{"id":63,"date":"2018-01-05T10:43:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T15:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/?p=63"},"modified":"2018-01-05T10:44:43","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T15:44:43","slug":"get-the-most-of-your-dealership-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/?p=63","title":{"rendered":"Get the Most Out of Your Dealership Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"

You spend time creating ads, you spend money advertising and yet the sales don\u2019t reflect those efforts.\u00a0 Does this sound familiar? Let\u2019s figure out why we don\u2019t get the results we want before we spend any more time and money on advertising.<\/p>\n

The following is a recent Service experience.\u00a0 (Skip to the \u201cBottom Line\u201d<\/strong> if you don\u2019t need another story about a bad service experience)\u00a0 I needed to replace a trim piece on a 10-year-old vehicle \u2013 easy enough, no diagnosis \u2013 just \u201cdo you have the part in stock?\u201d before I spend an hour in drive time.\u00a0 First, I called the Service Department and was able to get the voicemail of the concierge.\u00a0 The voicemail, while pleasant, encouraged me to make an appointment online at my convenience; I guess that was so I wouldn\u2019t have to bother her with annoying details or questions.\u00a0 You can tell it is a highline dealership because they call their appointment setter\/reservationist a concierge.\u00a0 I left a message explaining the two items I wanted to have installed and waited 24 hours before calling the new Service Manager.\u00a0 I knew he was new because he sent an email letting me know he was the new manager<\/em> and he wanted my business<\/em> with a \u201ctoo good to be true\u201d offer for service on older vehicles.<\/p>\n

Me being me, I felt I should help him out (at no charge) and let him know how he could bring back old Customers\u2026Answer the phone or return calls ASAP!\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to give everything away if you take care of the Customers!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>On day three, I decided I had to be smarter than their system and contacted the Parts Department directly to check on the availability of the part and after hearing \u201cParts, could you hold please?\u201d\u00a0 I knew I had hit gold; I didn\u2019t have to leave a message and wait for it to not be returned. \u00a0I was prepared, I had the VIN and pictures of the trim part ready to email, unfortunately, the Parts Counter Person had been there two weeks and wasn\u2019t familiar with the models of the vehicles or how to look up trim parts.\u00a0 However, he was friendly and tried hard before he had to ask someone how to look up the part.\u00a0 Good news, that part breaks so often that even though the vehicle is 10 years old; it is stocked in dove or ivory.\u00a0 He promised to have a Service Advisor call me, which happened 2 hours later.<\/p>\n

Thirty-six hours after contacting the Dealership, I had an appointment!\u00a0 Yahoo!\u00a0 Several hours after that, the Assistant to the new Service Manager called to see if there was anything he could to do to help me.\u00a0 My first thought was, \u201cCan you connect me to the Used Car Manager and see if he wants to buy a 10-year-old car with less than 70,000 miles?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe he had an in with the Service Department.\u00a0 Side note:\u00a0 The vehicles they sell new are on my short list for a new puppy transportation vehicle, but the Salesperson would have to put a gun to my head to buy a vehicle from them.\u00a0 If I can\u2019t get decent service, what will the sales experience be like?<\/p>\n

A long story to get to the point \u2013 train your people on how to take care of your Customers, how to do their job and to take pride in doing the job well.\u00a0 If you whittled out a percentage of your marketing budget and invested it in improving your process and people, you might receive benefits you are expecting.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bottom Line: Train All of Your Employees:<\/strong><\/p>\n