What Your Dealership Should be Doing in a Recession!

It’s scary, to say the least, when you start hearing talk of an economic downturn in the near future…but do you know what’s even scarier? Not choosing the correct path to secure your dealership's future through such recessions. Today we’re going to cover a few key points and strategies to help ensure that your dealership comes out on top and kicks ass. To Start, automotive sales have been decreasing for months after a long period of rising sales (didn’t we just get out of a pandemic…and a chip shortage!?) Whether or not your dealership has been personally impacted, you're undoubtedly thinking about strategies to guarantee that every cost is beneficial and help keep you afloat in a downturn like this.

Knowing what matters

A lot of what goes through dealership's minds is trimming off the excess fat so it can run lean and clean through turbulent economic times, even if the economy goes end-up, is a good plan, but sometimes it helps to see in the long term, and not everyone has a crystal ball. Figuring out what truly benefits your bottom line is not always easy, but one thing we know for sure is that a lot of other dealers are doing the same.

Our Advice? We strongly suggest investing more heavily in the marketing sector to help bring more customers that other dealers may have left in the dust when cutting costs in their marketing budget. It’s a great opportunity to expand your market share, don’t take our word for it? Harvard agrees with us! If you need any help in this sector, we’ve got you covered, from advice to helping you gain more market share - we actually have a program built for this, aptly named MarketBuilder, go check it out! 

Form Stronger Relationships With the Customers You Already Have!

Customers are the reason you’re in business, seriously! You need them as much as they need you. If you’re currently facing a shortage of them, focus on the ones you have and build stronger relationships with them through existing customer promotions and better follow ups. Quality over quantity. It works wonders.

On the path to purchasing an automobile, your consumers will encounter several processes and decisions. From researching their next model to getting directions to your showroom to working out financing, there are several pain areas for your dealership to capitalize on. Do you have any useful tools on your website that make the lives of your clients easier? Is it simple to navigate your website? Is your phone number readily listed, and are messages promptly returned?

Any marketing effort that does not give actual answers for consumers, or worse, makes the process more difficult—popups that distract and overload, chat that does not respond to queries, automations that ignore customers' declared interests—is not worth the time or money.

Using What You Have 

It’s expensive to get new customers, no matter how you look at it, we have trick programs that can ease that burden, but in a sense, you get what you pay for, and sometimes, it doesn’t come cheap, thankfully though, when it comes to retaining existing customers, it’s far cheaper, and easier! You have them in your CRM databases and logs, why not leverage that?

When a potential customer enters their information into your customer relationship management system (CRM), for instance, you should be able to see not only what offer they converted on but also the number of times they have visited your website, the other pages they have viewed, and the amount of time they have spent browsing. Your team will find all of this information to be quite helpful when it comes to reaching out and doing good follow-up. They are able to speak to the genuine interests of the consumers, avoid repeating themselves, and make the customers feel appreciated as a result. 

Another approach to make the most of your data is to maintain a record of consumers who have purchased your products or services and to ensure that you contact them when it is time for maintenance or repairs, or just to check in with them and see if they require anything. Make use of the information you already have to direct later follow-up, such as a text message or email campaign that serves as a check-in. If you make this effort, your hard work of creating a client base will be maximized, which will save you time and money in the long run.

Getting Personal With Personalization

One of the most crucial methods to get the most of your marketing budget in the modern day is via the use of personalization, both in-store and online. Clients not only anticipate, but also react positively to, previously unheard-of degrees of customization and ease of use. When companies provide customized experiences, consumers are more likely to make a purchase (48%) and more likely to convert (65%).

It seems to reason that if your consumers' requirements are addressed, they will have more motivation to shop with you and remain loyal. If you want more conversions, it's important to use clever targeting technologies to customize your website, design email campaigns to contact customers at every point in the buying process, and train your sales staff to be as responsive as possible.

Get to Fixin’ 

The quality of the experience that you provide for your customers, particularly with regard to your fixed operations, will determine how well you compete in today's market. Customers who bring their cars in for routine maintenance and repairs are often concerned, but if you can allay their concerns, you will have a customer base that is devoted to your business. If a customer has consistently positive experiences with a dealership and finds it convenient to do business with that dealership, they are more likely to continue doing business with that dealership.

The Bottomline

If you follow the advice listed in this article, you’re sure to see success through these difficult times in the economy. Don’t shy away if you need more help or have questions, we’re always available to help in any way possible. Give us a shout!