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Winter is the season for new potholes. As we approach months of snow, freezing temperatures, and harsher overall conditions, roads are prone to crack under the pressure. The result is blown tires and bent wheels on your customer’s vehicles. 

Now is the opportune time to be proactive about better serving your customers. Seasonal tire and wheel programs will benefit your customer base while adding profit to fixed ops and striving towards those year-end goals. 

A Chicago dealership rolled out this program by offering customers four winter tires mounted on steel wheels for a fixed price. The sale price also included storing the off-season wheels and tires at the dealership. In addition to the profit made from the initial sale, your dealership will see many other advantages from a seasonal wheel and tire program, such as an increase in tire and tire accessory sales overall. Tire sales will positively impact your front-end gross, while tire accessories serve as a lead-in product to other forms of customization and pad your salesperson’s pocket as well.

Have shrinking profit margins put a damper on your Q4 goals? No need to throw in the towel or resolve to just get by until next year. There’s a manageable change you can implement today to finish 2024 strong!

The pendulum of dealer sales climates has swung sharply in the other direction for the first time post-COVID. 

The current inventory levels, unprecedented in years, have necessitated a shift in strategy. Salespeople, who previously thrived on high-profit orders, now need to accept smaller deals to maintain the dealership's momentum. 

In extreme cases, salespeople may even receive less than $100 for selling a vehicle. That’s one to two hours of work, sometimes more, to make $100 or less.

The reality is harsh, yet we all must work within it, knowing the pendulum is bound to stay in motion. 

Here’s a three-step process to help you double your earnings on a smaller deal in five to ten minutes. It's time to rethink our approach to selling, using a tool that’s been readily available and unaffected by industry changes.

Accessories.

Selling auto accessories is more than just tacking on extras to a car deal—it's about enhancing the driving experience and building customer relationships. To successfully navigate this niche, understanding and applying best practices can significantly boost your accessory sales and customer satisfaction. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you refine your approach and achieve better results. 

Quality salespeople will tell you they'll take "no" over "let me think on it" any day. 

"Tracking orders and communication between departments is great—it holds people accountable with the new reports that are available."

- Peter Boothe, GM at Wild East Town Honda

When you think of selling accessories at the point of sale, your first thought may be dollars and cents. While profit is a major benefit of selling accessories, there are other aspects of an accessory process that can benefit your dealership at a high level. 

Accessories do more than increase front-end gross, boost CSI scores, reduce turnover, and create repeat business. And they're more than a resource for making customers sticky or benefiting fixed operations.

In today’s dynamic automotive industry, car dealerships are no longer only about selling vehicles; they’re the gateway to an experience and avenue of self-expression. 

Enhancing the car buying experience with accessories isn’t a secret sauce. It’s a proven process, and anybody can do it. Drivers crave a vehicle that integrates with their lifestyle, offering cutting-edge features that go beyond the ordinary. Car dealerships have a golden opportunity to cater to this demand by strategically presenting and selling accessories. The truth is, if dealerships don’t meet the demand, customers will seek out aftermarket accessories somewhere else. 

The art of accessory sales presents one golden opportunity. There are other opportunities along the way, yet only one is golden. While the accessory sale is a multi-step process, the actual presentation begins with a lead-in product. 

You’ve started at the trade, gotten to know your customer’s lifestyle, mentally filed away the best personalization options to suggest and then closed the car deal. In this blissful moment, you tarry your customer with a Coke and a smile, knowing the dreaded F&I wait time has been subdued by Vehicle Personalization.  

The golden opportunity has arrived, and we call it utilizing a lead-in product.

Salespeople are learning how to sell cars again after a long period of being order takers. Having empty lots and vehicles on backorder got us all out of practice. As inventory and prices stabilize, there’s inevitably going to be a relearning process. 

Retraining car salespeople after the industry upheaval means addressing changes in customer behavior, understanding industry trends, and adopting more efficient ways to meet goals. Wise management should take advantage of the potential in training by integrating accessory sales into the process. 

Here are some strategies to consider.