While creating a dealership network, it is imperative to engage and communicate in a way that aligns with your business goals. It becomes essential for dealers to improve both online and in-store brand experiences, which help to boost overall sales and brand loyalty for your automotive dealership. The question is, how can you ensure that all dealerships in your network run smoothly and as effectively as possible? Let’s have a look.
How to ensure automotive dealerships in your network work efficiently?
Know your audience
Organizations spend a significant amount of time and money, to properly research, study, and survey their customer audience for insights regarding customer habits and buying behavior. But it is recommended to begin audience research at the dealer/distributor level. In many cases, manager-level audiences in your automotive dealership are the most eager to communicate with you. They are bound to appreciate and use any information that makes their jobs easier and more efficient. Remember, it is they who generally have the most interactions with your end users.
Provide proper training
Dealers and distributors have to be provided updated information and data at all times. They also require easy, accessible training opportunities to keep themselves and their staff educated about the latest market trends, purchase behavior of customers, and so on. When it comes to your dealership network, you have to be proactive and offer ongoing product, sales and service training, as well as business management and skills training, new technology education, and information regarding industry insights and relevant market trends. You could include a few rewards and incentives to motivate personnel even further.
Regular and two-way communication
For communication to be successful, it has to be a two-way street. When you send information to managers and other staff, it should be easy for them to reach out to you for more details. The communication has to be shared throughout the network – it can be easy to forget to share promotions or new program details with the field sales reps or customer service department, but these are the front-line communicators of the automotive dealership. They should be informed so that communication with your dealers is well-rounded. To ensure ongoing promotions and deals reach all of your dealerships, it’s essential to have a high-quality dealer network management system. This will help all parties stay up to date with the latest and greatest and not miss out on any great sales opportunities.
The frequency of communication matters too. Do you provide both day-to-day operational information as well as high-level, strategic news? If you don’t have dedicated communication channels for your dealership network, it is time to create them immediately. Be it weekly emails, webinars, videos, or blogs, it is necessary to maintain a regular line of communication for the automotive dealership.
Be precise
It’s natural to want to cram as much information as possible into a single piece of communication – after all, everything you want to share is important, right? But individuals in your network are busy, which is why long communication pieces are likely to go unread. It is crucial to hit the high points and offer additional resources with details if they want to learn more. For example, if you have a seasonal promotion to share with managers, jot down the main points of the promotion (make it three or four points), and then state how it can be profitable for the business. List the products that they need to buy or sell, and highlight how to promote them at both the brand and local level.
Get input
How often do you ask managers and personnel for their opinions, ideas, and top challenges? Make sure that individuals involved in the dealership network can share feedback and provide input when required. These are excellent chances to learn more about any pain points, missed opportunities, and tools required to be successful. Schedule input sessions or meetings regularly to listen to their concerns and ask them to share thoughts about how things could improve.
Dealer network management made easy
Dealer network management can be simplified with the right solution, such as Modera Importer. The cloud-based platform offers a centralized view of your business from a single dashboard, so you can keep tabs on every detail of the buy/sell process, vehicle inventory, and other factors. It also helps to collate real-time sales metrics, thus providing dealers with current product and marketing data, which can be used to develop sales and marketing strategies in future.
If your automotive dealership wants to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing market, it is imperative to invest time in strengthening the dealership network using the strategies mentioned above.
