Running a car dealership is a lucrative business to get into. There will always be a demand for vehicles from the public. People prefer driving as their main way of getting around, and they’ll need vehicles. SUVs, sedans, trucks. You name it. As long as it has four wheels, and it guzzles gas, people will want to buy it.
In 2019 alone automakers sold approximately 17.1 million new cars due to factors like available credit, low unemployment rates, and healthy consumer sentiment. The projection for 2020 stands at sales of roughly 16.7 to 17 million new car sales. In 2019 there were about 18,000 light vehicle auto brokers that supported approximately under 2 million jobs across the United States. For entrepreneurs who are thinking about getting into car sales, here are 4 tips for managing a car salesroom and ensuring customer satisfaction every step of the way.
1. Set up a call center.
Auto car markets require the capabilities of a quality help center network. A help desk is a centralized office used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of inquiries by telephone. An inbound help center network is focused on handling incoming product service support, or information inquiries from consumers.
When a customer buys a car from an auto store, the experience does not just end there. There’s a host of paperwork that needs to be completed, in addition to possibly having to bring the new car back for repairs at the auto trader.
All of these activities and requests will be handled via a contact center. When a person visits a dealership, they will see a dedicated customer service department on site. These help desk representatives are performing a host of duties: setting appointments for new customers, calling sending maintenance notices to customers, answering billing related questions, and routing calls to the sales reps and managers at the business.
When hiring for a call center, you’ll want to hire the best people for the job. A help desk representative should have effective communication skills, advanced knowledge retention, and recall abilities, and ability to handle pressure, speed and efficiency, creative problem-solving skills, emotional stability, empathy, and organizational ability. They should be trained to handle incoming calls with adept speed, and also know how to utilize such call center software as the ServiceNow call center software.
You want a group of individuals who will provide the best customer service possible while being well versed in every aspect of your dealership. When customers reach out to your call center, this is their first line of contact with your dealership in many cases. Make sure their customer experience is a good one by hiring the best call center representatives for the jobs.
2. Make sure you are providing the best customer service possible.
To further separate yourself from all the other dealerships out there, maintaining a certain sense of professionalism is key. You want your salespeople to make potential customers understand that your business is competent, and cares about doing the best job possible. For example, you don’t want customers coming in and seeing your sales team just hanging out in t-shirts and petite jeans. How will they think you’re a reputable car dealer? You want them to be dressed to impress, so enforce a dress code. Denim jackets and high-waist petite jeans are for after hours, even if they are best sellers.
This can also include how your employees act. You’re in a customer service game when it comes to managing car dealerships. When potential car buyers visit your dealership, you want to make sure they are receiving the best service possible. For your sales team, make sure that they are well versed in the product which they are selling.
For your customer service and administrative staff, make sure that they are helping customers with whatever they might need. For your repair crew, make sure that they are providing the customer with the best auto repair service possible. Make sure that they are treating the customer with empathy also, as they navigate car buyers through the labyrinth known as auto repairs.
One of the hallmarks of customer service is showing the best side of your dealership. Sure you want to provide the customer with the best personal customer experience possible, but your physical location can also help on this front. For example, if a car buyer comes to your dealership and sees an unkempt business, they might decide to go to another place.
Have a custodian staff on hand to keep your dealership looking clean. When you show that you care about how your location looks, then this relays into how you might treat your potential customers. You would rather have a clean dealership that looks inviting on a daily basis, versus something which is dirty, unkempt, and screams to a customer “I don’t care”.
3. Provide the best quality in automobiles.
No one wants an automobile that is going to break down when they drive it off the lot. Vehicles that have severe issues like these may be called a lemon, whether it’s a Toyota sedan or a Honda minivan. Lemon is an automobile that turns out to have many production defects that affect its safety, value, or utility. There are many dealerships across the United States which sell lemons and apparently have no issues with giving the customer a crummy deal.
Don’t be that dealership. Try your best to ensure that the product which you are selling is of the best quality. Imagine being a customer who has just purchased a vehicle from your location. After going through the sales talk, signing a host of forms, parting with a lot of money, they find out that the car has a litany of issues. This would be upsetting for your customer, devaluing their customer experience overall.
Try to have your repair center look at older models, to make sure that they are in the best condition possible. Invest in bringing in those newer models which include innovative technology, efficient dynamics, and unparalleled comfort. Consumers are seeking more from their cars than ever before. They want to get their money’s worth in a vehicle that doesn’t just guzzle gas and go.
They want to keep up with the latest trends. They want fuel-efficient engines, alternate power systems, and advanced infotainment systems. Add automobiles like these to your roster of vehicles to provide a variety of quality vehicle types. Also, make sure that your car production companies are keeping you abreast of the latest advancements for the vehicles at their locations.
This keeps you better informed about choosing quality vehicles to sell to customers. Whether you’re a car dealership in Enfield, CT, or an auto retailer in Las Vegas, NV, your goal is to provide the best product available.
4. Find out what forms of advertisement work for you.
Advertising is crucial for a dealership. You have to find an effective way of getting out the word about your business to potential customers. You also don’t want to come off as needy, begging, or overbearing in the marketing that you decide to run with. Finding a good balance between what works and what doesn’t when it comes to advertising can be tricky.
After hiring an adept marketing team to help with building your brand, look into what form of advertising works best. Will it be TV, radio, print ads, pay-per-click advertising, Facebook ads? What brings you the most bang for your buck? Figure where best to invest your money when it comes to advertising, so you can keep your call sales consistent.
