Beating the Summertime Sales Heat

No doubt about it, the Internet is revolutionizing automotive retailing. You can see its effect on some of dealers’ most firmly established traditions. Print advertising is shrinking. Price discussions are becoming more straightforward. And the summer selling season ... well, what is happening to the summer selling season?

Recently, we spoke to three managers responsible for their company’s Internet departments and asked them what summertime meant for their online efforts. We came away with plenty of great seasonal insights, and we offer a few of our own. Whether you spend this summer sweating over too much demand, or too little, these tips can make the season a better one.

Busier in Every Way — and That Includes Website Updates
Mention summertime to Joe Drosen, eCommerce Director at the Boucher Group (18 stores selling 16 brands in and around Milwaukee) and the first thing he thinks of are all the dealer-branded OEM promotions. “With so many franchises, we have our work cut out for us every summer, making sure that our websites reflect all these promotions,” he explains. There’s also the increase in media campaigns, and a corresponding increase in the need to track results. Drosen uses MediaTracker to keep tabs on what works and what doesn’t.

(While we’re on this topic, we’d like to suggest that Joe consider ProCare, Cobalt’s proactive support service, which helps keep dealership websites in tune with OEM, print, TV, and radio advertising campaigns. How about it, Joe?)

The Internet Can Help Even Out Seasonal Fluctuations
Summer is peak selling time for most dealerships, but there are exceptions. Lora Calhoun, Manager of Business Retail Development for Ed Morse Auto Group, notes that a few of her company’s 20 stores (located mostly in Florida) depend on “snowbirds” for a good portion of their business. When summer rolls around, these part-time residents head north, or west, and their absence is noticeable. “The Internet side of our business isn’t as seasonal,” says Calhoun, “so our online growth means that our traditionally slower times are starting to pick up.”

TV Advertising Can Bring Them into the Showroom — or to the Website
Like most dealerships, the four Alabama and Tennessee stores comprising Benchmark Automotive Group advertise much more heavily in the summer months. Though the advertising’s main purpose is to promote summer specials that will bring customers directly to the showroom, a strategy of emphasizing the website in these commercials increases online traffic, too. According to our contact at Benchmark, “plenty of ready-to-buy customers prefer to start the process at our website,” he notes, “and we also feel we’re drawing visitors who will wind up as sales in the fall.”

Summer = Vacation = Driving = Motivated Customers
Summer vacations and all the driving they entail can make people never want to set foot in a car again. But reality is reality, and vacations also motivate consumers to make service appointments, or even start shopping for a new vehicle. You probably already make this connection in your other advertising. So be sure to use your website—and your email newsletter, if you have one—to offer service discounts, and to talk about the vehicle features that can make vacation driving safer, less stressful, and more fun.

Is Your Lead Management Process Ready for Increased Volume?
For most dealerships, summer means more leads from all sources. Whatever lead management tool you use, it can handle the volume. But your lead management process may not be up to snuff. Any improvements you make before your leads peak this summer will mean more appointments, more test-drives, and more sales.