A NADA Dealership Lifeline Webinar
Although the U.S. economic climate is now far different (and far worse) than anyone expected at the beginning of the year, the ability to pivot and adjust to the current situation has never been more critical. Restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are loosening up in the U.S., but the crisis is still fluid. If states see an increase in diagnosed cases, then the country could go back to shutdowns across the continental U.S. In the fall, experts are warning people to expect a second wave of disease. Although scientists are working hard to create a vaccine, no one knows when (or if) they will succeed.
Early results are promising, which is good news, but you have a dealership to run, and you can’t afford to wait for the scientists. The first goal is to survive. If you can accomplish that much, what can you do to maximize your efforts so your dealership can be as profitable as possible?
NADA has launched a Coronavirus Hub at nada.org/coronavirus to help dealers. Instead of in-person training, NADA is also working on a series of Dealership Lifeline Webinars. A webinar about how to create a plan to reopen your dealership took place on May 15, 2020. (To access the webinar, visit nada.org/comprehensive-planning-for-re-opening-form/.) The webinar was taught by Ian Grace, Senior Manager, Partner Performance, who works at automotiveMastermind.
When times are good, paying attention to maximizing your resources may not matter. You may not need to care about what you missed as long as you still have plenty of sales taking place. But that is not the current market. As Ian Grace pointed out, now is the time to make sure you don’t miss any opportunity to make money, because those missed opportunities will determine whether you can stay in business. Do not neglect them.
You may have furloughed staff. Going forward, you are going to need enough staff so that each department can work efficiently, but you might want to consider staggering shifts. Be sure that whatever you do is compliant with health recommendations.
As you work to motivate your team, you will want to make sure that all employees are doing the same things:
- Practicing social distancing
- Wearing masks and (in some cases) gloves
- Not shaking hands with potential customers
- Rearranging work areas to allow more room than was allowed previously.
You will also want to review sales quotas, goals and pay plans. What used to be realistic a few months ago may not be reasonable now. Adjust accordingly.
That done, turn your attention to your customers. Communicate with customers on all external touchpoints, but focus on the ones that are most likely to reach them.
- Schedule an event such as an email blast to tell them what your plans are.
- Don’t neglect the obvious. You want to attract people who are driving by. Now might be the right time for some balloons on the lot.
- People are often at home now, which means this is an excellent time to send direct mail, such as magazines, to customers.
- Radio advertising may not be effective since people are not driving as much.
- Television is more limited because of what isn’t happening in the sports world; people are most likely to watch sports on live television, but since that has shut down, they are less likely to see your ads.
- Your chances of reaching potential customers are better with digital communication.
Customers will want to know whether they can buy a car safely from you. They will want to know about any process changes you are making to eliminate or reduce the need for in-person contact.
- Update your website, if you haven’t already, to include information about COVID-19 as it affects your dealership and any special offers you can give them to encourage them to buy.
- Make 60-second videos that walk them through the dealership and show them the safety measures you are putting into place. Show them free masks and hand sanitizer at entrances, as well as the way you have rearranged the dealership. Tell them how you are cleaning customer lounges and bathrooms and any other protective measures you are taking, such as disposable seat covers and EPA-approved cleaners.
- Give everyone the VIP treatment
as much as possible when it comes to picking cars up and then returning them. - Continue to do what you can to make it easier for people to get things done without visiting the dealership.
Most dealerships have worked hard to offer online sales during the COVID-19 shutdown, which means online sales jumped forward three to four years more than would have been the case without the shutdown. That jump is not going to reverse itself. Many business activities that used to require in-person communication can and should move to video conferencing when possible. People can buy cars in person, remotely, or some combination of the two. The F&I manager, for example, can talk to the customer by phone. Also, service advisers can offer customers video calls for initial diagnostics.
Other important steps are as follows:
- As you prepare to open up again for business, you will want to conduct a physical inventory of every vehicle on the lot. All dealer tags need to be accounted for.
- Update pricing based on current MMR and used car values.
- Analyze current and incoming inventory and decide whether you need to adjust pricing to match market demand.
- Review the leases that matured during the closure. Many OEMS extended leases, but you need to understand what the situation is for each lease.
- Schedule deliveries for vehicles sold during the shutdown.
- Go through the DMV paperwork. Make sure to replace temporary registration with permanent registration.
- Look at who reached out to you during the closure. Now is the time to start reaching back.
- If you paused data-mining software, relaunch it.
- Consider investing in telecommunication software.
- Put your business development center to work.
- Make sure your loaners are accounted for, washed and fueled. Think about adding to them.
The service department was probably open during the shutdown. Service departments have always had an important role to play in taking care of customers and building brand loyalty, but that is even more important than it used to be. They present a new way of doing business at both ends of the company, front and back.
This year has become a difficult one for selling automobiles. As you ramp up your efforts to sell, review every aspect of your business for thoroughness, efficiency and excellent customer service. The fundamentals of hard work, attention to detail and service have always worked in the past, and there’s no reason to think that they won’t continue to work now.
This story appears in the 2019-2020 Issue 3 of the Utah Auto Dealer Magazine.
