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We often like to consider trust-building as an interaction that can only work in person. While there are certain advantages to developing trust with a customer that is unique to in-person situations, it’s not a practice exclusive to the showroom, financing office, or your inventory lot.
During COVID-19, businesses were forced to lean on the online world to communicate, engage, and build trust with customers. While society has re-opened its doors to the public, the digital pivot to e-commerce and online retail spaces is here to stay, and that’s a positive change.
Shaping your dealership processes and practices to accommodate the online purchase process allows you to meet an emerging demographic of car-buyers with how they want to shop for and buy cars.
Below, we’ve compiled a few reasons why building trust with your customers starts online.
- Reduces Customer’s Time at the Dealership
It’s no surprise that, for most people, filling out paperwork is a tedious and agonizing process. Of course, this is where seasoned sales staff and finance managers test their chops by building rapport and trust with the customer, but the trade-off sacrifices what the customer might prefer or want. In that case, there’s a solution that serves everyone.
Beyond generating leads from a dealership website, offering customers the ability to initiate the purchase process and complete most of the paperwork at home enables you to adjust the interactive model so that it’s convenient for them, and it’s convenient for you.
This not only reduces the need for the customer to spend hours at the dealership filling out paperwork but also creates the opportunity to sell more after-sale products. Streamlining the paperwork process so that the customer arrives at the dealership to pick up the vehicle prevents any onset fatigue. This, coupled with the excitement of making a new vehicle purchase, enables you to pitch the necessity of after-sale products to a more clear-minded customer.
- Streamlined Customer Interactions
Offering a remote option for customers to initiate the purchase process also allows you to focus on swift response times and increased customer engagement.
Driving more customers to initiate the deal process online frees your sales staff to manage and work with customers initially online. What this means is that a single sales member can manage and work with multiple customers at once instead of having their attention monopolized by a single customer.
Not only does this enable your sales staff to engage with more customers on a regular basis, it sets the stage for quicker response times to touch more leads at a given time.
- Expands your Customer Base
Nearly 80% of today’s car buyers start their car shopping online. It’s inevitable that more people will not only “consider” buying a car online, but will want to start the purchase process and paperwork from the comfort of their homes.
Expanding into the digital space allows you to meet with the customer on their own terms, a consideration that attracts car buyers.
A convenient and customer-friendly service that starts online, leaves a strong impression that converts into referrals, positive reviews, and increased sales.