4 Ways Car Accessories Boost Dealership Retention

Retaining employees is of dire importance to a dealership’s profitability. 

High turnover costs the dealership money on sourcing and training people, it’s also a bad look to a customer who can no longer reach someone they’ve been working with. Likewise, it contributes to customers having a negative experience due to short staffing. And we all know what happens when a customer has a bad experience: they write about it on the internet, creating a domino effect. Regardless of brand, size, or location, no dealership is immune to the struggle of reducing churn on the sales floor. Coming up with new ways to approach this age-old problem is of constant conversation in the industry. 

Selling accessories at the point of sale is an easy and profitable way to slow the turnover snowball significantly. Here’s how.

Accessory Sales Incentive Retains Salespeople

Car salespeople don’t leave when they’re making good money. The post-pandemic “order taker” era proved that more money and less grind for each sale drastically improved a car salesperson’s work life. According to Automotive News, a dealership in New Hampshire experienced lower turnover and a morale boost by improving their employee’s work/life balance, post-pandemic. It’s not much of a jump to say that dealerships who offer higher incentives to salespeople without selling more cars can replicate employees who feel more favorable towards their jobs. By offering four accessories to each customer, salespeople are guaranteed to make an added commission on accessory sales. Customers will buy accessories regardless, so why not keep the money in-house and reduce your sales floor turnover?

Accessories Boost Customer Retention Through Connection

Customers aren’t always able to get the vehicle they'd love to have due to budget and availability. That doesn't mean you have to lose that customer to another store or have your customer leave disappointed. Accessories are the ideal way to help the customer and salesperson connect. By listening to the customer’s dominant buying motives, the salesperson can identify accessories that would meet the person’s needs in a vehicle. Customers will feel heard, and the sales process will become more personalized. With accessories, the available vehicles on your lot can be transformed into something your customer will love. When this is accomplished, you're well on your way to boosting CSI scores, a better chance for a referral, and an increased potential to retain that customer. 

Retention Through Accessories is Cross-Departmental

Accessories bring vehicles into the service lane faster, giving your store another opportunity to create sticky customers. Retention increases when your customer comes out of a positive car buying experience and then lands in a clean, pleasant service bay. Set yourself up for success by creating a comfortable and well-maintained waiting area for your service customers. Train every staff member in your desired customer service experience, from service writers to parts counter and beyond. Your customers will soon realize the benefit of servicing their vehicle at the dealership rather than the local mechanic shop with fold-out chairs and no air conditioning. 

Accessories Boost Profit In Fixed Ops

Your parts manager already has a difficult job, sometimes exacerbated by salespeople. Some dealerships make the mistake of thinking outsourcing accessory sales to the sales floor may further strain that relationship. The truth is an accessory sales system streamlines and digitizes communication between parts, sales, and service—adding profits and making everyone’s job easier. With the right system, salespeople will garner all the information they need about accessory availability, installed price, and fitment data by sending orders electronically. Fixed ops can then coordinate cross-departmentally and externally with the customer for installation. Salespeople presenting accessories will boost sales, generating higher profits in fixed ops and helping parts clear inventory, which enables everyone to meet goals. Plus, accessories can be presented in the service lane, incentivizing service writers and padding their incomes.

Insignia Group Can Help

For more than 20 years, Insignia Group has been the leading provider of digital accessory-selling systems in dealerships nationwide. Our sleek interface allows dealerships to create profitable accessory programs at the point of sale. Dealers using the Insignia Group accessories selling system can bundle accessories into custom packages feature hot-selling accessories, process orders, and more! In addition, our integration with major digital retailers covers all your bases and allows for a seamless transition when customers decide to come into the store. 

Schedule a demo with us today to see how our system can help you sell more accessories at the point of sale.