In times of low sales of new units, a recurring problem that in dealerships becomes important: How to encourage the sale of used units?
Let’s look at some recommended practices to improve management of the used vehicle sales process, with the support of the dealer management system.
Optimize used vehicle sales
Automotive and equipment dealerships usually receive pre-owned units as trade-ins. These units increase the offering they can make to other customers, but it is vital to rotate them because they represent immobilized money and maintenance expenses. How can dealers avoid these expenses?
The Sales Manager must use Aging reports to detect units that will soon begin to decrease in value or generate expenses. They can establish policies to offer vehicles to potential customers, avoiding immobilized capital for longer than desired and decreasing additional costs.
Dealers can implement sales strategies and marketing campaigns to promote these units (website, email marketing, dealership app). The dealer’s DMS, in addition, may contain features that allow them to match inventory with what each customer wants.
These two actions have clear results:
- Reduce inventory = Reduce expenses
- Offer used units = Increase sales
The best strategy needs the right tool
The use of a CRM tool is often the key factor to increasing sales, as it can help by:
- Having all contacts logged in the CRM allows the Sales Manager to detect trends, suggest strategies, and manage the sales force towards goals.
- By seeing the dealer’s “expanded inventory” sales staff know not only the vehicles that they have in stock but also the units offered as trade-ins by other customers and units ordered to factories and that are pending delivery.
- The Sales Manager can see reports that indicate if all prospects are being contacted.
- By looking at the sales funnel and other reports, the Sales Manager can see how many contacts it takes to close each sale, reasons for lost sales, etc.
Autologica DMS includes features that help dealers maximize the sale of used vehicles and equipment. For more information, please contact us.
