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Three Dealers Who Are Hitting the Ball Out of the Park with Their Pre-Owned Sales
You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that the Internet can help your used vehicle business in this day and age, it’s pretty much a given. But finding the most effective way to use your Internet investment to sell more used cars in your particular market may not be so straightforward.
We recently spoke with three dealers who have blazed their own paths and are enjoying great success in this area. They were eager to share their stories with AutoSuccess.
As you’ll see, some of their advice overlaps and applies directly to virtually all dealerships. By contrast, some is more specific to characteristics that define their respective businesses. But even here there are lessons to be drawn. There may be no reason for you to translate your Web site into Spanish, for example, but the underlying point Reuben Muinos of Galpin Motors in
Here’s what Reuben Muinos, Barry Mandel of Schaefer and Strohminger Automotive, and Ashley Antonio of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura had to say about increasing your pre-owned vehicle sales.
Ashley Antonio, Marketing Director
Paragon Honda and Acura,
Ashley leapt into the world of automotive retailing four years ago, after graduating from Colgate with a degree in English. She began in sales at Paragon Acura and was quickly promoted to Internet manager. After stints managing a floor sales team and the
Constantly Fine-Tuning
“Paragon Honda is the No. 1 ‘Certified Used’ Honda dealership in the country, and both stores do very well with used vehicles of all different makes - so we’re definitely doing something right here. But to say ‘something’ is really a simplification. We’re successful because we’re doing a lot of things right, and constantly fine-tuning to find the right mix of approaches.”
Biggest Mistake
“Early on, I made the mistake of assuming that quality used cars would sell themselves. In reality, it takes a combination of precise pricing and strong merchandising. That’s true for all dealers, but especially so at Paragon. Real estate in the
other sales. Again, the stakes may be higher for us, but any dealer with any limitations on lot size should think this way.”
No Such Thing as Too Much Information
“If you’re posting used cars on your Web site without mileage or pricing or good photos - and I mean more than one or two - you’re wasting your time, and you’re squandering the savings and higher profits that Internet merchandising and marketing make possible. There’s no such thing as posting too much information. Some dealers think that a buyer will call if they want to know more, but the fact is that it takes a lot of information to bring a buyer to the point of making contact. Buyers shop a number of different dealer Web sites, and the dealers that offer the most information up front - including photos of flaws - will win buyers’ trust and business in the end.”
As Many Leads as the Process Can Handle
“Our fundamental strategy isn’t very complicated: we acquire as many quality used car leads as possible. We buy leads from third parties, we obtain them from Honda and we take a number of approaches- including search engine marketing, print, and radio - to drive used car buyers to our own Web site. One reason this works is our strong Internet sales process, which can handle the volume and convert leads at higher-than-average rates.”
Barry Mandel, Marketing Manager
Schaefer and Strohminger Autmotive,
Automotive is a second career for Barry, who retired several years ago from his job as senior VP for a publicly traded health spa company. He wanted to see if he could apply his sales experience in a new area, and he sold cars for two different dealers before signing with Schaefer and Strohminger, the oldest automotive organization in
The Most Visibility Money Can Buy
“From our perspective, the primary value of the Internet for used car sales lies in visibility. There’s no other way to make your entire inventory as visible to such a large audience of car buyers, and the cost is quite low. With other media, you might highlight one or two special vehicles, but the Internet gives you the chance to make every used vehicle on your lot stand out for the people who might be interested in it.”
Be Careful Not to Blow It
“Given this opportunity, you have to be careful not to blow it. The biggest mistake I’ve made in this part of our business has been to post inventory on our Web site and not revisit it regularly. It has to be current, it has to be detailed and the pricing needs to be competitive with what other dealers are doing. You also have to keep an eye on how your competition is merchandising their products. Falling behind in this regard is a sure way to lose business.”
Benefits of Centralization
“We carry a total of nine brands at eight stores. Because our Internet department is part of a centralized BDC, we’re better able to manage the complexities of marketing inventory that’s spread out over all these locations. And centralization is making it more feasible for us to investigate advanced merchandising techniques, including video. But the biggest advantage of a centralized effort is that we’re able to keep improving our online sales process, so that we make the most of the leads that come in.”
Sifting Data for Solutions
“For dealers who are willing to dig deep, there’s a tremendous amount that can be learned from the behavior of visitors who look at used car inventory online. It can be very revealing to see how often each car was viewed, how many leads it generated, the ultimate disposition of those leads, and so on. I’m always looking at our data, trying to find ways to improve how we do things here.”
Reuben Muinos, Business Alliances Manager,
Galpin Motors,
Galpin Motors was founded in 1946, and it’s a powerhouse: it’s been the No. 1 volume Ford dealer for 17 years straight. Reuben has been with Galpin for most of the past 15 years, moving from sales to Internet manager to his current position. In between, he worked for a CRM company, spending nearly three years traveling the country and training dealerships on effective CRM and Internet sales processes.
A Big Leap Upward - And Outward
“The Internet has been an important part of our new car operation since Galpin went online in 1997. But we really began to use it to drive used car sales only about a year ago. The turning point came when we discovered that 75 percent of our used car customers came from within a 10-mile radius. True, this is a very dense area, but there was no reason for our business to be that local. Simply making sure that all of our used car inventory was on our Web site and up to date made an immediate difference. Sales increased between 10 to 20 percent, depending on the franchise, and most of the increase came from buyers outside of the 10-mile radius.”
Alternative Points of Entry
“Another factor that led us to market our used cars more heavily online was our experience in the sub-prime lending market. Many customers with poor credit think that they can’t qualify for a new car loan. That may not be the case, but the fact that they expect to buy a used vehicle makes them more receptive to our marketing. And the fact that many sub-prime customers are eager to apply for credit online gives us a great opportunity to expose them to our used car inventory.”
Selling More Than Just the Car
“Most dealers understand that selling a new car involves selling the dealership itself, the sales experience, the service, and so on. But sometimes they leave that out of the equation when selling a used car. We make it a point to provide multiple photos and a detailed description of every used vehicle, but we also stress our long history, our integrity, our warranties and our extensive reconditioning program - all of which help us close more sales.”
Speaking the Right Language
“Here in the
Dean L. Evans is the vice president of field marketing for The Cobalt Group. He can be reached at 866.406.4309, or by email at devans@autosuccessonline.com.
This article was originally published in the May 2007 edition of AutoSuccess.
