AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

More Than Branding

It Takes More Than Branding to Sell Cars

JKRAdvertising / Automotive Advertising, Automotive Advertising Advice, Automotive Marketing /

April 10, 2017

Today’s blog is not meant to say that branding isn’t important. Your potential customers definitely need to know who you are and what you’re all about. But guess what? Every other dealership in your market has also spent considerable time and energy doing the exact same thing. So just like the title indicates … it takes more than branding to sell cars (or any other product).

Why it Takes More Than Branding

There’s an old adage in sales that is absolutely true: Win the Heart and the Mind Will Follow. In other words, if you can create an emotional bond with your customers (and come across as sincere while doing so), you’re going to make more sales than the guy down the street. It can be done through your advertising by making them laugh, giving them the hope of improving themselves (through a new car) or any number of other ways. When you make your customers feel something meaningful, it creates value far beyond the price of a 30- or 60-second radio or TV spot.

Better still, if you can consistently do this through your ads, you can count on being the dealer of choice not only today but well into the future. See, even though there isn’t any way to know exactly when a consumer is going to be in the market for a car, you do know this one thing: at some point in the next few years, almost everyone old enough to drive will be searching for one. Guess which dealership is going to get the Website visit, phone call and/or personal visit? Yep … the one that has created a positive bond with the people in its market. That can be you, with the help of JKR Automotive Advertising.

Call Us Today!

Automotive dealers nationwide count on JKR Automotive Advertising for memorable advertisements. Each client is different and has his/her own likes and dislikes, and fortunately, our creative team is always there with a variety of options for each dealer in the JKR family. Give Eric Tigner a call today at (321) 397-0777 to learn about what we can do for your store!

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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