07 Sep
How to sell more cars and generate more profit.
Every good car dealer knows the "secrets" to selling more pre-owned cars and generating more profit. We say "secrets" in inverted commas, because these are not really secrets, since everyone knows them, they are more like established principles or pillars that all dealers must prioritise to stay ahead of the competition, although not all of them do it well.
These are:
1) Always shop well.
2) Sell faster.
It sounds simple, but in reality there is much more to these principles at their core. Buying well and selling fast should be the priority, but being also the product of many other factors, such as tasks and responsibilities that the dealer must perform in sync and perfection, makes fulfilling these pillars much more complex than it seems.
That is not to say that it is not clear what needs to be done. In reality, we know exactly what works, and what doesn't work. That's why today we want to share with all dealers some tips, the product of studies and research, to help you identify the things you can do to increase the productivity of your operation and grow your business sales.
Effective and proven strategies.
There are 3 very simple, but extremely powerful things that a dealer can easily do (with the right technology) to guarantee positive results immediately.
1) Always buy based on the market.
2) Position and maintain competitive inventory.
3) Always seek the widest reach.
1) Always buy on the basis of the market.
We all know that a well made investment generates profits, but a poorly made investment inevitably damages the profitability of the business. For this reason, before making any purchase, a dealer should take the time to analyse and properly inform himself about the competitive conditions of the market, and only with this information can he make investment decisions.
Making a decision and making a purchase without knowing with absolute certainty aspects such as:
(a) What is the supply in the market?
b) Who am I competing against?
c) At what prices are competitors positioning themselves?
This is the perfect way to guarantee a sub-optimal investment with a high probability of resulting in a financial loss for the business.
Today's shopper has access to the best marketplaces offering hundreds of thousands of options 365 days a year, these are:
- Mercadolibre.com
- Seminuevos.com
- Segundamano.mx
- Autocosmos.com.mx
-See all...
Being that a car represents a great economic effort, the buyer is going to take the time to review all the options before making a decision. So we would like to ask the following question, if the consumer nowadays performs this market analysis for almost every product he/she is thinking of buying, especially a car, shouldn't the dealer do it too? At the end of the day, as a company we have to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers to really understand them so that we have the opportunity to serve them. The dealer who does that will get the buyer's business, and that is a guarantee of the law of supply and demand.
2) Position and maintain competitive inventory.
While we believe that by now all dealers understand the "why" their inventory should always be priced competitively relative to the competition, it is important to look at some of the more salient aspects that drive this reasoning:
- Virtually all buyers are online and take the time to search through various sources before buying.
- Virtually all dealers are advertising and selling their cars online.
I don't think there is much more to say, this point is very intuitive. To sell fast, you need to grab the buyers' attention with an excellent value offer relative to what they are going to see themselves in the market, because if there is one thing you can be sure of, it is that the buyer is going to take the time to look at as many options as possible until they find the best opportunity. Competitive positioning of inventory is critical and absolutely necessary to have a chance of gaining buyer interest and generating sales.
3) Always seek the longest range.
There is no point in buying based on the market and competitively positioning the inventory if the right buyer cannot find the cars where they are looking for them. That's why it's crucial for the dealer to display their inventory in as many places as possible, whether in virtual or physical territory. Of course, if they want an excellent return on their advertising investment, online is the easiest and safest way to go.
Marketplaces such as Mercado Libre, Seminuevos.com, Segundamano.mx, Autocosmos and others do an excellent job of bringing car buyers and sellers together, and all the dealer has to do is upload their cars to the portal and pay a very reasonable fee for the value received.
In addition to the portals, which are really the main source of traffic and sales for the dealer, the dealer should have his own website. This provides credibility and of course most importantly, exposure of the inventory. Generating traffic to a particular business' website in such a competitive market is not going to be easy or cheap, however, a team that is up to the challenge should do it - a good strategy is worth the effort.
At the end of the day it is always best to test as many sales channels as possible, and based on the results prioritise. Generally, the more presence the inventory has, the more sales it generates. Of course, as long as the ads are well publicised, as handling so many media can become overwhelming and result in typical mistakes such as one zero too many in the price, or the wrong car version. These mistakes are catastrophic, as they cause buyers not to see you, and if they do see you, they won't believe you. It is an easy mistake to make, with business implications such as lost sales, reduced profits and even reputational damage to the company or more. For this very reason many already operate tools that automatically publish to all marketplaces, however we must consider that most of these applications do not get it right, a very common challenge that most systems face is due to the complexity of catalogue homologation. It is important to hire a system that makes this clear, just make sure you choose well. And remember, what may at first glance look good, may have fundamental internal flaws that result in damaging and silent symptoms for the business.
The Best Tools for the Dealer...
Knowing what needs to be done is only the first step, executing it is another matter altogether. Market-driven procurement is a ridiculously tedious, time-consuming and tedious process, and the bigger the business grows, the more time it takes. But it doesn't have to be that way. And let's not even talk about the process of market monitoring to keep inventory competitively positioned, that's basically impossible to do without the right technology. That's why today, we'll not only share with you the secrets and proven strategies, but we'll also give you the technology tools that every dealer needs in order to execute the strategies we've covered today.
As we saw above, there are 3 very simple, but extremely powerful things that a dealer can easily do (of course, with the right technology) to guarantee positive results immediately. Now, we share with you the technological tools that the dealer needs to be able to execute the strategies very easily.
#1 VALUATOR
To always buy on the basis of the market.
To buy well, it is necessary to analyse the market, identify the competition, and evaluate the business strategy, and only then make a purchasing decision. This is reverse engineering, and it is what can guarantee the dealer a profitable investment.
#2 MONITOR
To position and maintain competitive inventory.
To keep inventory competitively positioned from purchase to sale, there is only one viable way to do it, and that is Intelimotor's Monitor application.
#3 PUBLISHER
To reach the widest possible range at all times.
Remembering the importance of reaching as many buyers as possible to maximise the speed of sales, it is important that the dealer displays his inventory in as many media and channels as possible. With Intelimotor's publishing application, the dealer can manage his advertisements on as many portals and websites as he wants.
Made by Dealers, for Dealers.
At Intelimotor we give you a platform with all the applications and tools your business needs to automate processes and increase sales.
That's all for today, we hope this information will be of value to you.
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