Dealership owners have a wide variety of tools at their disposal to help them keep their dealerships running smoothly. With the right tools, it’s possible to increase productivity and maximize dealership sales.
Let’s break down some of the car sales tools that every dealership should take advantage of to boost business.
4 Car Sale Tools That Streamline Productivity
1. Inventory Management System
Managing your inventory is one of the most challenging parts of running a dealership. That’s where an inventory management system comes into play. This system helps dealers organize and control the vehicles in their inventory, from acquisition to sale. Within the system, you and your employees can quickly find essential details about all the cars you have, plus more in-depth statistics and analysis about your inventory. You can then use this information to organize your lot and your website.
So why is having an inventory management system so important? An inventory management tool helps increase gross profits by reducing inventory turnover time and generates data about which cars are suitable for any given market location. Put simply, a great inventory management tool helps dealerships sell more cars. If you’re not using one of these systems, you risk missing out on a significant opportunity to boost your sales. Instead, you may find your dealership falling behind competitors who do use this technology to help their businesses.
When you’re considering different inventory management systems for your dealership, consider the following factors:
- Integrations: Modern dealerships already use a variety of systems that need to be able to connect with one another to be as effective as possible. Ensure the inventory management system you choose integrates with your dealership's other systems.
- Data: The more data an inventory management system has available, the more accurate and valuable it will be when providing insights. Choose a system backed by a strong data platform.
- Customer support: If you encounter any issues or questions regarding your system, you need to be able to count on reliable, helpful customer support.
2. Vehicle Pricing
Not sure how high or low to price your vehicles? If you’re pricing your vehicles based on assumptions and estimations, you’re probably not choosing optimal prices. Maximizing margins on used vehicle sales is the number one challenge for dealership owners in 2023, and pricing correctly is central to that challenge1. One of the best dealer tools that helps with exactly that issue is a vehicle pricing tool.
A vehicle pricing tool uses actual data to help dealerships price inventory based on market research and sales data. These tools can include pricing proof points, which use accurate data to generate reports that justify and explain why a car is priced a certain way. Not only can this tool help you remain competitive, but it can also provide greater transparency for consumers.
3. Website Tools
Website tools are among the most essential tools for a car salesman in 2023. If your dealership website isn’t full of high-quality, attractive web pages, you can easily miss out on a chance to snag a customer. Potential customers will be looking at your vehicle display pages (VDPs) and other dealerships VDPs, to find the exact vehicle they want. The average automotive shopper visits more than four websites during this process2. You want your dealership’s website to be the one that stands out, and top website car sales tools can help with that.
Modern auto consumers crave information and have little patience for dealerships who don’t make that information easy to access. Website tools can organize and optimize your VDPs to put this information in the spotlight in an intuitive format. You enhance your dealership’s online visibility when all the requisite information, such as fuel economy, options, and upgrades, is visible on a single page. The tools will also highlight any special features or equipment packages that set your cars apart from the crowd.
4. Digital Marketing
Before you can wow customers with your dealership website, you need to get your dealership on their radar in the first place. Digital marketing tools help bring your dealership to shoppers’ attention. The average shopper spends over 14 hours researching vehicles before purchase, and they spend much of that time on third-party sites like Cars.com and Auto Trader3.
By using digital marketing tools to generate and distribute ads on these third-party sites, you can catch vehicle shoppers’ attention and, hopefully, direct them to buy from your dealership. The marketing tools can automatically generate ads based on the inventory you have, saving you time and effort. Each ad is filled with detailed information that answers all common customer questions.
Supercharge Your Dealership With Car Sales Tools
Taking advantage of these and other useful dealer tools can bring your dealership to the next level. Why miss out on the opportunities these tools offer?
Instead of shopping around for different tools to fulfill all these needs, turn to MAX Digital. MAX Digital offers a range of tools that help dealerships with areas like inventory management and merchandising. Contact us to schedule a demo of our products and learn more about what MAX Digital can do for your dealership.
Sources:
- (Jan 19, 2023). CARS dealer survey pinpoints top 3 challenges for 2023. Auto Remarketing. Retrieved Sept 20, 2023 from, https://www.autoremarketing.com/ar/cars-dealer-survey-pinpoints-top-3-challenges-2023/
- Andersen, D. (Sept 16, 2022). 35 Statistics Automotive Marketers Need to Know in 2023. Invoca. Retrieved Sept 20, 2023 from, https://www.invoca.com/blog/automotive-marketing-statistics
- Grieve, P. (Jan 24, 2023). Shopping for a Car Now Eats Up Nearly 15 Hours of Your Time, on Average. Money. Retrieved Sept 20, 2023 from, https://money.com/how-much-time-buy-car-report/
