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If you are wondering how to grow your business as a car dealer, you might need a boost in your marketing strategies. These days, the traditional ways of marketing your car dealership will not work as customers are more savvy and methodical in shopping for cars. Here are some car dealer marketing tips that work.
Have an attractive website and an online salesperson to manage it.
When customers search for your business online, you should provide a good website as an attractive landing point for potential customers. It is likely to top online search results for your company, even above review sites such as Yelp. A website should be visually appealing to get customers hooked. Moreover, as more customers use their mobile devices to find your website, it should be optimized for these devices.
This car dealer marketing tip requires careful monitoring. If your site has ways for customers to interact with you, have a dedicated online salesperson who is in charge of interacting with customers and guiding them through the sales process online. The salesperson is also your point person for reputation management, responding to reviews both positive and negative.
Use customer relationship management software
As more of your customers leave information through online means as well as through in-person means such as visiting your showroom, you will need ways to help manage your relationship with them. These days, a good car dealer marketing tip is to use customer relationship management (CRM) software. This is one way of making sure that you have all the information about your customers as they go through the various stages of the car sales process.
Having CRM available lets your staff be on the same page as leads become customers through the sales cycle. It automates the process of following up with customers through tools such as automatic email sending. It lets staff access information on customers from any device they may wish to use as most of it operates on the cloud.
Choose a CRM that your staff will find easy to use and adapt to. The more complex the software, the less likely they’ll use it.
Manage your online reputation
These days, much of what customers say about you can be found on review sites and other platforms such as social media. This car dealer marketing tip is very important because what people say online will drive people to or away from your business.
Online reputation management, especially when dealing with negative reviews, relies upon transparent and politely professional communication and messaging. Be honest with your customers and do not treat them as your “enemy.” Most of the time, they mean to help your business improve. Listening to them may be the key to improving your marketing as a car dealer.
Your online salesperson (see above) is the best person to handle this. He or she should be trained to respond to customers in a way that will not turn them off and generate further criticism. If needed, they can escalate complaints and concerns to management, who must be prepared to respond in the same way.
These car dealer marketing tips are just some of the ways you can improve your car dealer’s marketing in a competitive online and offline market. Try them out and hopefully see your business grow.
