Dealers who are still talking about loyal customers are living in a fantasy world. What little customer loyalty that still exists is waning by the day, and it’s only going to get worse as the next generation of buyers begin to enter the market. These young adults are Internet savvy, and their shopping expectations have been formed by their experiences in Target and Wal-Mart.
Dealerships need to compete for every customer, every single time they enter the market. They can’t count on loyalty to their salespeople, their dealership, their brand, or even their manufacturer. The dealers, who understand this and plan for it, will be the ones who survive. And these opportunities don’t just end at the dealership level. Certainly the manufacturers need to do a much better job of integrating the dealership into their Internet presence, and they need to be much more proactive in providing reliable resources that dealers can draw from to help them catch up to these new buyers.
But also, dealer marketing associations need to begin using the Internet as an integral part of their local campaigns. In the programs we’ve been involved with, groups were not only able to see better results with a coordinated Internet campaign, but also reduce their overall expenditures. And in today’s market, no one can afford to not maximize the return on their marketing investment.
Posted by Al Amersdorfer 