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My Car Buying Experience: Six Dealers in Six Hours

Posted by Insignia Group on Oct 4, 2023 1:45:20 PM

Guest Post by Khrys Dorton

My husband and I hit six dealerships in about six hours during inflation and an inventory shortage. 

This is my tale. 

For three years, I’ve been driving a basic Ford Fusion S. The Fusion was a necessity purchase, and to be honest, I never really cared for it. As a hobby, we’d periodically check around online to see if we could trade it or sell it for something we liked. 

In April of this year, I turned 43. My family and I had gone out to breakfast, and I’d been feeling down in the dumps. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis, or maybe it was a slow decline from driving an unwanted base model. (Okay, maybe that’s dramatic). Wanting to lift my spirits, my husband did the only thing he could think of. He offered to take me (car) window shopping.

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

Word Tracks For Hot Selling Accessories

Posted by Insignia Group on Sep 26, 2023 1:54:37 PM

One of the biggest hesitations to selling accessories is the fear of messing up the hard-earned car sale. The truth is accessories are simply a continuation of the well-established process, and something as easy as word tracks can put accessory sales on autopilot. 

You’d never wing it or fumble through a car sale. Why treat the multi-billion dollar accessory industry any differently? When dealerships stand to make more money on accessories and F&I products than they do selling cars, it’s critical that dealers get add-ons right. 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

The Sales Department Is Your Best Customer

Posted by Insignia Group on Sep 26, 2023 1:41:45 PM


As a Parts Manager, we know you get it. You’re well aware that accessories are an untouchable industry, a pandemic-proof, money-making boost for the front and back of the house. 

Often, the parts department divides efforts to sell accessories via digital retailing, e-commerce, and in-store. While a combination effort is an admirable (and successful) approach, parts shouldn’t lose sight of their best and easiest customer—the sales department. 

Here are three reasons why working with sales to sell accessories is a good idea. 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

Investing time vs. spending time in a dealership

Posted by Insignia Group on Aug 23, 2023 8:40:53 AM

Customer expectation has morphed several times over the last several years. Today, the person’s experience is more important than budget. The most successful dealerships are changing their usual way of doing things to adapt to the next wave of consumers. 

Buyers now start their car buying process online up to 99% of the time.  Some take steps toward buying their car before setting foot in the store, cutting their in-store time down to about ninety minutes. Even those who didn’t start the check-out process online have spent hours researching and know what they want when they arrive. 

Couple this well-informed buyer with a society that values a fast pace and high efficiency, and dealerships must make the most out of every minute they have with their buyer (or risk death by bad reviews). 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

5 Electric Vehicle Accessories to Increase Profits

Posted by Insignia Group on Aug 9, 2023 3:16:23 PM

A steady uptick in the adoption of electric vehicles spurred almost all major brands to create an electric model. While some automakers are still dipping their toes in the pool, others have made a splash, pledging to go all-electric within the next decade. 

As popularity increases, so does affordability. EVs were once poised to cater to an elite market. Today, brands like Nissan, Ford, and GMC offer electric vehicles priced for the average car buyer. In the next two to three years, many more models are expected to be available, and dealers can look forward to having EVs as commonplace cars on the lot. 

Electric vehicles need less maintenance and require fewer parts. If there’s one thing that is certain to remain the same, it’s the consumer’s innate drive to personalize. EV buyers are self expressionist, potentially even more so than gas-powered buyers. That’s good news for fixed operations, which can significantly impact their bottom line with accessory sales.

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

3 Unlucky Ways to Sell Accessories

Posted by Insignia Group on Jul 27, 2023 4:02:23 PM

 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

Dealer Installed Accessories Are Only Part of the Equation

Posted by Insignia Group on Jul 13, 2023 1:58:56 PM

 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

Customer Experience Trumps Everything Else

Posted by Insignia Group on Jun 26, 2023 7:15:00 AM

 

“Focusing on the customer makes a company more resilient” — Jeff Bezos

There was a time when dealerships filled the floor with warm bodies, and prior sales experience wasn’t important. The belief that a salesperson was diabolically plotting to “get one over” on the customer was commonplace and accepted. Car buyers viewed car shopping as a necessary evil and begrudgingly handed over their money, whether they were treated well or not.

Those days are gone. 

In 2023, the customer experience can skyrocket your success or set you way back; and, in some cases, do irreparable damage. 

Millennials, the largest segment of car buyers today, require a positive experience, or you will pay—possibly with your life, in a long, slow death from bad reviews. 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

3 Ways Dealerships Can Harness Millennial Spending Power

Posted by Insignia Group on May 31, 2023 12:29:09 PM

The 72 million people that make up the millennial group are the largest segment of the world’s population, as well as the largest segment of car buyers today. 

Car buyers between the ages of 25 and 40 have been largely stereotyped, mostly negatively. As salespeople, we must drop the assumptions about this group so we can learn to meet the unique needs of the generation that stands in the middle of technology and in-person interactions. 

There are a few things that car dealers need to understand about millennials. 

  • They’re the most likely to research heavily online before you connect with them.
  • 82% still want to buy a car in the dealership.
  • Visualization technology is essential.
  • They want cars that express their personality, not status symbols.
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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM

Selling Accessories Builds Dealership Strength

Posted by Insignia Group on May 23, 2023 4:40:25 PM

 

If going to the gym is good for us, why don’t we all do it? 

Sure, it can be intimidating. It takes effort and pushing yourself to be better—which can also require some mental toughness. When you do start, however, you get stronger. You gain confidence and resilience and feel great! Next thing you know, you’re the envy of your friends and colleagues. Todd, are those biceps I see? Yes. Yes, they are.

Like hitting the gym, making a habit of presenting accessories to every customer is easy to put off. The payoff, however, is big, and it happens faster than you think. Here’s the little push you need to “lose that wait”. It’s not going to be seamless the first time, the second, maybe not even the third. Neither were your first few car sales. 

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Topics: Dealership, tips, accessory sales, OEM