THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET AND WHY IT MATTERS TO DEALERS

start, and be honest about options, down payments, interest rates, and payment plans. It’s better to know where your buyer is coming from as soon as possible when you are looking to close a deal.

9Go Digital

People are buying everything online, including cars. Have a digital presence, website, and social media. List your vehicles on local marketplaces and respond to messages and comments in a timely manner. Make the financing application process as painless as possible.

“Dave Smith was one of the pioneers of online buying,” Alexander told us. “And it turned us from a small-town dealership into something really special.”

Customers expect convenience, and one sure way to close the sale is to have the customer ready to buy and even have their financing approved before they ever set foot on your property. Digital marketing and a great website can do that for you.

10Follow Up Gather email addresses. Follow up with your potential customers before the sale. Follow up after the sale to ensure they are happy and will return to your dealership when they need another vehicle. Ask for honest reviews of your business and respond positively to feedback.

Even if the potential buyer does not buy from you this time, you may be able to learn from what they liked and did not like about your business, and the reason they chose another direction. You can set yourself up to be their first choice next time.

“It’s about developing lifetime customers,” Kristen Olson told us. “It’s not like customers are only going to buy one used car and never buy another one.”

This is far from a comprehensive list, and as we all know, selling takes time, effort, and energy. These 10 points can help set you up for success by forming lasting relationships with your customers. n

Where is the internet going in the next 3, 5 and 10 years — and is your dealership ready?

By Jason Silberbergon

Think back to 2004, the 3G network was just launched and everyone had a Nokia device. There were no iPhones, no Google mobile search, no Facebook and no Android. Fast forward to 2021 and in a blink of an eye, it has all changed. The 5G network is in full swing and mobile devices are multi-dimensional personal entertainment hubs. Consumers have adapted quite easily, even the later generations became tech-savvy to connect and communicate with their children and grandchildren, a technology trickle-up effect. So where is the internet going in the next three, five and 10 years — and is your dealership ready?

Forget the idea of “mobile-first” — this is an overused cliché that has no meaning to today’s consumer experience. It is about being “beyond mobile-first”; creating experiences across devices and browsers that interact in a native application-like environment.

Google is leading the way in this development by providing developers with its own coding framework called Angular. Like a chassis of a car, this framework provides companies and developers the ability to build Google-like experiences for consumers. This is what Google wants! They want to control the user experience on the internet and are leading the way. Today, they dictate how pages should load, look and have attribution models to help index pages better (SEO).

To get ready for the future, the first step is to look at your website and compare it to applications that you have on your phone; maybe BestBuy, Costco, Amazon, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Expedia, Priceline, etc. See the experiences they are providing their consumers and then look at your desktop and mobile — that’s right — your desktop!

The desktop browser experience is going through a renaissance period, and it is about to have a mobile-like environment. No more left-side filters, no more scrolling on product pages, no more pop-up lead forms. This is yesterday. You better be ready for tomorrow, today. n

Jason Silberberg is CEO & Co-Founder of Nabthat, a technology company dedicated to building automotive-centric platforms focused on the consumer experience. A seasoned executive in various fields including entertainment, distribution, logistics, digital media, telecommunications, and software, Silberberg has over 15 years of experience developing strategy, business development, policy, and operations for fast-growing companies. He believes the key to any business is the ability to initiate, develop and take ownership of your client’s interests.