Consumer behavior has changed drastically thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. It isn’t surprising that it has had a major impact on shopping preferences, since March 2020. Customers become pickier when it comes to buying, be it books, dresses, or cars. However, auto retailers can still generate sales, both online and in-store, by focusing on the right consumer drivers.
Are you still giving price offers in using MS Word?
It was somewhat simpler a few years back. A customer would come to your dealership, look over the inventory, and you would present an offer in writing. An email or document in MS word would suffice. The same offer would be presented (for the same make and model), to many customers. But customers and their buying behavior have undergone a huge change, so it is imperative, you understand and present offers accordingly.
Today’s retailers are benefitting from excellent customer relationship management (CRM) systems, to better understand customers. It lets them readily share information about products and special offers. However, they have to strategically think about leveraging information available to them, for connecting with consumers at the right time, and in the correct manner, with offers that compel them to take action.
What are the right offers?
What can prompt consumers to make purchases even in these uncertain times? For example there is some variation between what might prompt online vs. in-store purchases, but there is one commonality – digital coupons. Most people wish to use digital coupons from their favorite retailers. Free shipping is yet another motivator for this group.
However, automotive retail isn’t so simple. You have to know customers, understand what they want and then present an offer. An automotive CRM like Salesfront can help to build offers from scratch based on specific customers. A CRM system gives you instant, real-time access to all your sales, marketing and customer service data “under one roof,” so that you can make the best possible decisions, present lucrative offers and win new customers. The pricing should be attractive to the customer, without comprising profitability to the dealership. Salesfront seamlessly integrates with business management solutions, so you basically have a 360-degree view of all business processes, without needing to go back and forth between disconnected databases.
Making the right offers on a right way can go a long way…
1. Build long-lasting relationships
Customers wish to know that you are attentive and responsive to their requirements. If you rely on manual systems, such as giving them price offers in MS Word, then something is bound to “slip through the cracks”, regardless of how well-intentioned you are. With a CRM system on-board, all the customer data is secure on one place. You can set up all the alerts you need to ensure that you never miss an opportunity to stay in touch with your current customers and win new customers.
When you send customers personalized offers, it helps earn their trust and confidence. Thus, you can build long-term and profitable relationships. Moreover, loyal customers can ensure positive word-of-mouth for your products and services, which turns into more leads that you can convert.
2. Automate processes
A CRM system is a tremendous asset for organizing nearly every component of the sales process. Apart from tacking sales appointments, following up leads and conducing post-sales activities, it streamlines tasks. You can be on time for meetings, generate periodic reports, and stay in touch with customers and prospects. Moreover, you can keep tabs on other essential information such as sales forecasts and sales conversion rates. Imagine, if you have to provide price offers to at least 30 people per day, how long will it take to do so manually? CRM software can get it done automatically, based on customer history, buying preferences, and other data.
3. Better ROI, along with up-sell and cross-sell opportunities
CRM systems should be able to support your targeted marketing efforts in several ways. For instance, you will opt for features that let you create and execute targeted campaigns to leads. Personalized email campaigns are a great way to deliver your message and your CRM system can facilitate those efforts. Your CRM should also help you coordinate your social media outreach. It can prove to be quite beneficial in attracting prospects to products and services. You can also match up specific campaigns with actual results to better determine which strategies are working and which aren’t.
Upselling and cross-selling is the need of the hour. When you provide price offers, you should always look for an opportunity, to make the sale even more profitable. A robust CRM solution equips you with the required tools to effectively analyze your customers’ purchasing patterns to promote cross- and up-selling opportunities and generate more sales. Valuable information can be extracted from prior purchase history and preferences, to help determine the best time to offer promotions, discounts, special pricing, etc. to help boost sales.
4. Last but not the least…seamless integration
The right CRM solution can be integrated with leading business management software to deliver information across sales, marketing, accounting and other departments. Thus, your customer and sales information is aligned with all other processes in the dealership. Moreover, all departments are updated with relevant data and information in real-time.
Lots of information is available to automobile retailers via CRM systems, which can be leveraged to take advantage of customer shopping preferences. Connecting with consumers with the right offers can boost your bottom line and drive consumer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty.
