“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. 

It finally happened.

My 2005 Chrysler Pacifica left us on the side of the road (again), and our mechanic delivered the news that I knew would eventually come: this fix was going to cost more than the car was worth. 

After all these faithful years, my Pacifica (affectionately named Tracy) decided to kick the can on the tail end of a chip shortage and smack dab in the middle of inflation. So what’s a girl to do?

I prayed. I meditated. I practiced deep breathing. Then I set out car shopping. And you know what? It wasn’t that bad.

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.

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. 

“Accessories are an expression of what the customer is and what they want.”

-Tom Dunford

Vehicle Personalization is a multi-billion dollar industry that has been historically unaffected by the ebb and flow of the automotive industry. Despite the pandemic, chip shortage, inflation, and a host of other headaches, the business of accessories keeps chugging along. 

People love to personalize, and when dealerships understand that, they thrive. Selling accessories have a domino effect in a dealership—not only do you keep the customer’s money in-house, but you also add helpful incentives for your salespeople, create revenue for the parts department, establish better relationships with service, create repeat business, and boost CSI scores. The simple act of offering accessories (or not offering them) can either add all those benefits to your store or detract from it. 

Don’t take it from us. We’re just another vendor trying to sell you something, right? Here’s a recap of our conversation with someone who has boots on the ground. 

We see you fixed operations manager. Over the past few years, you overcame continual obstacles. Nobody sent you a fruit basket or offered you a break. 

No, it was just phone call after phone call from disgruntled consumers and distributors, followed by management meetings asking you to squeeze out more profit, more ROI, and better CSI.

Then, an even more pressing need to increase revenue was looming amid inventory shortages and plenty of backorders. 

Parts and service managers face the biggest challenges of growing service profit, all while monitoring third-party resources' ROI. And. It’s. Stressful.

Today, the question is, can a dealership create a successful parts department and a thriving service lane—in a post-pandemic world—without working their managers into the ground? The answer is a resounding yes, and it’s found in digital retailing.

The internet sales department was thrust into the spotlight in 2020, becoming center stage overnight. 

The automotive industry is changed forever, and so has the role of the Internet sales manager. That fifteen minutes of fame as the coolest cat in the dealership morphed into a ton of pressure to keep up with demand. Once the sunglasses were a status symbol, now they're covering dark circles from losing sleep over digital retailing.

As car sales continually evolve, internet sales managers can focus on the basics to remain competitive: getting more leads and an excellent staff to pursue them. 

Here are five tips for running a successful internet sales department in 2023.

The future of automotive is only a click away. 

Automotive News reports many big-name dealer groups fully adopted digital retailing last year, selling over 5,000 cars online in Q1 alone. 

As more dealerships work with online customers, kinks in the process start to emerge. 

It’s common knowledge that Vehicle Personalization is a big business and an integral part of car buying. Dealerships can’t afford to leave accessory profit potential on the table just because the customer is shopping online. The problem is that digital retailers don’t allow dealers to set their own pricing and labor for accessories, and stores end up eating labor costs. 

It’s a huge frustration, and some GMs throw the baby out with the bathwater, abandoning accessories altogether. 

Only that won’t work, either. It’s not sustainable long term. Ninety percent of customers will personalize their vehicles—if your store doesn’t offer it, they’ll buy it from the aftermarket retailer down the street. 

Digital retailing isn’t going to replace you as a car salesperson. 

Digital retailing is the best tool you’ve had lately—it can make you more efficient, add more money to your pocket, and create a better work-life balance. 

Remember how you felt a few years ago when you realized you would have to sell cars online? There may be some unpleasant feelings of resistance there. 

Hey, that’s a normal reaction when people are forced into something. Today you can breathe easy because you’re in the driver’s seat again. Customers are walking in your dealership's doors as inventory fills the lot up again, and you have the internet at your fingertips. 

It’s the best of both worlds; what a great time to be a car salesperson. Here are four reasons why digital retailing makes you better at your job. 

If we asked your parts counter employees about you, what would they say?

Maybe “Oh, the parts manager? In need of a ten-day yoga retreat, preferably starting yesterday.”

Or would it be more like, “Stop being so darn happy all the time, Bruce!”

We get it. Working in the parts department was never a walk in the park, and the last several years upped the ante.

The industry is continually reinventing itself, and it can be a struggle to change the way things have always been. 

When Carvana came out in 2012, people scoffed at the idea of a vending machine approach to car buying. 

Today, buying anything online (sight unseen) is a viable and widely accepted option.