As dealerships continue to navigate the inventory shortage, sales leaders want to pre-qualify customers. Savvy operators are employing customer-friendly strategies using technology—setting themselves up to quarterback online opportunities and showroom traffic to maximize throughput, gross, and sales per consultant. Across our platform we see top dealers implementing many of the same tactics:
Put your CTAs on a diet to get game ready
Take a look at other dealer sites; many still present an overabundance of calls-to-action (CTAs). I have seen search pages with more CTAs than vehicles on the lot. With limited inventory, do you want ePrice leads? Do you want a name and an email? Or do you want legitimate buyers, walking in with ink-ready, fundable deals?
As a sales quarterback you’re responsible for protecting the time of your staff and ensuring that these ink-ready, fundable deals can move to the head of the line to free up your consultants, desk, and finance office to work other deals.
Convert non-native leads and phone calls into ink-ready, fundable deals
As noted above, these days we want more digital deals. Look at your sources of leads with lower close rate performance, such as 3rd-party or tier-1 prospects. Leverage your digital platform to help these customers convert themselves into digital deals on their own terms—essentially upgrading leads into ink-ready, fundable deals.
Operators are therefore freed up to focus on throughput and maximize performance, protecting the time of BDCs to nurture other leads and opportunities—while also letting your buyers self-select to save time and drive convenience.
Just like banks trained us to do the work with ATMs, your customers are ready and willing to enter their own information and pencil their own deals; your digital platform should be dedicated to helping customers help themselves – while maximizing gross from rate and protection products.
Ensure that the right team member spends the right amount of time with the right customer by using In-Store Credit Estimator for fresh ups
Credit estimators on websites are powerful. They provide a painless way for customers to dip their toes into the buying process. Now imagine that same visibility and insight, but on a sales floor where customers have unique needs, and you have limited staff and time. You will see which deals will need F&I support, and which deals you can get instant decisions on.
In-store credit estimators provide this visibility, and allow the right manager to get involved early and steer customers to vehicles and options that work best for them.
And of course, your credit estimator should be deeply integrated with your digital platform to naturally allow credit estimations to move into Apps and then become (you knew this was coming) ink-ready, fundable deals.
Streamline the funnel for your consultants and managers with in-store traffic
You’ve streamlined the online process with straightforward, deal-oriented CTAs and technology to allow your 3rd-party and tier-1 leads to “level-up” to digital deals. You’re even using a credit estimator in-store to strategically manage your floor traffic to get every ounce of productivity out of your team. There’s one last opportunity: convert your showroom traffic to ink-ready, fundable deals.
Just like banks trained us to do the work with ATMs, your customers are ready and willing to enter their own information and pencil their own deals; your digital platform should be dedicated to helping customers help themselves – while maximizing gross from rate and protection products.
Want to learn more about how AutoFi creates joy and trust to the auto retail experience by empowering sellers to succeed (and get funded quickly) in a complex environment? Get started today.