Over the past few months, we’ve been supporting dealers by providing a webinar training series to highlight the best ways to use your CRM and other Elead retail solutions to their fullest potential. Our hope is that together we will all come out of the economic downturn better than we went in.

If you’ve missed the webinars, have no fear! We’re here to wrap up the top tips from the Dealer Support Webinar series so far. And we’re just getting started, so stay tuned for even more educational opportunities for your team.

How can a mobile CRM app improve the efficiency of your salespeople?

Your mobile app is the gateway for your salespeople to add leads into the pipeline. If you log more, you will sell more. Great salespeople are always looking for new opportunities and ways speed up the sales process. A mobile CRM app can help you log every opportunity – from the guy at the gas station to the waiter at lunch to the barista at the coffee shop – and get them information they need to make a decision quickly.

How can you encourage your more traditional salespeople to embrace digital retail tactics?

Like anything, if you want to see change, you have to take ownership to create a new culture in your store. In this case, creating a digital retail culture means you have to support the change and make sure everyone in your store is on the same page. If you treat digital retail like just another lead source, that’s all it will ever be. If you have a clear message across all your marketing channels, advertising, social, etc. but no in-store training to support the process, you’ve thrown your marketing dollars down the drain.

What can your dealership do to get back to business and be stronger?

Train, train and train some more! Use every class and training at your disposal so your team can improve at every system your store uses for lead handling, follow-up processes and sales. A good vendor partner will have a library and university of live and self-paced learning modules. Partners with a certification program can help you to manage training activities effectively.

Improve your bench. There are going to be a lot of talented free agents hitting the market. The reality is the 5-car guy might not have a desk in your store anymore, especially if you can replace them with a solid 15-20 a month salesperson.

What new trends can dealers adopt to create an impact on sales efforts?

Video chat! There are so many platforms (Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.) and so many ways to integrate it into your business.

• Remove walkaround presentations with prospective buyers
• Remote sales meetings with your team
• Trade walkarounds from remote ACVs
• Video upselling for ASR in the technician stall

Studies show OEM loyalty hovers around 60%, while dealers are much lower at around 25%. Why are customers so much less loyal to dealers?

Dealers spend marketing dollars 5:1 on acquisition vs. retention. If dealers shift marketing spend to focus more on retention, the numbers will rise and the equation fixes itself.

Turnover is another big contributor to the retention issue. Make your business a great place for people to work. Support them, train them and reward them. Hire the right way in the first place, and you’ll fix the problem before it starts.

At the end of the day, we are your partner and we are here to support you. If you want help building a custom action plan for moving forward, or want to catch a recording of one of our training sessions, contact your performance manager. And, as always, we have our CDK Global University program for Elead, now with a new certification program, to help you brush up on the best practices for the Elead suite of products and services.

Let’s move forward together into a booming business in the second half of the year!