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As COVID-19 shut down America as we knew it, extroverts all across America found themselves taking refuge in their cars. What started with just taking a drive, turned into eating take-out in the driveway. Before we knew what was happening, kids’ birthday parties morphed into drive-by parades. Campgrounds closed and truck beds became the go-to spot for a night under the stars.

As dealers across the nation adjust to selling vehicles online, it’s imperative that we don’t skip vehicle personalization. The easiest way to ensure customers and salespeople have a fair shot at a perfectly adorned vehicle is to make your accessory link easy to find. Trip and fall over it easy. “There it is again” easy. “I didn’t find the link, the link found me” kind of easy. When you strategically place your personalization link, you make your salesperson’s life easier, and your customer more likely to buy. 

Margin compression matters now more than ever. As dealers adapt to selling cars digitally, or with skeleton crews, monthly sales volumes are on a slippery slope. Though our present industry reality is less than ideal, we aren’t without hope. We have the tools to make every car sale count, to the extent of tipping this month’s scale back into balance, precarious as it may be.

St. Patrick’s Day has got us all toting rabbit’s feet. Donning green from head to toe, decorating our cubicles with four leaf clovers, and holding out hope for uncommon luck--all while being largely unsure of what we’re observing on this obscure holiday.

Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Is the rainbow literal, or figurative? Do leprechauns really eat marshmallow cereal? Don’t take this same level of confusion into your Vehicle Personalization program. Follow me into the magic of the metaphor, and sell more accessories this March 17th.

Margin Compression? Missing gross profit? Want to pocket more cash?

Can you do it without selling any additional cars?

Regardless of the year-to-year ebb and flow of vehicle sales, Vehicle Personalization is a great way to increase revenue and deepen your profits...or pockets!

[Updated 11/12/2020]

The stampede is coming, and they’re ready to break the internet. The Black Friday crowd has gone virtual. If 2020 has already set records in e-commerce, imagine the impact of the biggest shopping day of the year. With all the online activity, the day after Thanksgiving is basically just the warm up for Cyber Monday.

Yes, the opportunists are charging their laptops on Black Friday eve, ready to kick this thing off with new car smells. Make this car-shopping season spark joy with mega-profit potential, stellar CSI scores, and repeat business. I hope you upgraded your internet package.

In all the activity, don’t let Vehicle Personalization get lost. You cut your legs out from under yourself when you bypass accessories. This high volume day is the ideal environment for accessory sales, and can even be used to temper the flow online and in store.

Here’s three things Vehicle Personalization can do in the hustle and bustle.

When it comes to selecting an accessory champion for your dealership, there are about three good ways to skin a cat. Dealers should examine their process and store volume to determine who to lean on as their expert in vehicle personalization.

Whether you go the route of a dedicated accessory manager, utilize an emerging leader from your sales team, or mix the two methods together, the key to your success is a well-laid process.

As an Insignia VPE, I do a lot of training during my guided visits.  I emphasize the same lesson when training associates with proven success and those who have never presented Vehicle Personalization before: consistency of presentation.  To be victorious you have to show up first.

I don’t care what kind of experience you’ve had with the customer. Make a Vehicle Personalization presentation! According to industry statistics, 9/10 of your customers WILL personalize their vehicle within 90 days of purchasing it with anything from fuzzy dice to a truck cap. Why not offer them all the opportunity to integrate it into their purchase?

In a fictional study never performed, 100% of dealers admitted their preloading program was one of their biggest factors hindering them from selling accessories in the showroom.

Jokes aside, this really is a common theme that dealers are often getting snagged on.  We all know that vehicle personalization is a multi-billion dollar industry, but with popular vehicles preloaded on the lot and showroom floor, dealers shy away from bringing up additional add-ons to their customer. The result? The customer just buys what they need somewhere else.

YouTube offers tremendous opportunities for dealers. By observing a few Internet video best practices, you can promote vehicles, sell accessories, and build a fan base from this one platform. Here are two examples of auto dealers that promote vehicles and sell accessories with video that we can all learn from.