Customer Experience

The customer experience is obviously very important at all times but right now this is especially true. We recently heard the following from a Mitsubishi dealer: “The bad news was that we only had five customers in our showroom all day last Thursday. The good news was … we sold five cars!”

While dealerships don’t typically sell cars to every customer who walks through the doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hearing of much higher close ratios than normal … and here are some reasons this is the case.

∙ There are very few “window shoppers” in our current climate. If someone shows up at your dealership, you can be fairly certain they’re very serious about purchasing a car.

∙ You literally have all day to construct a deal that works for both sides. A smaller number of customers gives you the chance to spend more time with them. If a customer does not like your first offer, you have as much time as the customer will allow to come up with a Plan B, C or even D.

∙ Because the corporate entities are as eager to move product as the dealers, there are some fantastic buying opportunities for today’s customer. Payments are being deferred and incentives are high; it’s just a matter of getting the word out to the customers!

Making certain you’re putting 100% into the customer experience is the top priority during a time when shopper volume is low. The good news is, it can be especially motivating to do so when significantly higher numbers of them are purchasing vehicles.

JKR Automotive Advertising: The car dealer ad agency.