AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Listen to Your Customers

Be Sure to Listen to Your Customers

JKRAdvertising / Automotive Advertising Advice /

September 15, 2015

Don’t get so caught up in day-to-day operations that you forget to listen to your customers. In any relationship (including that of dealer and customer) there should be give and take, and providing value for the customer is a key element. To do that, you must listen!

Families and individuals in need of a vehicle are looking to fill their basic transportation needs through the purchase of a new or pre-owned car. Sometimes, they may not even be able to articulate their wishes to you, so it takes someone who can deftly ask the right questions and take note of the customer’s responses.

Ways to Listen to Your Customers

Remember, too, that in today’s computerized society, listening to your customers is not limited to face-to-face interaction. The fact is, consumers have more control than ever before. There is nothing stopping them from “Tweeting” or Facebook messaging something about your dealership; and trust us, people do read those comments. As a result, you’ll want to make sure you read all online feedback regularly, and take positive steps toward resolving any issues you discover.

So even when you have exceptional products (as most dealerships do today), if you do not have a clear understanding of your customers’ needs and wants, you won’t provide as many solutions – and your business will suffer as a result.

FREE Advertising Review

Contact JKR Automotive Advertising today, and we’ll give you a FREE, no-strings-attached review of your current advertising and marketing efforts. But we don’t stop there; we’ll also tell you what’s going on with the other dealerships in your market, including what your competition is paying for their ads. How valuable would that be to you? This alone is worth your time! Call Eric Tigner today at (321) 397-0777 to get the process started.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

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Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

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