Back to Basics: Making Evidence-Based Decisions For Your Dealership

In the automotive retail industry, there are plenty of moments where you need to make big decisions. These decisions can impact minor aspects of your dealership or major facets of your store. You want to be as purpose-driven as possible. Going into any decision about inventory, training, acquiring, advertising, or merchandising without the information needed to make the right call puts your dealership at risk. You need to make evidence-based decisions to be successful in the automotive retail industry. To do that, you need data.

Data is the overarching backbone of information that feeds your lot. Dealerships thrive on data. And having clean data means that your dealership can make decisions based on facts. Think of yourself as a detective. Data is the informant that feeds you the evidence needed to make decisions and paint a picture of your case. If you want to know which vehicles are best suited for your lot, you need the right intel. The same goes for acquiring trade-ins, training your staff, merchandising your inventory, and writing ads that will resonate with consumers.

Shopping habits have changed. As a result, you have more opportunities to critically engage with customers and provide them with the information needed to convert shoppers into buyers. Evidence-based decision-making at your dealership should be a priority. In the long run, this will not only improve your grosses and margins, but will also drastically improve the customer experience.

Data is the difference-maker for being able to make these informed decisions. Start by ensuring you are utilizing the right stack of software. You need to acquire and stock with confidence. Especially as there have been a number of recent disruptions to the automotive retail industry, dealers need to be more creative and nimble than ever before. In order to do that, you need solutions that collaborate with your ecosystem of dealership tools.

Once you establish a good cadence with your solution stack, it is important that you leverage the information that you get to improve training protocols. Unfortunately, the automotive retail industry has a high employee turnover rate. Retaining quality talent is a struggle. Part of that is because there is a knowledge gap between your staff, the inventory on your lot, and your customers. With an advanced digital showroom solution, you put evidence-based information directly into their hands. Every piece of data about every vehicle on your lot is easily accessible. They become product champions.

At the end of the day, it is very important that your data is driven by quality solution sources. The decisions that you make will impact every avenue of your dealership. You don’t have the luxury of guessing anymore. The industry is moving forward and there are more opportunities than ever.