India is one of the most bullish markets for automobiles and it is very difficult to increase your car dealership business
In 2018-19, around 3.4 million vehicles were sold in India. No wonder every company – local and international – wants to be in India because of the growing purchasing power of common man.
This has led to an abundance of choice for customers. And with more choice comes more competition. So while customers have got the upper hand when it comes to bargaining, car dealerships feeling the pinch of competition.
Almost every car dealer tries to lure customers with discounts, offers, and benefits like free accessories. In doing so, they all sound exactly the same, meaning that customers often use price as factor to make the final decision. To stand out, your car dealership needs to distinguish itself from the others.
Here are five ways in which a CRM software helps your car dealership business to increase car sales.
1. Tracking the Sales Pipeline
The biggest challenge that most dealerships face is in tracking the sales pipeline. It could be for the month, quarter and the year. As a result, their efforts yield little return on investment. This creates pressure because of which salespeople go to any (unethical) lengths to make a sale. As a result, you might make a sale but will lose a lifelong customer.
Unethical practices might get you short-term sales, but will lose you, lifelong customers
On the other hand, a CRM software is a single repository where all your salespeople can add information about their sales and prospects. This means leaders can see sales forecasts and track whether the actual numbers match predictions. If they don’t, leaders can take action quickly rather than when it’s too late.
Thus, a CRM tool brings transparency in the sales pipeline in a car dealership.
2. Designing Compelling Offers
Customers want to feel special regardless of whether they spend two lakh or twenty lakh rupees at your dealership. The most proven way to make customers feel special is to design offers specific to their wants and needs.
But let’s be honest. You cannot customize every offer (or car) for individual customers like Bentley or Maybach do. So how should you make customers feel special? By identifying patterns in the needs and wants of each segment and customizing your offers accordingly.
For instance, the needs of customers purchasing a Maruti Suzuki Swift will be different from those purchasing a Hyundai Verna. But customers purchasing a Swift will have similar expectations, as will those purchasing a Verna.
When you enter details about these expectations in the CRM software, you get better insights into needs of individual customer segments and can design marketing offers – discounts, benefits, etc. – accordingly.
Thus, you get and get better return on investment for your marketing efforts by using a CRM software.
3. Tracking Employee Productivity
Most car dealerships deploy telemarketing agents today, regardless of the size of their business. This has become an important activity to increase sales. So an important activity for managers is also to monitor whether the telemarketing agents deliver what’s expected.
CRM software come with in-built features like call recording, live monitoring, and analytics. These allow managers to monitor
Similarly, information fed into the CRM software can be used to analyze the productivity of every department from sales to servicing, and so on. Accordingly, processes can be refined to make employees more productive and contribute to the dealership’s business goals.
Thus, a CRM software can improve efficiency and effectiveness of a car dealership by up to 40 percent.
CRM software can improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of car dealerships by up to 40 percent
4. Improvement in Follow Ups
Increasing car sales is not the only way to increase revenue. Your dealership also earns revenue from vehicle servicing, renewing insurance policies, upselling, cross selling, and so on.
But most car dealerships without CRM software are unable to follow through on these actions because the data they have is either scattered or incomplete. Technology however, has made it easier for businesses and brands to automate many of these tasks and instead, apply their energy on core tasks like maintaining customer relations and increasing output.
CRM tools enable your employees to set reminders for following up with prospects for sales calls, with existing customers about new offers, vehicle servicing schedules and insurance renewal.
CRM tools reduce human dependency for mundane yet important tasks that contribute to a company’s revenue
5. Getting Effective Referrals
Word-of-mouth is the most powerful medium for any business. A delighted customer will always provide car dealerships with more business in form of referrals, which are fifty percent more likely to convert than a cold lead, and in half the time.
But most customers don’t provide referrals. The reason? Dealerships never ask.
By using a CRM solution, businesses can deploy a standard procedure to collect feedback from their customers to improve their service. Plus, they can ask for referrals from every satisfied customer and engage those referrals to increase sales.
Summing Up
Customers don’t want deep discounts and cheap offers all the time.
What they really want is to feel understood. No matter what the size of the car, it’s a huge investment for a customer as per her/his budget. Customers want to feel assured that the car dealer has their best interest in his heart, and that they’ll get a product which matches their needs and service that gives them peace of mind.
How to earn more revenue by understanding what your customers really need ?
If you use a CRM tool effectively, you can deliver on all these aspects and not just build a loyal base of customers, but also build a steady stream of referrals. And all your customers will willingly pay a slight premium because they’ll trust you.
When you do this, profit and growth will no longer remain a dream for your business, but become a reality to increase your car dealership business
