Dealers and dealership managers should not accept lower grosses as the inevitable result of a strong Internet unit sales effort.Many dealerships are reporting Internet grosses equal to (or even higher than) their traditional showroom deliveries. There are several things that dealerships can do to ensure that they aren’t “leaving money on the keyboard” when they review their Internet sales performance.
Last year the Dealix Dealer Newsletter ran a series of articles by Cobalt’s VP of applications and services Kevin Root that were very popular with our readers and focused on increasing profits with pre-owned vehicle sales. If your dealership sells used or CPOs, you’re bound to get some valuable tactical strategies from this series. June ‘05 Increase Your Pre-Owned Profits
Annie Kennedy, director of business development at Hartzheim Dodge of San Jose, California, definitely falls into the category of auto industry professionals who can claim it’s in their blood. Coming from an extended family that owns a number of Cleveland-area dealerships, Kennedy knows the ins and outs of the dealership world and, not to mention, she has a strong track record of sales success under her belt. Today, Kennedy has channeled all this experience into running a very successful Internet department at Hartzheim. In this interview, she discusses how it's done.
Dealers are still relying on a mix of marketing channels to connect with new buyers and re-sell to existing customers, though more and more the combination of tools is technology and Internet-related. Tamara Seymour covers the key components of the optimal marketing mix for dealers today.
This is an abbreviated version of an article that was originally published in the July 2006 issue of Dealer Marketing Magazine.
A study by R.L. Polk and The Cobalt Group found that 56% of 1.1 million third party Internet leads resulted in a sale. This means the majority of Internet customers who submit leads have the intention to buy. Dealix aggregates high quality third party leads from the top sites on the Web, including: Edmunds, AOL Autos, Motor Trend, Kelley Blue Book, Yahoo Autos, IntelliChoice, AutoTrader.com, MSN Autos, and hundreds more, to connect you with serious car buyers. Don’t lose these sales to a competitor! Find out how many buyers are in your market with the Dealix On-Demand Lead EstimatorSM. Select your franchises, set the size of your territory, and get immediate results via email.
Approximately 70% of consumers begin their car shopping experience online, but what vehicles are they looking for? The Dealix Most Requested Vehicles IndexSM tells us that many of the usual suspects were the favorites of consumers in the second quarter; however, it also showed increased interest in some new comers to the Most Requested Vehicles ranking.
