Page 44 - GIADA july2020

8 TIPS TO CONSIDER Before

YOU DROP THE PRICE

By Matt Childers, Digital Marketing Consultant at DealerLink

Have we forgotten, or worse, have we failed for getting it fixed. sold below cost, reward the salesperson
to teach new sales managers some of the 2. Put the aged inventory piece on one with a large minimum commission of
methods in selling aged inventory outside of your lot’s “hot spots.” A good sales $500 for each aged sold inventory piece.
of having to discount the price? The per- manager should know the best drive-by Make it worth the salespeople’s time to
spective in our industry over the past ten spots on the physical lot. Make sure to sell aged inventory and it will help.
years is that the only way to sell an aged park aged inventory pieces on the “hot 5. Use banners and photo overlays to
used car is to drop the price until it sells. spots” to ensure drive-by traffic gets a make the unit stand out online. A sim-
While it can be an effective strategy; it costs good look at the unit. ple highlighting of a special feature that
the store gross profit, and is not the only 3. Merchandise the unit with stickers and isn’t always easily seen from the first
strategy that a sales or inventory manager signs to help increase interest from picture; this simple method can go a
can use to help sell aged inventory. drive-by customers. Make sure to use long way to increase clicks on a car.
bright colors. Also, it is a good time to 6. Re-photo the vehicle. So many times,
Situations like this require managers to reprint the vehicle window stickers and the vehicle images are taken while it was
step back in time–before the power of the buyers guides to make sure they are snowing, or the leaves on the trees are
mighty internet–and remember the meth- clean and professional. changing. After 60-90 days the season
ods used to move aged inventory without 4. Pay salespeople spiffs on aged inventory has changed. Take time to go out and
dropping the price. units. It is pathetic that some stores pay retake the photos and update the vehi-
a measly $50 mini to a salesperson who cle’s images.
Here are a couple of offline and online tips spends hours with a customer to move 7. Change the first image of the vehicle on-
that I use when trying to move an aged an aged piece of inventory. More likely line from the exterior image to an inte-
piece of inventory other than dropping the than not, commission-based salespeo- rior image. The interior shot has shown
price. ple are going to attempt to move a cus- to get more clicks as it sparks curiosity.
tomer off an aged inventory vehicle to Previous online viewers of the vehicles
1. Drive the car. While a simple tip; it is increase their gross. Salespeople might may see it with a fresh set of eyes.
often overlooked or not executed due to also conclude that aged inventory might 8. Re-write the vehicle description. High-
all the tasks and stressors Sales Manag- have something potentially wrong with light the vehicle features, pricing, and
ers encounter during the business day. the vehicle. Therefore, why would they also the work that was completed to
With all those daily tasks and manage- want to spend hours of their time for a make your unit stand out above the rest.
ment duties rarely does the aged inven- mini and know that the inventory has
tory get driven to see if something is the potential for a dissatisfied customer Margin compression is a reality in the mar-
wrong with the unit. Does the vehicle in the future? One way to combat this ket today; however, as a dealer, you can take
need tires? Is it dirty from sitting on the inherent problem is to reward salespeo- additional steps to market your vehicle in-
lot over 60 days? Did the reconditioning ple with a rolling top 5 aged inventory ventory better and maintain more gross. It
team miss something? Whatever the is- list. If the unit is aged, allow a 50% paid takes time and effort; nonetheless, in the
sue may be, take personal responsibility commission or, if the vehicle is being long run, the gross profits are worth it. n

42 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer JUL/AUG 2020