DEALERSHIP PERSONNEL
AND CUSTOMERS,
FOCUSING ON HELPING
CUSTOMERS SIMPLY
FINISH WHAT THEY SET
OUT TO DO."
shopper will submit a
request for information on
a specific model they are
considering and receive a
completely disconnected
response from a service
who is more concerned
with attribution for the lead
as opposed to actually
providing an answer to the
shopper's question.
Many dealers are now
focused on early identification of serious buyers,
responding rapidly with
personalized information
requests, helping shoppers
with research they need to
close the shopping gap.

focusing on helping customers simply finish what they
set out to do.
Because most people
today have done at least
some kind of research and
have a pretty good idea of
price before they walk in the
door, a greater percentage
of people actually visiting a
showroom are ready to buy
if the dealership is focused
on the customer.
One dealer told me since
he has focused on hiring
the best 'listeners' for the
sales team, overall closing
ratios have dramatically
improved.

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

REINVENTING THE
BUSINESS. Everyone

seemed to agree the business has changed structurally and will never be the
same. Successful dealers
are experimenting with vehicle delivery of both new and
used vehicles, taking trades
on consignment, offering
full maintenance programs
for used vehicles, five-toseven-day return programs,
and renting out vehicles in
conjunction with companies
like HYREcar (for Lyft and
Uber drivers).
Many dealers told me
they've focused more
energy in service and
specifically on the service
drive, offering better training
for service writers, better
compensation plans, and
more advertising for service
specials. More dealers are
selling tires and aftermarket
specialties on the service
drive.
For some more marketing tips that can help you
improve your used vehicle
sales and/or for a copy of a
helpful branding template,
email jim@cbcads.com.
JIM BOLDEBOOK is
founder of CBC Automotive
Marketing, an advertising/
marketing agency working
with some of America's most
successful dealerships. He
has been in the broadcasting,
advertising and marketing
fields for almost 50 years.
EMAIL: jim@cbcads.com

NOVEMBER 2019

33
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Digital Dealer - November 2019

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