Dealers are facing new challenges in truly unprecedented times with stay-at-home regulations and social distancing. Dealers must find a way to fill the essential need for automotive services while balancing their commitment to the health and safety of staff and buyers alike. And, on top of these hurdles, dealerships continue to look for ways to leverage technology to enable buyers looking for new, innovative ways to find vehicles online. Whether your dealership remains open, is partially open, or has been mandated to remain closed to the public, Dealertrack Performance Manager Jae Chang has advice for utilizing your time wisely to develop a plan of action in this recorded, on-demand webinar. Watch the full recording below and check out Jae’s highlights from the webinar.
Develop a Plan of Action
First and foremost, it’s up to leadership to identify a list of priorities and best practices. For assistance, Dealertrack DMS has provided a useful resource, Best Practices for Driving Digital Transformation. Dealership managers need to take steps to write, publish, and communicate their action plans to their staff—and the general public.
- What are your written protocols for COVID-19?
- Put health and safety, first.
- Let the public know the step you are taking to ensure safety.
Use Your Downtime—it’s Rare!
Dealerships may not have buyers in their showroom floor, but they always have work to do! There is always work that gets shelved when you’re busy focusing on meeting your sales goals. Now is the best time to look within your dealership and discover what can be done with your downtime: Can you repaint your interior? Can you sanitize all of your inventory? Is this a good time to organize and get all of your servicecenter optimized? Stay busy, and show the public what you’re doing. Let your customers know that you are still working by taking photos, publishing videos to your social media pages, and updating the team on progress.
Look for Opportunities
Now that you’re busy getting everything organized, take a look at your inventory. Do you have all of your online vehicle information up to date? People are still looking at your website—when was the last time you double-checked your mobile services, Google-my-business account info, or dialed all of your phone numbers? Jae also suggests looking into hidden and missed open recall opportunities, running vin numbers, and reviewing all of your managed accounts. Data-mine your accounts and make sure that the day your doors open to the public, you can hit the ground running.
Watch the full webinar below:
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