Automotive News Canada - July 2021 - 7

SPONSORED CONTENT
Reach Out to Every Customer with a Market Update
SALES LEADERSHIP
Grow your
portfolio sales
with a new
" helping "
approach.
By JEFF WILLIAMS
President & CEO, Absolute Results
Insights & Selling
Strategies
Too oſten retail auto dealers approach
their database with a transactional
mindset, not reaching out to customers
until they think they are ready
to buy a new vehicle. Data mining
or equity mining tools have further
narrowed many dealer's perspectives.
In the hopes of harvesting the " low
hanging fruit " in their database,
dealership's sales teams oſten only
target customers who have paid off
more than 50% of their contract,
or who appear to be in an equity
position. The result is that the wrong
customers - those who have no desire
to trade - regularly receive excessive
amounts of marketing, while those
who are likely to trade are oſten
overlooked.
The solution isn't a new program or
another marketing campaign; it's a
different mindset. It's about shiſting
from transactional to portfolio thinking.
Portfolio thinkers look at each
customer and each vehicle's future
sales potential, with the goal of selling
each customer three vehicles, and
selling each vehicle three times.
Dealers with the portfolio mindset,
replace data mining strategies with
data farming strategies, seeing every
customer as valuable, and as worthy
of communication throughout
their ownership cycle. They understand
that it's necessary to maintain
regular cadence of communication
with every customer whether with
sales offers, service offers, or with
valuable information updates about
the product and the market. These
information updates are especially
important and should have no overt
like they're trying to sell their products
or services? How would those
interactions look? What is the best
way to deliver them? And how do
they benefit dealers in the short term
and long term?
In April of 2020, 30 days into the
COVID-19 pandemic, Absolute
Results created a " goodwill message "
campaign for dealers. This " helping "
message consisted of reaching out
to customers to find out how they
were dealing with the pandemic, if
their vehicle needed service, and to
PORTFOLIO THINKERS HAVE
THE GOAL
THREE TIMES
OF SELLING EVERY CUSTOMER
AND EVERY VEHICLE...
selling agenda - they should be solely
focused adding value to the customer.
Traditional sales offers are easy to
create: any competent dealer or marketing
company can develop a tradein,
buy-back or exclusive event offer.
Service offers are also easy to create,
through a suite of templates provided
by most OEM's.
But how can a dealer create a message
that's focused on adding value to the
customer, without blatantly looking
ABSOLUTE DRIVE™
Engage EVERY
Service Customer
in a conversation
AUTOMATICALLY create
a trade-up offer for
service customers who
match your parameters
SECURE a
trade-in 65%
of the time
With Absolute Drive I turned 10 deals into 24. The 10
deals from Drive had 10 trade-ins, and I sold 4 of the
trades right away.
-Mazda Dealer, Langley, BC
find out if their driving needs had
changed.
Over the next six months hundreds
of dealers globally leveraged this
helping message. With the assistance
of Absolute Results, they
reached out to over one million database
customers, and the response
was overwhelmingly positive. The
message created more than double
the engagement rate of a traditional
" selling message " . Most importantly
these campaigns consistently resulted
in more appointments and more cars
sold - even during the pandemic.
Sixteen months later, many dealers
still find this strategy valuable and
effective. Some Absolute Results
Appointment Culture dealers have
adopted an " annual Goodwill Call " as
a foundational part of their portfolio
business plan.
During the third wave of the pandemic,
some dealers adapted the
Absolute Results goodwill-message
strategy even further. Their sales
teams called their portfolio customers
to tell them not to come into
the dealership. They offered each
customer a virtual review of their
finance contract, and only recommend
showroom appointments if a
customer's needs had clearly changed
or if they're eligible for a substantially
valuable upgrade.
A few months ago, Absolute Results
began recommending that dealers
reach out to their customers with
a new " helping message " and early
indicators show that it's really resonating
with customers. We call it
the " What's Changed in the market "
message, and it starts something like
this:
" Hey, I'm calling to talk to you about
something that all over the news, it's
called the microchip shortage. I'd like
to share how it could affect you, the
value of your current vehicle, and
your next vehicle purchase. Even if
you don't plan to trade for 12 to 18
months, we should take a few minutes
to chat " .
This approach, in which the sales
professional informs the customers
about What's Changed in the market
and then asks how their driving
needs have changed is producing
exceptional results. Several dealers
we work with are referring to these
campaigns as " the Un-Sale " . Because
of current inventory shortages,
dealers know they might not have a
vehicle to sell on the spot, but if they
can secure a factory order with a
trade they've got a future deal and a
future trade-in " in the bank " . Some
dealers are even offering customers
a " no commitment " factory order,
because they are confident that for
the next 12 months they'll sell every
unit that they can get.
While a call reaching out to customers
informing them about the market
changes may seem innovative, isn't it
similar to the calls we all appreciate
from trusted investment advisor or
real-estate broker?
Maybe it's time for the auto industry
to elevate the quality of conversation
with each and every customer,
especially if the goal is to sell each
customer and each vehicle three
times.
To learn more about this " helping " approach,
scan QR code
to have a
conversation
about this
strategy, and
to discuss your
dealership's
portfolio plan.
Automotive News Canada - July 2021

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