Digital marketing, auto industry expert and former car dealer Jason Harris offers tips and advice for dealers on how to navigate the pandemic and thrive when it’s over.
Normally, there is an air of excitement as spring dawns. With the snow melting and the days growing longer, we yearn for the sun in our face and the wind in our hair as we hit the road.
It’s supposed to be a great time for dealerships.
But then COVID-19 slapped us in the face. At first, we thought it would just blow over. Everyone thought it would. After a couple of weeks, we’d get back on the road to recovery. It was only supposed to be a small blip in our plans.
But, it wasn’t.
And now self-distancing policies have taken their toll. Whether you had a good start to the year or not, it’s starting to hurt. Normal slowdowns aren’t like this. We’ve all balanced our business operations to cover for slowdowns in the economy. When sales are down, services compensate. We’re smart professionals in a bullet-proof economy.
Or so we thought.
Now, it seems like it may never end.
Across every industry, the economy is faltering and when it comes to your dealership, you’re likely feeling it on multiple fronts; car sales, both new and used, parts, and service are all suffering. No rebalancing will help.
Before you throw in the towel, however, let’s get something straight. COVID-19 doesn’t have to mean the end of your business.
The following seven principles can help you weather the storm and position your dealership to recover faster when everyone is permitted to leave their homes again.
One: Adopt An Attitude of Gratitude
Gratitude is the act of not only seeing the positive in events or experiences but also recognizing the efforts of other people. For you, those people are your co-workers and clients. With genuine recognition, your people become more effective and your clients more engaged.
Leading every conversation with a thank you will encourage the recipients to share that gratitude onward.
For example, some dealerships are offering free sanitizing detailing for first responders and frontline staff. Those dealerships aren’t just wiping down vehicles with chemicals, but going the extra mile with steam cleaning.
Your community has been supporting your dealership for years, maybe even decades. By genuinely offering that support back, you can have faith that when you need it most, it will come.
Two: Create Cleaning and Precautionary Steps
Did you know that the COVID-19 virus may survive on some surfaces for up to several days? Your clients may. And right now, they may be wondering whether you can catch the coronavirus from your seats or the front desk.
There is good news though. Disinfecting those surfaces can kill it.
Take a look at your lobby, offices, shop, and even the vehicles you’re working on. You need a ten-step plan for how you’re keeping your people and clients safe from the potential spread of COVID-19.
Start by defining whether you’re open and then go through everything like your check-in process, making sales, or swapping out winter tires. Through it all, you need to define what sanitizing means — steam or chemicals — and then be prepared to clearly communicate it.
Three: Communicate to your Customers
Having a new process for check-ins won’t mean anything if you don’t communicate it to your customers. Communicate it selflessly rather than promoting amazing sales offers like we have normally done in the past.
We’ve all promised to do more if we just had more time. Well, there are a lot of people at home right now and a good number of them are online. Emails are being opened, texts are being responded to, social media threads are being obsessed over.
All you have to do is start communicating. Just try to connect with empathy to your clients. Be honest and earnest and remember that you have to do it on every media platform; email, website, google, Facebook, voicemail, even the staff responsible for your live chat.
This is your chance to stay top of mind and alter your clients’ perspectives by showing them we are people too and not “just the dealership.”
Four: Establish By Appointment Only Services
Clients may be looking to reduce their costs during this time of unknowns, but skimping on their required servicing will only hurt them in the long run. Unfortunately, social distancing has created a paradigm shift in our industry.
As much as we love our new waiting rooms with those three new smart TVs installed last fall, we can’t use them. We need to establish a robust appointment system that includes clear communication with our clients.
You can’t just blithely tell everyone that you’re open and think it’s enough; you need to over-communicate. If ever there was a time for filling inboxes, this is it — you won’t be penalized for sending out a couple of emails regarding a client’s servicing or tire change.
Let them know what’s expected of them and how you’re going to add value to their experience.
Five: Connect Using Video
In a time when most of us are locked in our houses, video is having a huge impact. Not only is it going to change your client’s perception of your dealership, but just the act of seeing a human face will establish a connection.
Be willing to get in front of a camera for apps like Facetime, Skype, or Zoom. Show them that you care and are empathetic and knowledgeable. A simple phone call might suffice, but when you show them why their brakes need to be replaced or how the tire tread is low, they’ll see the truth in your eyes and your emotions.
Video builds those lasting personal connections.
Six: Leverage OEM Support
Dealerships use their OEM support to differing degrees, but now is the time to explore what options they have available for you and your clients.
Not only are some offers amazing, but more importantly, some of your clients will need immediate help to defer payments. There are even some OEM partners paying for dealers to do door-to-door pick-up and delivery. Now, that’s a way to wow your clients.
Our typical marketing strategy has been to lead with whatever discount is being offered, but now, more than ever, you need to evolve your operational model towards a customer-centric one.
Car payments can often be the second-largest expense a client has and with so many people at home not earning money, they’ll need help. Your OEM messaging will reinforce your own customer-centric communications. Show your clients how you can help them handle their concerns.
Seven: Strategize and Plan for the Future
We all know that fewer people coming through the doors is giving us lots of time to think.
It’s time to sit down and plan.
Your plan has to be dynamic, able to deal with the yet-unknown realities we’ll face. Who knows what normal is going to look like when we finally see COVID-19 in the rear-view mirror?
Oil and gas are at the lowest levels in years and yet, we may find that people enjoy working from home more often, thus changing the features everyone has desired for years. Moreover, we could have a resurgence of business because people may be leary of using public transit. Either way, we need to be prepared
We need to be creative and ask ourselves the hard what-if questions so we can adapt to stay ahead of the curve.
Where do we go from here?
This is big. It’s daunting. Your clients don’t know what to do. Don’t wait for them to reach out to you. They may not be ready to speak yet, but you need to try for when they are ready. You can do this by mixing up your marketing message, diversifying your content as education and entertainment, and establishing consistency across all your platforms.
The relationships you build today will be for your future.
Don’t let your silence speak for you.
