In today’s uncertain economic environment, it’s more important than ever that dealerships have tools that help strengthen their flexibility and adaptability.

Data holds the key.

With real-time actionable data, dealers adapt quickly while simultaneously remaining focused on the customer and on the dealership’s profits.

The more useful information you have on your customers, the better you can meet their needs and predict their behavior – and more importantly, drive their behavior – to be helpful and competitive in any environment.

New opportunities during Covid

For all AutoAlert dealers, data-in-action became even more powerful this spring, as they incorporated open recalls into their customer data analytics and saw unprecedented success.

With recall data at their fingertips, dealers built strategies around driving traffic to their service departments. This not only kept their techs working, but also resulted in three immediate opportunities for profit:

1. Trade-in offers for the right customers, resulting in more vehicles sold
2. Increased income from completing the recall as well as other services
3. Increased income from selling extended warranties

One best practice involved inviting customers that the dealer wanted to contact (because analytics showed they were likely to purchase soon) to have their recall completed.

“Nobody wanted to leave their house – there was a point when the lockdown was really tight,” Bob Tasca III, Vice President of Tasca Automotive Group, told us this summer. “But everyone wants to make sure their car is safe. So the message really resonated with customers. A lot of [them] didn’t even know they had recalls. With the integration with AutoAlert, it was seamless … point and click. And we went after it. To the point where we actually had to start backing off.”

Ringing in 2021 with confidence

So far, the coronavirus pandemic has had a smaller impact on vehicle purchases than many of us had first feared.

With Covid cases continuing to escalate, and a second round of lockdowns on people’s minds, exactly how the holiday shopping season will play out remains uncertain.

At AutoAlert, we’re always working on solutions that dealers can rely on regardless of any outside factors. We developed our platform to be used by anyone on your team from anywhere.

It’s why we focus on creating the clearest real-time picture of each customer through data. When you’re relying on indicators based in real-time, it doesn’t matter why or how a person is in-market and shopping for a particular vehicle, it just matters that they are! You can be the first to know … sometimes even before the customer has begun shopping.

Just as important as knowing what your customers want when they want it is being able to reach them at the right time and seamlessly integrate into their journey.

Solutions like Recall Management are made to do just that. By inviting your customers in to get their recalls fixed, you’re increasing your offerings, standing out from the competition, building relationships, and remaining top-of-mind.

Staying flexible, with data

Managing your recalls is one example of how a particular data set (open recalls) provides a window into a new strategic world for meeting your customers’ needs better than you have been able to in the past.

You already have good data … in your DMS, maybe in your CRM. A data platform incorporates all of this, then adds real-time actionable data (including OEM incentives and other data, third-party data, etc.) and applies proven analytics and a path of action to make sure that you never miss a single opportunity.

Dealerships looking at just a few data points – equity and remaining warranty, perhaps – are missing out on being the most helpful they can be for their current and future customers.

It comes down to being able to access all of that helpful data out there, but also being able to act on it when the timing is right for each particular customer.