Three Great Values in Automotive Marketing

As an automotive marketing consultant, I make it my business to know where the deals are for dealers. The following views are my own with no input or compensation from the companies mentioned, so check with each company directly for an actual offer.

1. CarWoo
This company does not accept money from dealers. Their sole source of income is from consumers who pay for their service. Dealerships accepted to receive CarWoo referral opportunities will never write a check to CarWoo, but do need to learn how to profitably submit offers to CarWoo shoppers. The volume of opportunities will be relatively low, roughly 10 per month but less in some markets. In my view, the dealership should have one or two dedicated individuals handling these referrals with one of them available at any given time for immediate response. These shoppers are paying for the service. They intend to buy a vehicle, and well over 80% of them do buy in less than one month, most right away. The program is very successful in California and Florida, where it was piloted with over 900 dealers. CarWoo is now ready to bust out nationally. http://dealers.carwoo.com

2. CarFolks
Industry guru, Dale Pollak, makes the point that documentation is the new negotiations. His RealDeal solution from vAuto is a great example of documenting the value of the vehicle. CarFolks offers dealerships and salespeople an opportunity to document the value of buying from them. Increasingly, shoppers consider two or more vehicles of roughly the same value. Often, the sale goes to the dealership or salesperson who can best document themselves with ratings and testimonials from an independent third-party. Any salesperson can register on CarFolks.com for free. There is a modest charge for registering the store itself. At a minimum, dealerships should get their salespeople registered and accustom to asking for ratings and referrals and demonstrating them. My recommendation is a separate deal jacket with documentation on the store and salesperson that can be shown to the customer. This can be as simple as printing out the CarFolks profile. http://carfolks.com/join

3. Cars.com Chat
Most franchised dealers use Cars.com, but only about half of those dealers take advantage of Cars.com's free chat program. This is an excellent way to begin using chat. The program is only free from in financial sense. You will need to change your operation. However, this is generally pretty easy and very profitable. Contact At Once is the provider selected by Cars.com and the largest chat provider in the industry. They offer a host of free training programs to help get your staff up to speed. http://Dealers.Cars.com or directly to chat http://tinyurl.com/27oatb7

With new programs, there is nearly always a cost involved in changing your operations. Look for profit-generating solutions offered by companies willing to not just sell you something but help you adapt and prosper.

Related files: 

Three Great Values in Automotive Marketing.pdf