Commercial Vehicle Market

Everyone likes to talk about making the pie bigger and creating win/win situations - which is a great objective, whenever possible. The reality is it isn’t always possible and sometimes there is only one winner. In fact, auto dealers live in this highly competitive world each day. Because of this situation, the smart dealer is always trying to improve so he can provide a better shopping experience and overall value proposition than the store down the street. After all, the store down the street may be the same brand - in which case the product is exactly the same, or if it is a different brand, the store will still likely have a similar offering in the same segment. A dealer has to make his interaction with his prospects and customers - both online and in the store - immediate, frequent, and relevant.

Lead Marketing–which is all about using analytics to understand and drive the ideal message to the prospect before they even consider your competition–can insure that a dealer always puts his best foot forward. Rather than being a victim of all the various things that can go wrong–salespeople not following up, poor vehicle and message presentation, difficulty contacting the prospect, etc.–the dealer can take control and use lead marketing to drive the ideal message immediately to the prospect and pull him/her into the store. Lead Marketing stops short of being a silver bullet, you still need to improve your in-store process however you can, but lead marketing is highly effective and provides the competitive edge that is critical to a dealer making their monthly number or not. I understand not everyone is sold on the concept of lead marketing yet, but at the very least you need to understand it and consider it as a means to gain a competitive edge and win the race. Ward's Dealer Business provides a great overview via their online publication. Check it out and feel free to share your thoughts.

Posted by Mike Spadafore, Manager, Consumer & Commercial Portfolio, Polk (07.19.2010)