What You’ll Learn at Digital Dealer Conferences

The Digital Dealer Conferences are an industry standard and provide incredible information. They always have knowledgeable presenters sharing information on timely topics as well as the industry basics. If you could not attend a recent Digital Dealer Conference, please allow me to sum up what the attendees learned at this event and share with you what was discussed in the presentations.

Here are the main tips and advice that many paid thousands to hear. I have also taken the liberty of throwing in a few tips the professional speakers may have missed.  If you and your dealership follow this advice you will see improvement in employee retention, customer loyalty and building a reputation as a good neighbor. 

  • Treat customers with respect
  • Guide customers through the sales process and solve their transportation and financial issuesbigstock-During-Presentation-6089464
  • Provide social proof you can deliver a great customer experience
  • Never ask a customer to post a review for you while in the dealership. If they liked you to that point, standing over their shoulder while they type the review will blow it for you.
  • Stop being sexist and treat women fairly in the sales and service departments
  • Sales people need to be online, visible, engaged, and build their personal brand
  • People like watching videos. Use them to inform and educate prospects and customers. Don’t just post videos of the cars in your inventory.
  • Everyone is on smart phones and tablets so be sure to be present in this new mobile environment
  • Use SMS-Text messaging but be sure to have a software solution that keeps you compliant as the penalties for non-compliance are huge. See one of the recommended solutions here.
  • Keep your website updated. Empty staff pages and boilerplate “About Us” pages show visitors you don’t care enough about them to keep your website current. It’s your site; make it the best you can.
  • Do not require a complete dossier before someone can submit a contact form on your website
    • All a dealer should require is a name, email and/or phone number. If it’s a garbage message just delete it, but respond to most inquiries and you will create more customers.
  • Managers need to publicly recognize employees that do a good job. It keeps them engaged and boosts morale
  • Managers: Never ask an employee to do something you would not do yourself. If they are shoveling snow off cars; you should too!
  • Never use slang, derogatory terms, or curse in the dealership as it shows you are either rude, stupid, ignorant or all of the above. Act like the professional you hope people believe you are.
  • Use technology to enhance relationships not to take the place of them
  • Use and depend on your CRM system. It is the foundation for professional success.
  • Use, do not abuse social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Be a good neighbor online.
  • Try not to spill ketchup on your shirt when you eat at the local burger joint. If you do have a spill, keep a spare shirt in your car or truck so you can change before going back to work.
  • Tell people your dealership guarantees NOT to meet or beat any price. They will look at you with puzzled curiosity; and then you can explain that at your dealership there is more to making a customer happy than the price. Then tell YOUR story!
  • Don’t look for gimmicks to bring in those extra ten deals a month. Leverage solutions that align with your dealership culture and focus.
  • Don’t promise anything you cannot deliver!
  • Work Hard, Be Nice to People.

The rest is all common sense stuff that you already know. If you have the resources to attend industry conferences I highly recommend attending these events. You will learn as much if not more from conversations in the hallways than you will from the presentations.

Mark Dubis

Info on events can be found at http://www.digitaldealerconference.com/