Given the current environment, dealers are facing a lot of unknowns. But there are a few things that everyone should be doing to minimize the effects of the Coronavirus on your dealership. Start by taking a deep breath, staying calm, and following the advice of the CDC.
Then:
- Stay positive. Keeping a positive outlook helps both your team and your customers. Maybe you’ve had to cut hours or even close the store for a short period of time. By keeping focused and staying positive, your dealership WILL recover from the short-term economic effects. When things return to normal, there may even be pent up demand; after all, interest rates have just been cut to near zero.
- Re-evaluate Vendors. Take a look at where your money is going and understand if you’re benefiting in the ways you expected and hoped. Consider new vendors as well – were there some that had piqued your interest in the past, but you didn’t have time to fully investigate? Now’s the time to listen to pitches and do further research to understand if new products might be beneficial.
- Investigate additional sources of income that can be earned through your dealership. A Digital Insurance Program for dealers is a great example of a program that can help you weather economic downturns. With some programs, you can earn recurring income for years to come through a licensed Sub-Producer.
- Scrutinize Your Data and Optimize. Been so busy you haven’t had a chance to really dig deep into your metrics? Now is the time to do it. Find out what’s working and what’s not. Create a plan to streamline processes so that you’re as efficient as possible when you’re up and running at full speed again.
- Train Yourself and Your Team. If things are slow, use the opportunity to train your team. Maybe everyone could use a refresher on sales tactics to help advance their careers long-term. Or maybe the dealership has a few software programs that you know you could get more out of if everyone knew how to use them to their full potential. Investing in your employees at this time is the right thing to do and will also reap benefits in terms of loyalty.