Thought Experiment Part 2: A Dealership Without a Website?

Last month in this space we ran a little thought experiment that asked, “Can you run a dealership without salespeople?” The conclusion we came to is that, thanks to the internet, this is something you could do, it’s not something you should entertain.

So, in the interest of being fair and impartial, this month we’re going to consider the opposite notion: Can you run a dealership today without a web presence?

On the surface, the answer seems obvious. Of course you could. Chances are you were running your dealership without a web presence 12 years ago. You used mass advertising to draw consumers to your dealership and the sales people took it from there. All those things are still a part of the way you do business today, so sure it would be a change, but you’d be alright. Right?

Wrong. Like so many other things in American life, the internet has forever changed the way consumers shop for and buy cars. The paradigm has shifted and there’s nothing that can be done to shift it back.

Your website is so much more than an online brochure or a simple listing of your inventory. It is the very first way that your dealership interacts with an interested customer. Before you ever know that a customer is looking for a car, they’ve already shopped your inventory, compared prices with a dealership across town (or across the country), researched what you paid for the car and may have even made a purchasing decision.

This is the new reality for dealerships: 90% of new car buyers conduct research on the internet before ever setting foot at a dealership. And if you didn’t have a website, you’d cease to exist to these customers – regardless of how flashy your dealership looks or how many television ads you ran. 

So, could you run a dealership without a web presence in today’s day and age? Unless you plan on catering to that niche of consumers who still think the internet is a fad that will so go the way of the lava lamp, feathered hair and disco, we’d say the answer is a resounding “no.”

Come back next month when we’ll conduct the third part of this thought experiment when we ask “Could you run a dealership without any mass advertising?”

VNS: The Automotive World’s Only Proactive Marketing Tool

Dealer Impact believes that, despite all the power and possibilities the internet has brought to dealerships over the past decade, one thing has been missing — proactivity.

Until now.

Your website and other electronic marketing systems are reactive tools. They sit out there, waiting for a customer to come calling. They do nothing without the customer’s say so. But with Dealer Impact’s Virtual Notification System, your web system becomes a proactive marketing tool. Reaching out to customers to let them know when something of interest (a new model, financing option, service date, etc.) becomes available. Once they put the service to work for them, you’ll dealership will begin pushing information out to them rather than having to pull them back to the site every time you have something to say.

It saves time, money and puts the relevant information the customer wants right in their hands. Everybody wins with VNS from Dealer Impact. 

www.dealerimpact.com/blog