How to Leverage Predictive Analytics to Boost Sales Opportunities

14 years. That’s how long the average consumer is holding onto their vehicle, and this trend isn’t shifting anytime soon. When consumers hold onto their vehicles longer, there are essentially fewer buyers in the market, plus there’s less used vehicle inventory making its way to your lot. Let’s explore two strategies to help your dealership adapt to these challenges and maintain momentum to drive sales forward.

Maximizing Every Opportunity

Have you ever spent your morning sifting through your CRM for prospects, collecting your prioritized list of 23, only to be met with 17 voicemails, four hang-ups, and two customers that just bought from the dealership down the street? Now you’re back to square one with nothing to show and having to do the whole process again. Determining which leads to pursue can be challenging. With customers holding onto vehicles even longer, every lead becomes even more crucial.

Leveraging the right customer data is essential to pinpoint the highest-quality prospects. By analyzing customer history, behaviors, and previous transactions, you can effectively identify those ready to buy and understand how to engage with them. This data might reveal that Tracy trades in her vehicle every three years and racks up a lot of miles due to her sales job. By removing the guesswork, you’re able to present her with vehicle and financing options that align more closely with her needs — something more fuel-efficient that mirrors the purchasing trends of other customers in comparable situations. Similarly, there’s Ben, who is married and has been recently searching for baby items. The data suggests that Ben may have recently expanded his family, which offers an opportunity to suggest upgrading to an SUV, a common choice among new parents. Leveraging your dealership’s data allows you to determine the best prospect and vehicle in your inventory in real time, freeing up your team to spend less time researching and more time building meaningful connections that lead to sales.

Taking a Proactive Approach

By fully utilizing customer information, your service drive can become a significant source of sales opportunities if approached strategically. Customers visiting for routine maintenance already have established trust in your dealership — an invaluable foundation your sales team can build upon. Instead of waiting for customers to come to them, this is the time for your sales team to approach customers while they wait for service to be completed. Not only does it give your sales team another at bat with a customer, but it could also get the customer thinking about their next vehicle before they even realize they’re looking to buy one.

Imagine your sales team gets an alert when a potential lead schedules a service appointment. The lead notification tells them John’s lease is nearing its end, he is 35 and single and based on additional data he is most likely to purchase a new sedan. With this insight, your sales team can prepare a personalized offer based on the customer’s current circumstances and sales and service history and strategically initiate conversations about his next vehicle, turning a simple service visit into a valuable sales opportunity.

With customers continuing to retain their vehicles longer, equipping your team with a tool that leverages your customers’ transactional, behavioral, and demographic data, to identify quality prospects and facilitate meaningful conversations is essential to maintain your sales momentum. Adopting a proactive approach in your service drive can transform routine interactions into valuable sales opportunities, keeping your dealership thriving in any market environment.

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