How to sell more cars and increase dealership revenue

If you want your dealership to experience long-term success and increase revenue, you need a modern sales funnel. This entails incorporating digital systems to connect with your audience. Over the years, the digital landscape has changed how people search for and purchase vehicles.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have largely influenced how people shop for cars online, with more prospective buyers making the transition to online buying. The transition to online shopping has been on the horizon for several years now, driven by advancements in technology and the ever-increasing convenience of e-commerce across various industries.

Dealerships must adapt and pivot to drive performance and boost revenue. Here are some valuable tips for enhancing your organisation's digital efforts and optimising car sales.

1. Develop your online presence

Today, people have more information at their fingertips than ever before. Most car buyers conduct the bulk of their research online, which is where dealerships must be found. There are a few key ways to establish a strong online presence with your dealership, which include:

A responsive, modern website

Your dealership's website will serve as your primary digital representative, so it needs to look and function its best. You can make sure your website is fully optimised by making it:

• Easy to navigate
• Reflective of your brand both visually and in your messaging
• Mobile-responsive to connect with mobile users on smartphones, tablets, and other devices

An up-to-date inventory of available vehicles

Not having a consistently updated inventory can frustrate prospective buyers. It can also turn them away from your dealership entirely. So, you should ensure your inventory is always up-to-date with currently available vehicles.

List of inventory on third-party websites

In addition to having an updated inventory, you should maximise its visibility by listing it on various third-party websites, such as carsales.com.au.

Social media presence and engagement

Apart from your website and inventory, you must take full advantage of social media platforms. For dealerships, a platform like Facebook or a more visual site such as Instagram can be the key to promoting your brand. You can improve your social media presence and drive engagement with high-quality, well-targeted ads and posts.

Clear and easy calls to action on your website

You should clarify what steps you want your customers to take when they visit your site. Your website should have clear calls to action that lead people down the sales funnel.

2. Use a CRM system

Dealerships also need a reliable customer relationship management (CRM) solution to help communicate with prospects. The right CRM software will offer many benefits, including:

• Lifecycle management for every customer
• Improved call quality through call tracking and metrics
• Customer data analytics
• The ability to collect feedback from customers to inform future improvements
• Customer referral collection
• Automation of many manual tasks

3. Equip salespeople to close the deal

Your sales teams should have plenty of training on the technology you use to empower them. Otherwise, you may find that you've invested a lot of your budget in a digital solution that fails to increase dealership revenue because teams don't know how to get the most from it.

Ensure that your sales teams are well-versed in the capabilities of your CRM and other sales tools, empowering them to maximise their efforts. This will play a crucial role in driving an increase in car sales for your dealership.

4. Streamline the sales process digitally

Using the right digital solution, you can streamline the entire sales process. Specifically, through an automotive business intelligence platform like SalesLogs, you'll have the chance to harness the power of real-time data tracking and optimisation to improve operations and increase dealership revenue.

A suitable platform will centralise all of your dealership's data into a user-friendly interface accessible to all team members. This allows you and your teams to monitor performance effectively, identify areas for improvement, and enhance your strategies from the ground up.

Features such as KPI dashboards can help you keep track of key performance indicators as you attempt to hit your goals. Meanwhile, a targets manager can help ensure everyone in your organisation is consistently on track to meet your company goals. Additionally, digital leaderboards would help sales staff gauge their performance compared to other team members, driving them to be more competitive.

The ideal solution would also allow for cross-communication between different teams to further maintain internal efficiency, including finance, aftermarket and administration.

5. Encourage after-sale nurturing

The relationship between dealerships and their customers doesn't end with a sale. Doing what you can to continue nurturing these customers toward repeat purchases is important. For example, you can:

• Promote new services that your dealership offers to help maintain their newly purchased vehicles.
• Remind customers when to take their vehicle in for service.
• Promote other related deals.

Through the use of retargeting ads, email marketing, and other efforts, you'll be able to drive recurring business from existing customers to boost loyalty.

Sell more vehicles and increase dealership revenue with a comprehensive digital strategy

By developing and incorporating a solid digital strategy for your dealership, you'll drive more sales and dramatically improve your company's long-term performance. You'll have the chance to stay ahead of competitors and increase the number of loyal customers who keep turning to your brand. The key is finding the right tools to add to your roster, including an all-in-one business intelligence solution like SalesLogs.