The role of the automotive advertising agency has changed to check out the newest rules of the street on the Internet Super Highway. Newly empowered people are no more restricted to buying an automobile using information given by self serving auto dealers pushing information for them using conventional media like radio, T.V. or newspaper. Social media marketing has allowed car shoppers to gather information from like minded customers before, during and after their shopping and/or buying experience. These online friends are playing an increasing role in the vehicle shopping process and automotive advertising agencies are using them to influence buyers.
The brand new pull / push nature of the market powered by the Internet requires automotive advertising agencies to focus on people vs. product or price. Car shoppers are following their own agendas when pulling information from the world wide web that no more requires them to rely on a car dealer as the source. Today’s online shoppers prioritize people when selecting a store they’re willing to complete business with. That is to not claim that product and price aren’t important. It really suggests that all systems start and end with people and that individuals are the actual asset of any auto dealer, automotive advertising agency or vendor!
The absolute most obvious evidence of the priority that individuals play in the auto shopping/buying/service experience is the explosive growth that social networking has enjoyed as an advertising media vs. conventional radio, T.V. and print which used to dominate the automotive advertising landscape. Automotive advertising agencies recognize that individuals have always preferred to complete business with people that they like and social networking has expanded the spheres of influence of car shoppers/buyers to include their online friends.
The marketplace is a discussion amongst friends before, during and after the vehicle shopping/buying/ service cycle. Auto dealers which have friends in the social networking communities are far more likely to be invited to be involved in the dialogue. agence de publicité Québec More specifically, automotive advertising agencies realize that it is difficult to befriend a building or a website! It is the folks that work on the dealership to aid their families which have the story to share with for their friends and who will earn the sale — not the Chevrolet, Toyota, Mercedes, etc. — or the extended service hours and weekly specials. Saturday service hours don’t have any appeal if the customers don’t like or trust the folks that they are handing their keys to. Having a buddy in the vehicle business is a comfort that trumps the best process, product or price for the average car buyer.
Automotive advertising agencies also recognize that individuals play a role in both the real and virtual world showroom experience which will be reflected in how many units sold and their job performance at the end of the month. First impressions are irretrievable and they’re not restricted to a sizable inventory, clean showroom or perhaps a dealer centric selling system that processes customers in sales and/or service. The atmosphere in a well run dealership reflects the morale of the staff in sales and service which directly impacts the customers that an automotive advertising agency drives to the dealership.
A smiling sales agent, service writer, operator and cashier can’t be forced as a part of policy — similar to customer care can’t be bought or taken for granted simply by offering the best price; it must be earned. It is earned when a dealer or manager appreciates the average person and team contributions of his staff — and tells them etc a typical basis! It is maintained by HR departments and hiring practices that select personality over prior auto sales experience with compensation plans that reflect individual contributions along side job descriptions and defined regions of responsibility that are managed and monitored by a patient management team.
Employee retention is directly linked to customer care and customer retention and neither can be taken for granted. Automotive advertising agencies are counseling their auto dealer clients to invest in their people before, during and after they’re hired to compliment their investments in automotive advertising. It is their people that’ll represent their dealership and it’s their people who will sell their cars and service to a growing listing of friends and customers.
Automotive advertising agencies have extended their regions of responsibility to include their involvement in most facets of day to day operations at a car dealership. Most selling systems and related processes include a meeting and greeting, an original manager T.O. to qualify the customer’s needs, an inventory and facility walk, a try, an element benefit presentation, a desking procedure, a manager T.O., negotiations, an F&I introduction, a delivery procedure and service introduction. Many of these steps are then supported by a state of the art CRM/ILM, DMS and follow-up system. Unfortunately, all of these well orchestrated procedures are merely as good as the sales agent who entered the consumer into the system and/or who is expected to check out up or even sold or who is relied on to solicit future service and referrals.
Many of these actions reflect on the job performance of the automotive advertising agency and they need to be addressed as part of their regions of responsibility. Automotive advertising agencies observe that sales training is all too often limited to a couple weeks soon after the hire and/or some outsourced trainer hired to increase the staff. Given the complexity of a well planned selling system — as described above — how can a new hire be anticipated to retain everything that they need to find out? Add product information and an understanding of how human nature impacts the negotiation process and — once more — the investment in the folks becomes self evident.
There is a paradigm shift happening in the manner that sales and service training must certanly be applied at a store and it’s around the automotive advertising agency to insure that it is understood and applied. Forward thinking automotive advertising agencies have discovered that sales and service training can’t be restricted to the newest hires and or as needed to motivate the staff. It must begin in the hiring process by selecting trainable personalities and then integrated into the selling system in this way that the processes teach the sales agent around the customer. Buyers and sellers must form a practice to listen and learn from each other before they are able to presume to market or buy anything. A sales agent does not need to find out everything — they only need to find out where to get the answers that are strongly related the consumer to maneuver them through their buying decision.
Automotive advertising agencies often rely on new technologies to offer efficiencies applied to proven old world wisdom. New mobile sales applications are being developed that promise to offer a salesperson with the proper information at the proper place and the proper time that’ll integrate training to the sales process. The important thing is to focus on the folks part of the presentation supported by the processes, products and the cost rather than the other way around.