When Covid came crashing onto the scene at the start of 2020, it brought disruption across almost every industry, including automotive. Dealerships were forced to close their doors to in-person visits, OEM plants shut down, auctions moved online, and consumers stayed home. Nine months later, dealers have shown incredible resilience and flexibility in adapting their … [Read more...] about How COVID Is Reshaping Car Shopping and What It Means for Your Dealership
Loyalty and Retention
Everybody is Your Friend, You Just Haven’t Met Them Yet
I was leaving my building in downtown Denver, heading to the dealership in Boulder this morning and I was thinking to myself how grateful I am to have the most wonderful circle of influence that I have in my life. Not just because of the people who had mentored me over the years, but also for the people I had found over my career who cared about me when they didn’t have … [Read more...] about Everybody is Your Friend, You Just Haven’t Met Them Yet
Your Plan B in the Middle of a Rising Tide
Contrary to popular belief, our industry did not crash and burn during the depths of the pandemic recession. As an industry, we found new ways to bring touchless delivery to customers, we introduced white glove services to customers across the board, we took our stores to digital overnight. As a result of our great industry's ingenuity, we are now experiencing a … [Read more...] about Your Plan B in the Middle of a Rising Tide
A Time-Lapse of Automotive Retailing & the BDC as We Know It
Remember the days when internet leads were coming in by fax just like the daily lunch specials from the local pizzeria still do? Those were the days that, sadly, I did not experience as I started selling cars just as CRM tools became popular. I remember the Internet Sales department consisting of salespeople that gave prices, created appointments, and sold vehicles directly to … [Read more...] about A Time-Lapse of Automotive Retailing & the BDC as We Know It
Latest Research: Evolution of The Car Shopping Journey in 2020
CarGurus and GfK recently studied the digital path to purchase of over 3,000 car shoppers. We dug into that data, as well as data from a series of COVID-19 Sentiment Studies we conducted this year, to see how the shopping journey has evolved. What we found is that today’s car buyers aren’t experts on car shopping anymore. Since many only replace their … [Read more...] about Latest Research: Evolution of The Car Shopping Journey in 2020