When new technological developments offer remarkable promises to the business world, those promises usually fail to come to fruition. Occasionally, however, an achievement arrives that proves to be so successful in attracting customers and facilitating purchases, that no retail business that can afford to miss out. On such occasions, the technology responsible seems to inspire a revolution.
It doesn’t take much guesswork to realize that this situation describes the impact that the internet has had on retail sales. For the automotive sales industry, however, the revolution in digital sales has been slow to arrive.
As many other retail industries saw an enormous increase in the sale of consumer goods online, auto dealers missed out. Now, a new generation of internet software designed specifically to bring virtual retailing capabilities to dealership websites is changing everything.
The Demand for Better Online Dealership Capabilities
Right now, it’s likely that there is no other type of retail company that isn’t in greater need of an upgrade to more advanced online services. As a new generation of consumers has arrived that has come to expect that businesses of all types offer advanced digital services, that demand has grown even greater.
What Has Held Back Online Auto Sales?
The key to allowing dealerships to enjoy a more productive role in the virtual retail world lies in understanding the reasons why dealerships have been slow to boost their sales capabilities on the internet. In fact, the latest online sales and marketing software for dealerships is proving that the answer has always been to develop applications designed to bring the capabilities of the physical dealership to bear on the digital forum.
Building a Better Dealership Website
One company – named Gubagoo – which specializes specifically in improved online dealership sales and marketing software, is allowing auto dealers to finally tap into the enormous boom in online shopping that has characterized the past decade. Services like
- Live Chat
- Online Insurance and Financing Applications
- Text Messaging Capabilities
- Virtual Retaining on Social Media Platforms
Demonstrate that an enormous boost in auto sales becomes possible once more of the services that are offered in the physical dealership are offered online.
How Dealerships Are Different
If you’re managing a dealership in the traditional manner, your overall success during each new quarter depends largely on your sales team’s unique ability to guide customers to the exact vehicle that they need at a price they can afford.
A great salesperson needs to perform well and close deals on a car by car basis, rather than in a more general manner because each sale represents a large and complex source of income. This means that every advantage you can have that helps you to match customers with the perfect vehicle is crucial to the success of your business.
Motivating Factors
There are many reasons why a new generation of software can help to boost auto sales. For example:
- New Technology is Impressive and Helps Drive Interest
- Attract Online Customers
- Appeal to a New Generation of Consumers
- Generate More Leads
- Powerful Lead Generation Capabilities
- A Proven Boost to Sales
Given these benefits, online dealership software can actually help to attract many customers that might otherwise make their way to the competition.
The Changing Purpose of Dealership Websites
Originally, dealership websites were designed as nothing more than an advertising tool that promoted new sales and highlighted inventory as a means through which to entice new customers into traveling to the physical dealership.
As internet software designed specifically for the needs of dealerships was developed that goal changed to include powerful lead generation capabilities. The most recent dealership software isn’t focussed purely on promoting auto sales, it is designed to bring the online capabilities of the dealership to a new level.
Leading the Industry in Innovative Online Dealership Software
As the manager of a dealership, the best thing that you can do to take full advantage of the offerings of the online retail world is to incorporate as many of the strategies of an advanced virtual retailing campaign into your online offerings. At the source of this strategy is software that can transform your dealership website into a digital environment that is ready for virtual retail capabilities.
The Benefit of Live Chat Services
One of the most important features that you can add to your dealership website is live dealership chat. A chat service allows customers to join in a conversation with knowledgeable online operators who can answer questions about inventory and direct customers toward preferred options. You sales team can also enter into the conversation to provide more detail and to offer personalized deals to the customer. They can also post photos or videos to help demonstrate the features of a vehicle.
Share Video and Photos
When you want to demonstrate the features of a new vehicle, there’s no better resource than the ability to share photos and videos. That old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words may sound cliché, but it has been repeated so often for a reason. There’s no better venue through which to experience the value of photos and video than in the world of virtual auto retail.
Insurance and Financing Applications
Now that dealerships are able to offer digital insurance and financing applications directly on the website, the process of purchasing a vehicle can begin online. Adding such features to a dealership website can help to further customer relationships online in order to retain more traffic and increase the potential for new sales.
The process of buying a vehicle may work differently for retailers that sell small items, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an enormous potential for increased business online. The key to allowing dealerships to partake in the digital retail revolution is advanced software built specifically for auto sales.
