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There is an overwhelming number of sites for listing your inventory and more showing up everyday. The problem is you don't have an overwhelming amount of time and money to use them all. So where should you spend?
A few of the big dogs always come to mind (AutoTrader, Cars, eBay, Edmunds) just to name a few, but lets break it down from a dealers point of view. AutoTrader says their #1 and brag that they have 3.5 million listings; Cars makes a lot of those same claims. Let's look at the facts from your customers viewpoint - we'll call them the BUYER. Here's where the Buyers shopped in April 2010; http://tinyurl.com/26q2gdn.
57% eBay Motors, 13% AutoTrader, 5% Cars.com
As a dealer ask yourself this; do you want your cars listed among 3.5 million other cars on a site that buyers visit less frequently or do you want to list your cars on a site with only 50K cars to compete against, and 4X's more buyers?
I talked to a single point domestic dealer last week that confessed he was paying over $15K a month to AT. To stand out he had to buy all the extras, highlighting and placement - you know the drill. He signed up for eBay Motors for $1K, didn't have to buy extras to stand out and got just as many leads. He said the only difference was the leads were stronger because the eBay shoppers were ready to buy, not just researching. He still uses all 3 listings sites, but he's cut out all the extras. Once he has several months of good analytics he's going to re-evaluate.
The other site that's gaining traction with dealers is Craiglist but we haven't seem them hit the Top 10 sites for buyers yet. But we'll keep you posted.
So choose wisely, do the research. Go to the different sites and search for a car, check out how many other cars you're competing against in your zip code. You may find you have less competition on a site you're not even using. Make a change, you could sell more cars! Buyers for used cars overwhelmingly shopped on eBay Motors. Sellers (that's the dealers) overwhelmingly listed on AutoTrader.
I've been reading a lot of articles lately about the lack of good used cars on the market. Some of the obvious culprits are "cash for clunkers" and the overall economy. With the slow economy people are simply just keeping their cars longer. The average turn used to be 3 years, now it's 5 years.
One of the good side effects is that new cars are selling better than expected. Unfortunately those deals are coming with trades that are less than high grossing cars.
Q: So where do you find good used cars?
A: Anywhere you can!
You need to get creative about sourcing. Creative, but smart. There are all kinds of tools and software available to help you stock what sells in your market but don't forget about your own database.
- Utilize matchmaker tools on your website or in your CRM tool
- A customer owned car that's on another customers wish list can be turned into 2 sales with a little effort
- Market "free" inspections to your database - make it a event day at the dealership (hot dogs, music, corn-hole tournament) whatever!
- Have fun things for the family to do while there car is being inspected and your sales staff is showing off new models
- Send out simple marketing that reminds your database that you buy used cars. A lot of people are looking to downsize to one or two car families
- You can take the "hassle" out of selling a used car
- Another great source is eBay Motors or Craigslist. Once you know what you're looking for, cars that sell in your area, hit the Internet and look for deals from FSBO's (for sale by owner). You can pick up some great deals.
Plus, it never hurts to stay in touch with your customer base. If they're not in the market they probably know someone that is...I smell a BIRD DOG check!
Sticking with this weeks backyard BBQ theme here are a few grills we thought would be perfect for our motor-head grill masters; enjoy!
Is that a HEMI???
You did what with your Austin?
And finally...that grills got some muscle
Moral of the story, if you can't part with it - grill with it!
My favorite part of summer has to be the outdoor grilling. We start early in the Spring and push it as long as we can into the Fall, but on a hot summer weekend nothing can beat it.
I remember neighborhood BBQ's when I was a kid too. They seemed to make their way up and down the block, everyone brought a dish, the dads all congregated around the grills with beers in hand. The mom's set up the food and chatted away like they hadn't seen each other in years. Kids still played yard games (remember those? Hide & Seek, Red Rover, Tag) yeah, they don't come on X-Box. It was a great way to spend the weekend.
Someones parents had always just bought a new car (my dad always bought station wagons, but that's a whole other nightmare story). Everyone would go out to the street and look over the car, there would be ohhhs and ahhhs, the inevitable horn honking - and there was always "the story of the deal". I worked with a guy about a year ago, ex-car salesman, who said something I'll never forget because it's so true.
He said; when asked if they got a good deal on their new car, never in the history of "man" has there ever been any other answer than, I got a great
Well summer is upon us again, and families are gathering around the BBQ. Not that much has changed, dads are still drinking beer, moms are still chit chatting and kids are still, well kids are playing video games and skateboarding. There doesn't seem to be the same excitement around a new car showing up in the neighborhood - but maybe that's just because there's not a great story being told.
Make sure every sale your dealership closes has a great story. When you sell a car on eBay Motors to a customer across the country make sure its a great experience. Think of what a great backyard BBQ story that could be...I found it online, great pictures, the dealer called me right away, they met my price, they helped me with finance, they did all the paperwork for out of state, they even shipped it right to my house in perfect condition! Hopefully that story ends with, I got such a great deal I'll never buy from anyone else (which of course, it will).
So I come back from vacation, I've got the usual "back from vacation attitude". You know the one, I'm still in shock from the alarm clock going off. I can't believe I have to wear real shoes, and I don't even want to face my email.
But then, as I'm slogging through (what can only be considered) a mind numbing amount of newsletters; out pops this jewel. The new Internet Marketing Top 10 Charts were posted and tah-dah...eBay Motors was number 1, again!
I eagerly posted it to Twitter, Facebook, my boss (to justify my daily rantings) and suddenly the fog begins to lift and I'm feeling more like my old self! I'm ready to take on the world of Internet Car Sales again (right after lunch).
But before I go (Mexican food today) let me just remind everyone that you don't have to spend a fortune advertising your inventory online, you just have to spend the time. eBay Motors offers you the most shoppers at the lowest listing price. You just need to make the effort.
Write me, I'll help you join team #1.
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