Opportunity Selling is for Every Dealer!

Opportunity selling, a variation of data marketing, can sell cars for dealers of most any dealership. The determining factor is compelling motivation, not a specific brand or huge customer base. Some smaller dealers using opportunity selling will measurably boost monthly sales additional 10 or more units each month.

This strategy helps engage existing customers in a different kind of car-dealer conversation. Customers are typically skeptical when they receive calls from dealers, but when approached with these kinds of calls they relax and truly listen. They respond positively, because a sales representative using opportunity strategies avoids using car-sales lingo and tactics. Rather, they invite the customer to consider how the dealership can solve their current vehicle concerns.

This is just the sort of selling strategy Friendly Kia in New Port Richey, Florida is using to increase monthly sales — by exploring existing customer data to identify customers whose situation makes ideal candidates for this powerful approach.

Opportunity selling works, because many vehicle buyers soon second-guess their original purchase decision. Perhaps life throws curveballs that now make their original choice unfortunate…a job situation, a new baby on the way, or other circumstances. These buyers, many driving vehicles less than two years old, now feel stuck. They presume the economics could not possibly work out to enable a change in their vehicle situation without a heavy hit to their wallet.

The software identifies customer’s pain points. Some if these points include a vehicle type that no longer fits the buyer’s lifestyle or may disturb the peace of mind because the warranty is about to expire or a miscalculation is going to create mileage penalties at the end of the lease term. They are a number of reasons why customers want to be contacted and offered an option.

Dealers motivated to increase sales like Friendly Kia can create their own opportunities. Using database analysis and presentation configuration software, dealerships are able to source current customers who fit specialized opportunity profiles. Many of these purchased within the last 24 months and often such sales were captured with the owner and the vehicle in the service drive!

Opportunity selling helps sale representatives identify specific clients to present a perfect solution of alternative offers, all tailored for one or more specific strategies. The right analysis software also helps associates become completely prepared with knowledge of the facts, based on the calculation of current model prices, trade values, incentives, interest rates, and other economic factors in play at the time.

The goal is to present current customers with offers that can put each into a newer or perhaps different model of what they want to drive for about the same monthly payment as their present vehicle. This is often such an attractive offer, it is hard to ignore and once they arrive into the showroom, closing rates are typically 50-75%, much higher than the typical 18-20% with a fresh customer.

“The customer gets a new car in a way they never dreamt possible, and we in turn get a nice trade, a new sale, and a retained and more loyal customer,” notes John Gilliss, dealer principal at Friendly Kia.

Boyd Warner is CEO of AutoAlert®, Inc. (www.autoalert.com), the most advanced lead generation solution available on the market today. Contact him at bwarner@dealermark.com.