Digital Dealer - June 2019 - 48

S A L E S & VA RIA BL E OPS: Customer Experience Continued from pg. 46

wasn't so difficult(4), the big
question is what can we do
to make it less difficult?
Here's what customers
want to make the process
less hassle-driven:
 Transparency in the
process and the pricing.
 Ease and convenience.
Consumers don't want a
long, drawn out process.
 Less stress and no
haggling. Haggling is not
fun and can be a stressful
process.
 Confidence and trust
in the dealership and the
salesperson.
 Value and quality at a
fair price. They don't want
the cheapest, but the best
value.
What do you say on your
website that reassures and
welcomes them into your
dealership? Have you allowed them from the comfort
of their own home to get to
know you enough so they
want to come in?
3) BE REAL - SHARE
FACTS AND DELIVER.

Customers don't want
to start from scratch when
walking into the store. Validate all the information they
saw online and make sure it
is the exact same as what's
in the showroom. This builds
immediate trust and shows
you care and listen. If the instore experience mirrors the
online experience, you have
a much higher likelihood of
success.
4) EMBED PROFIT INTO
THE PROCESS.

Dealers like to sell cars
and help customers, but
most importantly they need
to make a profit. Unfortunately, those profits have
48

JUNE 2019

been eroding over the years.
It's time for a new sales
process and many dealers
are recognizing the need to
adapt. 45% of dealers in a
MAX Digital study said they
are looking to change their
sales process, and a majority want a more consultative
approach(5).
Dealerships can deliver
the strongest profits by
inviting the customer to
participate in the process.
When your customers feel
in control, they rate their
experience highly (hello CSI

offer needs to bridge the gap
between their initial understanding of their car's value
and the actual fair market
price.
This collaborative process
works much better than the
used car manager taking the
car for a spin and coming
back with a number written
on a piece of paper.
5) ENABLE TECH
TO GUIDE ADOPTION.

The automotive industry
struggles with high turnover- now at 80% for auto
sales consultants(7)- and

WHEN YOUR
CUSTOMERS FEEL IN
CONTROL, THEY RATE
THEIR EXPERIENCE
HIGHLY (HELLO CSI
SCORES!)."
scores!). You can build value
by showing the package
details and market comparisons. In fact, 78% of
consumers won't buy a used
car without a third-party
price validation.(6)
For trade ins, the customer can take an even
stronger lead. You can get
the customer involved during
the trade-in process with the
following tactics:
 Guide the conversation.
Ask simple questions about
the quality of the trade-in
vehicle. E.g. "If a 1 was bald
tires and a 10 was brand
new tires, how would you
rate your tires?"
 Bridge the value gap. If
consumers won't buy a car
without a third-party validation, how likely are they to
trade in without a third-party
validation? The purchase

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

technology can help. Seven
in 10 dealers said their sales
people don't have enough
training or information(8),
which helps explain the high
turnover. Equipping sales
people with the right tools
and training will set them up
for success.
Technology solutions can
provide insights on metrics
such as time to market as
well as who on your team is
performing and who needs
more training to be effective.
But remember, technology
alone does not and will not
help you sell more cars.
Success in an omni-channel
world is all about collaboration and making it easy
for your people to adopt
technology. Monitor usage
trends and leverage your
vendors to do additional
training when needed. No

one wants to pay for technology that doesn't get used.
In the next five years, the
majority of dealers are going
to adopt this omni-channel
approach.
Creating a simple, transparent process that maximizes profit doesn't have
to be hard. These are easy
steps you can take - and
they all don't require a process overhaul or mean you
have to do it all at once.
MIKE CAVANAUGH is
Executive Vice President of
MAX Digital, an end-to-end
software provider for the
automotive industry. The
company empowers auto
dealers to conduct transparent
sales transactions, increase
gross profits, and sell more cars
through digital retailing.
Source/Notes:
(1) Google/TNS Auto Shopper Study,
2016, U.S.
(2) 2018 Auto Trader Study
(3) Kantar TNS/Google, "The Drive to
Decide 2017", U.S. 2017
(4) Driving Sales Customer Experience
Study
(5) MAX Digital 2019 Profit Study
(6) Car Gurus Shopper Study
(7) NADA Dealership Workforce Study
(8) MAX Digital 2018 Turnover Study

A D V E R TI S E R S IN D EX
ADVERTISER

PAGE

Automotive Leadership Roundtable.... 38
Construction SuperConference...........47
Dealertrack........................................ 3, C3
IRCE................................................... 7
Manheim Inventory Solutions............ 17, C4
National Pavement Expo ....................5
Payment Cloud .................................. 11
Sirius XM............................................13
VinSolutions....................................... C2
The index to advertiser page numbers
is published for reader convenience.
Every effort is made to list page numbers
correctly. The listing is not part of the
advertising contract and the publisher is
not responsible for errors or omissions.
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Digital Dealer - June 2019

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