Google Analytics is a beast. Within it, you can access all the data about your website that you could ever need. Unfortunately, since it is so jam-packed with great data, it can be hard to even know where to begin. I consistently meet with car dealers who aren't sure what reports they should be looking at and what data they should be gleaned from those…
ContinueAdded by Tim Duke on December 16, 2019 at 10:19pm — No Comments
In search of service revenue, dealerships turn to randomly scheduling service appointments regardless of shop capacity. Or they take everyone that drives up. This can easily overwhelm the service department. It leaves customers frustrated and causes a LOSS in service revenue from both new/drive-up customers and customers with appointments.
How…
ContinueAdded by Dan Beres on December 12, 2019 at 9:52am — No Comments
Your dealership has probably been using an owner retention program (ORPs) for years, but when was the last time you evaluated the effectiveness of each communication?
One thing is certain. Sending out the same communications with the same messages via the same channels, again and again, isn’t a winning strategy. The goal of an ORP is to…
ContinueAdded by Courtney Evans on November 8, 2019 at 9:36am — No Comments
If you ask a dealership GM or controller “What’s your marketing per vehicle retail (PVR)?” not only will you get a precise answer, but likely a dissertation on the drivers, trends and plans to optimize. That’s because auto retailers understand that marketing efficiency and effectiveness is the lifeblood of their new and used vehicle…
ContinueAdded by Scot Eisenfelder on August 23, 2019 at 10:24am — No Comments
Over the past few years, subscription services of all types have become increasingly popular with today’s consumers. Big names like Netflix and Amazon leverage them to offer optimized, often instantaneous access to their goods. Now, it’s the auto industry’s turn, with the rising popularity of vehicle subscriptions. These programs charge customers a monthly…
ContinueAdded by Jeff Giere on August 22, 2019 at 10:15am — No Comments
Community involvement has always shown a strong correlation with successful businesses. A study published in Strategic Management Journal found that philanthropy was associated with increased sales growth. A 2018 report by Nielsen Global…
ContinueAdded by Stephen Coambes on August 15, 2019 at 10:11am — No Comments
Click-to-call campaigns are everywhere. Your dealership is likely running several now. As such, you’re familiar with Google reports that show your click-to-call rate and cost-per-click. You likely base some of your future ad spend on these metrics. But what if I told you this is flawed data that doesn’t accurately reflect what makes your phones…
ContinueAdded by Steven Laureys on August 14, 2019 at 10:14am — No Comments
Customer experience and standing out from the competition by excelling at customer satisfaction is still very much a good business practice today. Time is valuable for today's busy consumers, and many dislike the vehicle service experience at dealerships because of long wait times.
Loaner cars and shuttles help, but they can end up making it…
ContinueAdded by Dan Beres on August 13, 2019 at 10:00am — No Comments
In the automotive industry, the ability to earn a greater share of a customer’s spend is the key to driving higher customer lifetime value. To that end, many dealers utilize flawed retention strategies designed to achieve a minimum number of service visits rather than maximize the…
ContinueAdded by Doug Van Sach on July 18, 2019 at 10:07am — No Comments
Rising interest rates and stagnant incentives point to a slowing new vehicle market through the end of the year. NADA predicts new vehicle sales will decline at least one percent, and probably more. Used car sales are picking up. But not at a velocity to make up for the loss of new vehicle sales. What should a dealer do? Some may need to lean on the parts and…
ContinueAdded by Steven Laureys on July 16, 2019 at 10:13am — No Comments
Though every vehicle today comes with a recommended maintenance schedule from the manufacturer, many consumers don’t follow them. What’s worse, some may not even know they exist! We recently surveyed 1,000 auto dealer customers and found that younger generations are less likely to follow manufacturer recommendations than their older counterparts. While 61% of…
ContinueAdded by Jeff Giere on July 11, 2019 at 10:37am — No Comments
In a quick review of dealership’s websites, I find that many are almost entirely sales focused and tend to neglect the one department that brings the most significant percentage of profit… service. Go ahead. Take a look at a few dealership websites. Service tends to be the red-headed stepchild; often neglected and forgotten. Yet it accounts for 50% or more of…
ContinueAdded by Ed Barton on July 11, 2019 at 10:17am — No Comments
According to an article in Automotive News, dealerships are in a new car sales slump and have to increasingly rely on used car sales and service revenue to drive profits. Industry experts recognize that used cars are typically more profitable to a dealership than…
ContinueAdded by Dan Beres on July 2, 2019 at 9:58am — No Comments
Let’s go back in time for a moment. 16 years ago, in 2003, there was a brand-new highline dealership. This dealership was getting very little walk-in traffic. Despite having 10 salespeople on the floor, they were lucky if even one customer came in on any given day. With no existing CRM database, they also had zero prospects to follow up with. Salespeople…
ContinueAdded by Paul Moran on June 27, 2019 at 10:20am — No Comments
With the auto industry facing a shortage of technicians, it’s important to do what we can to attract young technicians and keep them. After all, when the front end of the business slows down, it’s the back end that can keep your store afloat and profitable. But there are two main problems with getting young professionals into the automotive industry: image…
ContinueAdded by Stephen Coambes on June 13, 2019 at 10:11am — No Comments
According to a recent article in Automotive News, consumers LOVE the idea of all of this new in-vehicle technology. The problem is that many of them don’t truly understand the intricate features and benefits. There is no way a salesperson can explain each and every technological…
ContinueAdded by Dan Beres on June 5, 2019 at 10:07am — No Comments
In today’s society, time is a precious commodity. So much so that consumers make their buying decisions based on how long it takes to complete the transaction. If you had the choice between a $20 oil change that would take 4 hours to complete, or a $30 oil change that would take 30 minutes, which would you choose?
For the automotive industry,…
ContinueAdded by Dan Beres on May 16, 2019 at 10:23am — No Comments
Sales profit margins are getting smaller, and dealerships are looking to service as the profit-making aspect of their business. And there’s one area of service that’s particularly overlooked, especially for how much revenue it can generate:…
ContinueAdded by Stephen Coambes on May 8, 2019 at 10:09am — No Comments
For dealers, the digital retail space is filled with more hype than ever. Digital retail companies promise a future with increased conversion rates, higher gross margins, and better customer experience to boot.
And the truth is…it works! Digital retail can do all of those things and more. But there’s another truth most vendors won’t tell you.…
Added by Michia Rohrssen on May 1, 2019 at 4:13pm — No Comments
We have all heard of the ABCs of Sales (Always Be Closing), but I would like to turn that around to Customer Service – Always Be Considerate!
If you…
ContinueAdded by Veronica Dunford on April 24, 2019 at 9:47am — No Comments
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