The motor trade is one of the world’s toughest business sectors but the current Coronavirus is putting incredible strain on the entire sales stream and getting good advice is essential to keep businesses going.
Here are five points to consider:
Stay Safe
Abide by the Government rules and close your dealership to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep your staff and customers safe. Exceptional circumstances permit the service department to open and help key workers remain mobile so, where this is absolutely necessary to maintain social distancing and help keep those that will care for us mobile. Remember that the government has pledged support for the economy and specifically for the industry, so take time to see how they will help your business through this unprecedented national emergency.
Plan Ahead for the Future
With enforced shutdown there is an opportunity to strategize for the coming months. Consumer buying patterns will be different and social distancing is likely to require different operational procedures to keep the business running and the economy moving. Make sure you are ready for when the lockdown is lifted and focus on your online presence and online selling capability.
Keep in Touch with Your Customers
Right now, there are millions of people that are trapped at home and in some cases unable to work. The need for something to do is going to increase and for many, they will turn to the internet to keep themselves occupied. People are likely to be looking for something to reward themselves with after the pandemic has subsided such as a holiday or leisure goods and also a new car. Make sure that you are tailoring your digital marketing and social media messaging to stay in front of those past and future customers with messages of support, hope and deals for the post lockdown market.
Keep Pricing Competitive
With showrooms closed your shop window is the internet. Sales will have stopped but the market will come back and in the interim, it is essential to maintain your shop window and keep your vehicles priced right for the market. There is no need to slash pricing as there is no stock to replace what you have and when the lockdown ends used car supply will take several weeks to recover as supply chains ramp up. However, there is a need to maintain awareness of how your product is placed in the market and what level pricing needs to be at post lockdown. Keep ahead of the game and be ready.
Use the Best Insight and Pricing Data Available
It is vital to use the best and most relevant pricing and insight available to be ready for the new market. Cazana works with live realtime retail driven insight to ensure stock is priced in line with retail prices. Most valuation providers supply trade driven manually edited values that are sometimes enhanced by a low level of historic retail information. To be clear, the auctions are closed and therefore competitor data will be based solely on subjective edits. Cazana data is based on what is happening to retail pricing every day direct from the market. A successful business in today’s market needs fact-based insight and pricing.
