My clients did–in a pandemic.
Nearly all my clients exceeded their new and used car sales goals in May – with some having record sales months. How?
Every dealership is unique and deserves a marketing and advertising strategy that reflects that. This is especially true in these times where some regions and states have stay-at-home orders or have closed non-essential businesses. We looked at the situation on the ground and devised a plan that met those conditions.
Next, we checked the marketing preparation boxes: There was inventory, sales advisors were ready and prepared to handle customers, and there was a process – especially for dealerships in areas with stay-at-home orders, where they would bring the test drive and conduct the entire transaction at the customer’s home.
The Website is Your Showroom
Then we went through the dealership website – or as we like to consider it, the digital showroom. And just like the physical showroom, we made sure that it wasn’t cluttered, and it was clean, easy to navigate, and made the shopping process easy.
Specifically, we:
- Made sure all inventory had photos; pics or it doesn’t exist.
- Cleaned up Calls to Action (CTA’s) on the Inventory Pages, made sure they set and met shopper expectations.
- Created more opportunities for shoppers to have a conversation with dealerships (Chat functions, texting, phone numbers).
- Made sure Digital Retailing tools were available and explained, making it easier for shoppers to actually shop at home.
- Made sure all health and safety procedures were front and center.
Advertising Consistency
The last thing we did was review advertising and made sure we weren’t dark. People were still going to be shopping for cars, even if they weren’t going to buy immediately. With that extended shopping timeline, we needed to make sure that our advertising was fully funded with strong remarketing and re-engagement tactics.
Consistency is a hallmark of good marketing and advertising practices. Maintaining advertising, but updating the messaging to reflect the current situation, gave PCG’s clients a jump on their competition who went dark.
We made sure that all of our advertising talked about the opportunity to test drive at home, digital retailing tools, and that the dealership was there to help with a customer’s vehicle needs.
The Results
All of this led to clients showing tremendous May sales. One client in Southern Missouri with three locations saw 10% Year-Over-Year sales growth.
Another client in Southern Florida saw a 33% increase in pre-owned vehicles sales, record new car sales, and near record grosses on new vehicles.
Yet another client in Indiana exceeded their new and pre-owned May sales goal by 12%.
What These Successes Have in Common
These dealership successes had these things in common: they engaged PCG to give them a unique strategy, they made their website a reflection of their physical showroom – bringing the dealership to the customer virtually, and they maintained advertising consistency, adjusting messaging for the current situation.
Thoughtful planning, best in business advice, and hard work to build a unique strategy – that’s what PCG does for its clients. And that’s how our clients thrived during an uncertain time. Learn more about the services that PCG offers today!
