In recent times, the automotive industry has faced unprecedented challenges due to global events. As dealerships begin to recover, it's crucial to identify new strategies and adapt to changing consumer behaviors. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through understanding your potential customers and crafting strategies that resonate with them. Whether your sales department is just gaining momentum or you're looking to optimize your approach, this guide will equip you with insights to navigate the evolving landscape and close deals efficiently.
The Need to Identify New Customer Segments
If your dealership's sales department is slowly getting back some momentum and looking for ways to speed up your recovery and comeback, I'm sure you're looking for all available options to help you make some deals.
It's a fact that the usual prospects who would typically be flooding your dealership to upgrade their transportation at this time of the year are probably staying home, still concerned about the worldwide events, wondering about the economy, and not necessarily feeling any desire to rush into a vehicle purchase.
But there are some people out there who HAVE to get a new vehicle and who WILL get a new car, truck, SUV or crossover in the next 90-days no matter what's happening in the world.
You just need to quickly figure out who they are so you can adapt your dealership's communication strategy and messaging to resonate with these specific avatars or buyer persona.
Understanding Avatars and Buyer Personas
I'll take a deep dive with you in a future piece of content. We can explore together how to find and create avatars and buyer personas to discover their demographics and interests, the key purchase drivers, their frustrations and fears, their wants and aspiration, and what is their state before and after buying a vehicle from you.
It's incredibly insightful to know who you're talking to when creating ads and marketing. It makes your communications 1000% more relevant to the prospects' needs and wants.
Introducing Five Key Customer Avatars
But for today, I just want to give you what I feel are the avatars providing you with the lowest-hanging fruits to help you squeeze every potential deal out of the current marketplace.
Here they are:
Lease-Renewal Lucy
She needs to get a new vehicle because her lease is coming to an end within the next 90 days. She might not be in the market if she didn't have to, but she's forced to explore her options.
Peggy Pregnant
If you thought that Babyboomers were a thing, wait till you see the number of babies that will come out of the Covid19 stay-at-home period. Many families will see their transportation needs change when they get the results of the pregnancy test they will be taking in the next few weeks.
Dominick Downgrade
This avatar will have to re-evaluate the share of his budget allocated to transportation to fit the new income of the family because of the health crisis.
Money Marco
His income did not change because of the health crisis. It might have even increased because his employer or company was perfectly positioned to thrive with the increase in online transactions from people staying home. Spring is coming, and he loves the new car smell.
Francine Fico
She needs a vehicle, but her credit has been affected by the crisis. Her score was already borderline before the Covid19 events, and none of the lenders have reported late payments, but her debt-service ratio is no longer as healthy as it once was.
Thomas Ecomm
Tom buys everything online; travel, insurance, even his grocery. He can't wait to skip the whole dealership experience and buy a car online without having to visit the store. He'd probably precipitate his buying cycle just for the sake of saying he was one of the first to do so.
Creating an Effective Customer Value Journey
As you can see, there's a lot of potential for car deals amidst the chaos and uncertainty, but going out with incentives and rebates alone will not speak to the automotive issues and problems these avatars are trying to solve.
To do so, you'll need to create the right sequence, or what I call, the right customer value journey.
If you haven't seen the video I created explaining the concept, check it out, it's quite insightful.
PRO TIP |
Harness the power of social media to understand and connect with your potential customers. Implement social listening tools to monitor conversations, trends, and sentiments surrounding the automotive industry and your dealership in real time. This can give you invaluable insights into what your potential customers are currently interested in and worried about. Use this data to fine-tune your avatars, and tailor your communication strategies to address specific concerns and interests. By being proactive and responsive to your audience’s needs, you can position your dealership as a trustworthy and customer-centric brand. |
Leverage Conquest Email Marketing to Reach Lease-Renewal Lucy
But for today, to make sure you get the most from the time you invested going through this content, here's a shortcut I use to help me reach all the Lease-Renewal Lucy's living around the dealers I work with.
My secret weapon: I use Conquest Email Marketing Data & Lists.
Using this compelling data, you could reach all vehicle owners in a 90-day lease renewal window around your dealership and offer them a simple process to explore the value of their current vehicle and showcase their options for a new one.
Conclusion: Taking Action to Drive Sales
I'm sure if you had the list of every Lease-Renewal Lucy around your store, you would know what to say in an email to sell them one of your vehicles, right?
Great!
Then give me a call or reach out by email and let's extract the available 90-day lease renewal data around your dealership.
I'll do that at no cost to you.
Once we know how many opportunities you have to sell a vehicle, I'll show you how to reach them for only $97 per thousand.
Selling vehicles in the aftermath of the health crisis is not that difficult. You just need to build your campaigns on sound marketing fundamentals and make sure you have access to the best tools and tactics in the automotive space.
Hey, that's why you have me in your corner.
Let's sell some cars!
How can I identify potential customers who are actively looking for a vehicle?
What kind of incentives can be effective in attracting customers during recovery?
How can I make my dealership more appealing to the “Thomas Ecomm” avatar who prefers online shopping?
How can I use email marketing effectively to reach potential customers like “Lease-Renewal Lucy”?
How can social listening improve my dealership’s marketing strategies?
What should be the primary focus in my communication strategy during the recovery period?
Sean Cassy is a seasoned marketing professional with a passion for transforming businesses through powerful marketing strategies. With over 35 years immersed in the world of marketing, and as the co-founder and owner of Turbo Marketing Solutions for the past 17 years, Sean has a rich history in delivering results. He has personally crafted over 2,500 marketing funnels, edited 5,000 videos, and generated leads that have culminated in over $2 billion in sales for clients. Sean's deep involvement with AI marketing tools from companies worldwide, coupled with his vast experience in the automotive marketing industry, has uniquely positioned him as a thought-leader in the AI marketing space. He is now committed to leveraging his expertise to help businesses across all verticals seize the AI opportunity early, and gain a competitive edge. Sean's wealth of experience, continuous learning, and proven track record in delivering results, underscore his Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness in the field of AI marketing. You can follow Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seancassy/