The automotive industry has had a pretty good life the past handful of years. The good times can only last for so long. At some point, the market has to take a turn. That’s not to say that everything is going to be doom and gloom, but the market has already started to plateau and could very easily dip in some manner.
The question for dealers today is, are you prepared for the market to change?
You can set your dealership up to succeed in any market by correcting mismanaged opportunities. Effectively managing each lead that comes in properly will be even more critical than before.
Maximizing each lead requires a game plan:
- First, you must establish an objective to convert and generate more leads.
- Second, determine who is going to do it and how are they going to do it? We can use the traditional approach, which is utilizing our current sales staff/service staff. We can use the hybrid approach, which is utilizing the current staff with a “safety net” which happens to be specialty phone agents, or we can use only specialists. How do you decide which is best? That decision can’t be made based on opinion, tradition, expense or previous experience. The decision has to be made based on an evaluation of your current performance.
- Then, a process needs to be established. Set goals or KPIs, evaluate the process along the way, and take action on the results to improve overall performance.
I’ll cover this topic in detail at the upcoming Digital Dealer 25 Conference & Expo this October. In my session, “How to Make the Most of Every Lead When the Market Isn’t Booming,” you will:
- Identify opportunities in your store that are currently being mismanaged, and what steps you can take to manage your leads more efficiently.
- Learn best practices for CRM utilization and how to effectively follow up with all customers in the database.
- Learn what processes managers can follow to hold their own people more accountable to lead capture, extracting quality information, and closing more deals.
About the Author
Barrett Schrader is the VP of Sales at Proactive Dealer Solutions. A 20-year veteran of the automotive industry and resides in Charlotte, NC. PDS is a full service automotive retail training firm focused on building business development cultures. Mr. Schrader joined the automotive industry after college selling cars followed by moving into management, prior to joining PDS in 2005.