I heard this said Friday, “You can’t see value in something you know nothing about.”
It makes sense. Think in terms of the used cars you sell.
Customers shopping online can learn considerably about your inventory. But what they cannot quickly get is information that builds value and trust in the specific vehicle they’re considering.
Instead, what happens, is salespersons not equipped with VIN-specific recon reports — or don’t understand their value as a sales tool — mumble something that adds no meaningful value to the conversation or the shopper’s confidence in them or the car.
However, dealers now upgrading their online Vehicle Display Pages with intensive vehicle presentation content can get right to the grit of a range of buying details important to consumers. One of the newest of these document options is the reconditioning report presenting the shopper line-item details on how the dealer reconditioned the car they’re considering to improve its safety, performance, appearance and total value.
From a reconditioning standpoint, from which all facets of a speed-to-sale engagement with shoppers begins, dealers can now showcase to them the exact VIN-specific repairs and improvements made to the cars they’re evaluating.
Here are examples of the types of information dealers using a digital vehicle presentation tool put in online shoppers’ hands:
• Recon Summary, which educates consumers on the quality and integrity of your dealership
• Original OEM MSRP Window Sticker
• Brochure from when the car was new
• CPO or In-House Warranty Docs
Dealers do well to ask whether their reconditioning investment is helping sell that car or is it hurting its saleabillity. “Insist that your reconditioning and merchandising be transparent in the virtual world,” suggests dealership performance consultant and used car specialist Ed French. “Does your pricing strategy reflect that the vehicle is reconditioned? If you did not fully recondition the car because you paid too much for it, that’s a problem.”
“Showing a car that’s 100% sale-ready is going to close at a higher transaction price,” said David Simches, group used car director at Crown Automotive Group. “The whole idea of showing and representing cars, whether remotely, digitally or in-person in your showroom, is that vehicles must be 100% ready to sell and looking like a diamond. We live by that standard here. Why do some keep showing cars that aren’t?”
Now you can sweeten the value of your used cars by giving shoppers access to the reconditioning details of the used cars they’re considering. Let them know your investment in making your vehicles safe, reliable and presentable. Your reconditioning data imported into consumer-facing online apps, like a digital vehicle presentation tool, is a tremendous advantage for sales operations.
