10 Innovative Technology Companies Who Help Dealers Dramatically Evolve and Emerge
The automotive industry continues to evolve around the way consumers research, buy and service vehicles. One thing remains the same in the highly competitive industry: dealers continue to implement marketing strategies and technologies to help drive new sales and service business while at the same time retain their existing customers.
The Unexpected Future of the Dealership
The future can be a frightening place, especially for those not able, or willing, to adapt to changing realities and market conditions. While the auto sales industry has enjoyed several years of growth, change is on the horizon.
Sustainable Excellence in the Customer Experience: Start with Your Employees
What keeps a business going strong, year after year, for close to 65 years straight? At Ricart Automotive Group, the answer is uncomplicated: an unwavering focus on the customer from Day One.
GO PRO: How to Harness the Power of Proactivity and Transform
After years of positive growth, the automotive industry is still adjusting to the current trend of declining consumer demand. What lies ahead may still be uncertain, but savvy dealers understand the need to confront the current sales environment by optimizing operations, increasing customer satisfaction and mining for new revenue streams.
The critical element to achieving those goals? Taking a proactive approach. Today’s most successful dealers aren’t waiting for opportunities to come to them. They are actively hunting down new ways to increase profit and decrease costs to push growth despite the challenging conditions. Read on for a closer look at the power of proactivity and how the approach helps dealerships thrive.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Role of Chat
Huzzah! We’ve finally entered a time where car dealers no longer see digital communication as a hot commodity, but a necessity. Unfortunately, it coincides with a boom in communications technology and a surge in chat vendors trying to sell dealers “shiny new things.”
With so many options, how do you discern what features work and which ones are just smoke and mirrors? How do you protect your customers from terrible online service? How do you make sure your chat investment makes you money?
Don’t Panic. This five-step guide has all the information you need to find the most effective chat solution in today’s landscape.
Kendall Toyota Sets Its Sights on No. 1 By Integrating Processes to Better Focus On The Customer
Being second place in a competitive market is a goal many dealerships would love to be able to claim for themselves.
For Kendall Toyota in Miami, Florida, however, that’s simply not acceptable.
For many years, the dealership sat atop the perch in Toyota sales in their marketplace. Through changing circumstances — including the opening of its sister store West Kendall Toyota — Kendall recently slipped to the second spot. This served as a wake-up call for the dealership’s management to examine their processes and methods and to put plans in place to regain that title.
Bust to Blue Sky
“The right messaging, including the right mail piece and electronic messaging, done right is a game changer for any dealership.”
Morgan Auto Turns Up Sales by Tuning Up Internet Lead Conversion
The Florida-based dealership chain posted an impressive 2.2 percent increase in same-store sales last year, handily beating the mere 0.3 percent growth for the industry.
That organic growth came at a time when Morgan was aggressively buying and consolidating other dealerships to make it one of the fastest-growing dealership chains in the country.Morgan leaped 29 rungs on the Automotive News Top 150 Dealers list this year, clocking in at No. 49 (the first time it cracked the top 50). New unit sales soared 45 percent last year, with total sales projected to hit $1.45 billion this year.
Walser Automotive Group Turns to Data-Driven Marketing
Mark Andrews, director of marketing for Walser Automotive Group, which owns 23 stores in Minnesota and Kansas, says his philosophy is “digital first” when it comes to marketing spend. More specifically, Andrews said, “We let the competition outspend us, and then we win with our database.” Under Andrews’ direction, the company has moved most of
Recalls: Turning Problems Into Profits
THE RECALL POOL OEMs have been flooding dealers with recall opportunities and the response is typically one of two different views on this tidal wave: Some see it as a problem while others see the opportunity. For the strategic-minded dealership, it’s a perfectly profitable storm.Viewing the trailing trend and now with three record setting years
How to Master the Art of Online Conversation
Much like the printing press during the European Renaissance, the Internet has transformed the way we interact forever. “Googling” is now a verb synonymous with getting answers, we can communicate with people across the world in a matter of seconds and we can buy things without leaving the house. It’s a fast-moving, interactive digital world,
Staying Engaged and Planning for the Future
PEOPLE CAN BE RESISTANT TO CHANGE, SO YOU BREAK THAT RESISTANCE DOWN BY EMBRACING IT, UNDERSTANDING IT AND PUTTING FOCUS ON IT… When David Elattrache stepped in as the general manager of Huggins Honda in 2009, he knew that some changes would be inevitable to keep the dealership competitive for its future. After all, technology
