The transformative promise that Digital Retailing holds for the auto retail industry is boundless. So, too, are the configurations and options that you can control. To start with, here are eight suggestions:
1. Edit lease details to ensure that your cars reflect the optimal money factor and residual
We all know that from month to month, certain lessors or lenders have more favorable terms at different duration. In May, for example, the money factor could be insanely low at 24 months, and then in June the money factor is unbeatable at 30 months.
Once your Digital Retailing is setup for specific models or even trim levels you can use the inventory app in ControlCenter to ensure that PaymentDriver pulls terms that set up your payments to stand out.
Yes, we have training in ControlCenter Tutorials for this.
2. Merchandise your F&I menu or products by editing MenuDriver content.
Did you read our case study on Digital Retailing that documented how dealerships can make more money in F&I with Digital Retailing? Giving shoppers transactional information in a way that lowers anxiety can make them more apt to buy.
And it doesn’t stop at financing. With MenuDriver you can ensure that your valuable F&I products are presented to your customers online. Similar to the old days when we asked sales consultants to briefly mention products so that the T/O to finance wasn’t a surprise. You can do the same thing online.
Yep, training for this, too.
3. Use landing pages, slideshows, even video to brand your Digital Retailing experience for shoppers and turn website traffic into engaged clients.
Many of you have been putting your own custom content on your website for some time. You have created pages, edited existing pages, tied your social media to your website – in short, used images, video, and content to tell your dealership’s story. The same is recommended online through Digital Retailing.
We have training for this very important step, too.
4. Customize how your website values trade-ins according to your own criteria by editing ‘Value Adjustments’ in TradeDriver preferences.
Whether you calculate it yourself or use software, you know which makes and models you crush on the used lot, and which languish in inventory and lose money. With Digital Retailing, you can pre-program which models to step up on, and which models that require caution. It’s that easy. No surprises. No missing trades on the best models, and no being buried in the wrong inventory.
And I don’t even have to say it, do I? We’ve got the training.
5. Select lenders and hold reserve in lease and finance payments with ‘Edit PaymentDriver Preferences’.
Your reserve in lease and finance payments is an important part of your value stream. And yet there are also times when you want to adjust your reserve, maybe due to competitive forces or a variety of other reasons. Digital Retailing is not a ‘set and forget’ solution; it’s a suite of transactional tools that allows you to make tactical changes as you see fit.
Of course… training in Tutorials within your ControlCenter.
6. Go beyond the basic data sent to your CRM by logging in to access ‘My Leads’ for all consumer-submitted information.
You’ve been working under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act for years. Certain financial and personal information for your Digital Retailing submissions (for instance Social Security Number) do not leave the secure confines of the Dealertrack F&I tool. When a lead in your CRM from FinanceDriver doesn’t have a SSN, Digital Retailing protects your customers. Simply log into Dealertrack F&I for the full scoop.
Training. In Tutorials.
7. Update your FinanceDriver preferences when looking to refresh your bureau criteria for credit pre-qualification.
Once you’ve been up and running with FinanceDriver, you may choose to adjust how you pre-qualify clients. Digital Retailing is ready, with functionality that allows you to pivot and continuously ensure a smooth experience for your valuable customers.
You guessed it! There’s training available for you 24/7.
8. View all details of a shopper’s trade-in – even how many key fobs it has – before he or she gets to the dealership by seeing the trade-in vehicle summary in TradeDriver.
Worried that you don’t see enough info on prospective trade-ins? Maybe you are close to a deal with a client, and a few extra bucks on the trade can make the difference between an RDR and frustration. Digital Retailing’s TradeDriver gives you access to every piece of info on a client’s trade.
Who knows – maybe logging in, confirming that it’s never been smoked in and has all keys could be enough to make it worth an extra few hundred bucks, resulting in a sale and a nice clean trade.
As stated several times above, training is available in ControlCenter Tutorials.
Patrick Wyld is an enterprise performance manager for Digital Retailing at Dealer.com