The Sales Department Is Your Best Customer

As a parts manager, we know you get it. You’re well aware that accessories are an untouchable industry—a money machine, if you will. A machine that is pandemic-proof and AI-proof. The benefits are wide-ranging and profound for the customer, as well as the front and back of the house.

Often, the parts department divides its efforts to sell accessories across digital retailing, e-commerce, and in-store channels. 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 the sales department to retail accessories is a good idea.

1. The Sales Department Is High Traffic

The front of the house gets the foot traffic. People who walk into the showroom are looking to make a purchase and have thoroughly researched what they want and why. When inventory is low or budgets are restrictive, salespeople can often retain their customers with accessories, transforming a base model into the car the customer wants.

Most importantly, dealerships as a whole must realize that accessories are a multi-billion-dollar industry. A customer’s innate drive to personalize will end in spending money on some kind of customization. Why shouldn’t it be from your store? Offering accessories at the point of sale while the person is in buying mode is the best time to make that transaction.

It’s easier for everyone, especially your customers. Accessories purchased at the point of sale can be rolled into F&I, covered under warranty, and scheduled for installation by an OEM expert all at once.

2. Sales Gets To Know the Buyer

Digital retailing, along with e-commerce, parts, and accessory stores, casts a wide net. The internet is a good place to find consumers—it can also be a black hole. The sales department, on the other hand, has a personal connection with the buyer.

Building rapport is a natural part of the sales process. As the salesperson gets to know the customer, they can make informed recommendations for accessories tailored to the customer. Even if the customer declines accessories when they buy their car, sales can make notes in the CRM about the customer’s lifestyle, hobbies, family, etc., for follow-up, giving the parts department insight into what that customer may want. If you decide to run a sale on an accessory or create a custom bundle, you’ll already have some headway on who to reach out to about it.

3. Accessories Survive the Transition

For years, the worst part of buying a car was the downtime, with customers often spending their whole day at the dealership. In today’s market, the car-buying experience is a 90-minute affair that’s often well on its way before the customer ever darkens your door.

Dealerships that utilize digital retailing platforms can get accessories in front of their buyers early and often. Accessories don’t need to be an afterthought when the customer is ¾ of the way down the road to buying a car. The most successful stores offer accessories at dealer-specific pricing from the very beginning, making the transition from online research to in-store checkout seamless, without dropping the ball.

Insignia Group Can Help

Insignia Group integrates with major digital-retailing platforms to syndicate consistent accessory data to all touchpoints. No matter where your customer is shopping, you can be sure that they’re seeing your dealership’s pricing, labor times, and availability when you use IG Suite in conjunction with AccessorySync.

For more than 20 years, Insignia Group has been the leading provider of digital accessory-selling systems for dealerships nationwide. Our sleek interface allows dealerships to create profitable accessory programs at the point of sale—no matter where the sale is happening. Dealers using the Insignia Group accessories selling system can bundle accessories into custom packages, feature hot-selling accessories, process orders, and more!

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