Why Does It Matter to Delight During an Inventory Shortage?
Let’s face it, most purchasers aren’t having a fantastic time buying cars right now. Vehicles are more expensive (if one can ever be found), and some customers must wait months for delivery. Dealerships must pay close attention to the factors they can control in order to satisfy as many consumers as possible, given the negative effects inventory scarcity is having on the customer experience.
There is no guarantee that this windfall will continue, even though dealership profitability is stronger now than in prior years. Some kind of “normal” situation will eventually return. The car dealerships that act today to satisfy clients and ensure their loyalty will be the most prosperous in the long run.
It’s time to plan strategically and treat our clients as lifelong allies. Let’s look at how.
Create the conditions for a repeat consumer right away.
The service experience, as we like to say at SimpSocial, begins with the transaction. However, dealerships ought to enlarge their view and assess the overall relationship between sales and servicing. Your future vehicle sales will expand along with the number of service clients you have, not to mention all the money you’ll make from subsequent service calls.
Gaining repeat business from customers is crucial to maintaining high profitability. Comfort and the elimination of friction play a big role in customer happiness. Keep it simple for car buyers and introduce the service personnel in a non-pressuring manner. For further information, get a free copy of our sales-to-service handoff checklist.
Instruct your staff to make every customer happy.
Any dealership department’s success depends on effective employee training. And in the current market, every team member must be knowledgeable and aware of how their individual contributions fit into the larger scheme. Although there are countless opportunities for dealership training, increasing customer satisfaction should be the current priority.
Make sure every employee is well-versed in the inventory shortage and other market realities, even though they are experiencing them firsthand. Consider developing some talking points for the sales and service teams (much like you would for a fictitious sales conversation) and discussing how this affects the customer experience. When it comes to dealership client retention, training your employees to please every customer will pay off over time.
Learn to sell successfully without a test drive.
Salespeople have relied significantly on letting consumers see and drive the vehicle a buyer might be interested in for as long as automobiles have been sold. Few things are as effective as having a consumer take a test drive, sit in the driver’s seat, smell the new car, play with the newest auto technology, and feel the exhilaration of accelerating. The practice of showing a buyer a vehicle on a computer screen is gradually taking its place now that so many parking spaces are empty. This method of selling may also continue to be popular if supply catches up with demand, with new entrants like Tesla investigating direct-to-consumer methods and even Ford moving toward more build-to-order sales.
Even though this change is significant, it is still in its early stages. Identify the best ways to enable your staff to sell effectively without a vehicle in front of them. Investigate novel approaches to pique client interest, and test out ways in which your dealership might provide benefits above and beyond what a buyer could obtain at home on a manufacturer’s website. It won’t be simple to adjust to this transition, but whether you put time and money into doing so as soon as possible may determine whether your dealership will survive.
Make customer loyalty a priority.
There are several strategies for increasing client loyalty, some of which I’ve already covered in this post. Small things can have a tremendous impact, especially now that there is a shortage of goods. Here are some concepts to think about:
Engage your audience on social media: Consider creative, lighthearted ways to keep people thinking about your dealership in addition to your normal content development and posting. This might be a humorous film with staff members or even a competition with the audience, with the dealership providing a prize for the victor.
Give your devoted clients extra discounts: By providing customized gift packages, service discounts, free vehicle detailing, and discounts in your online store, your dealership may show its appreciation to its most loyal clients.
Send greeting cards to your clients on special occasions. As I’ve previously stated, it’s the simple things that count. Create a mechanism (to the degree that it is practicable) to ensure that your most loyal clients receive birthday and holiday cards.
Give rewards using SimpSocial: SimpSocial excels at fostering client loyalty by providing a range of renewable benefits like tire protection against road hazards, renewable roadside assistance, and emergency transportation at no cost to your customers for the duration of the service interval. With SimpSocial, the client only needs to return to the dealership for maintenance or repairs to maintain their benefits. Adding new motivation for clients to return has never been simpler.
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