In part one of Headwinds: Change Course to Meet the Consumer Where They Are, I continue with insight I gained while talking to a pilot over recent flight delays, with some tips on how to work smarter while facing the market ahead! 

The Flight Goes On…and On…

Mid-flight, the captain makes an announcement. 

“Looks like we’ll arrive a little later than planned. We’ve also got word from air traffic control that we’ll need to circle the airport before we land. All the gates are full.”

Then he continued, “We apologize for the delay.”

The person next to me groans, “I’ll be taking a different airline next time.”

Their sentiment strikes me because almost every flight was delayed today. For the most part, they would be delayed no matter what. But the slightest delay will make a consumer want to give their business to someone else. 

I started thinking about the automotive industry and how quickly the consumer expects to find what they want. The don’t want to circle around their search. They expect to find exactly what they’re looking for…

Dealer Teamwork lands the consumer at your gate.

Dealer Teamwork makes finding your inventory as easy as a search on Google, Bing, Facebook, and more.

We make finding the vehicle a customer is looking for easier than ever. Whether using social media, Google, or other digital platforms, your existing customer can find your inventory. New, used and all the services you offer. We help your customer know what you offer. If a potential customer searches for ‘tire service near me’, we make sure your dealership is found at the top of the results.

Sounds Complicated?

Not with Dealer Teamwork. Let’s work smarter, not harder!  Let’s use a modern toolset and platform to make the workloads easier on both the dealer and the consumer! 

We simplify the new car trade in process making it easy for the consumer to know what their car is worth. We help them pin down their monthly payment. But you can’t buy what you can’t find, so Dealer Teamwork’s merchandising platform makes it easy for consumers to find the vehicles they are looking for and answer their questions with little to no maintenance to manage the platform.

Dealer Teamwork also makes sure to include the most up to date OEM incentives possible. Instead of showing one payment option, we might show three or four different lease payments along with multiple purchase offers. We can quote it with an F&I product or without it. We can quote it for a sign and drive. We can quote it for a short term like 36 months or can go out as far as 72 months if the captive lender will allow.

Consumers are beginning to have a ton more questions regarding Electric Vehicles. Dealer Teamwork points them to the answer on the dealer’s website.   How about building an Electric vehicle landing page with the top 10 questions about electric cars and trucks?  Maybe a link to a OEM page that talks about the future of their electric cars?   Or a YouTube video? 

Dealer Teamwork gives them the information about the vehicle they’re looking for. What’s it like to own the vehicle they’re looking for…

What’s the cost of maintenance? 

What’s the distance they can drive on a single charge? 

Are there charging stations nearby? 

How long does it take to charge? 

How long do the batteries last? 

These are all things people are considering before moving to an electric car. And these are answers they need to know before submitting a lead, filling out a contact form or making a phone call. 

Use your dealer’s website to answer these questions and help move the consumer through the purchase journey. Dealer Teamwork makes it easier for the new breed of consumer that prefers a DIY approach to buying.

Pro Tip!

Make sure you’re being absolutely transparent in your pricing on every one of your cars. Add value incentives and make sure your specials are up to date. Don’t do that for just a few of the oldest cars in your inventory: do this for all your units. 

The trifecta: use SEO and SEM together along with social media to find customers. There are so many channels to market to. We make it easy to publish to all of them. We call it COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere. You have to get the message out on social media, email blasts and make it easy to find on Google Business Profiles, Google Vehicle Ads… you need it to be easy to find everywhere. 

Finding the Tailwind

This year promises to be a really good year for the auto industry if you are staying ahead of the headwinds!  Don’t wait, prepare today for what’s coming. If you do the right things, and I mean all the right things you will remain successful. 

There are so many dealers out there doing nothing, staying the course and doing the same things they did before covid. The auto industry does expect to see sales growth in the coming years. It will reach new heights. We’ve already seen the growth trickle in from 2022 and before and we expect it to continue. 

There will be good engagement and you must position yourself to get a growing percentage of that engagement. Are you going to get the extra search and clicks or is someone else going to get them? From ChatGPT to marketing automation, you are going to see lots of new ideas, challenges, and opportunities if you are really open to listening to your customers and how they are changing. You’ve got to be hyper focused on customer retention as well as customer acquisition.

Remember! To gain more market share, we have to take it from somebody else. Let’s chat more: sstapleton@dealerteamwork.com 

Sean Stapleton | CEO & Co-Founder