Automotive retailers in Canada are increasingly focused on running efficient operations; as new vehicle supply remains low and interest rates continue to climb.
That was evident in J.D. Power’s recently released 2023 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study, which found that 40 per cent of dealers do not favour an on-site visit from a lender’s sales representative as their preferred communication channel for a sales meeting.
“Dealers are looking for the most effective use of their time, so interactions with lenders’ sales representatives need to be value-added whether that’s via phone, text, email or in-person,” said Patrick Roosenberg, Senior Director of Automotive Finance Intelligence at J.D. Power, in a statement.
Dealers also expect the sales representative to bring high value to their sales meeting and meet certain key performance indicators. An example of this would be explaining the lender’s “risk appetite,” since many dealers want to understand the provider’s buying parameters.
The study’s findings indicate that when a sales rep meets all the KPIs, 64 per cent of non-captive prime dealers are nearly three times more likely to send more business to the lender. That is compared to 27% per cent who may be less enthusiastic about doing so.
“How they (dealers) opt to interact with sales reps varies from dealership to dealership and should be taken into consideration,” added Roosenberg. “The underlying stance we hear from dealers is that each communication touchpoint must be value-add regardless of channel.”
To see how each lender ranked on a 1,000-point scale, see below:
