Another week, another report that sales growth is slowing. LMC Automotive this week said it is lowering its 2016 sales forecast by 300,000 units to 17.4 million, lower than last year’s 17.44 million units. The news isn’t catastrophic. LMC sees sales slowly climbing to 18 million by 2022.
But in such an environment, you want to make sure you manage all aspects of your dealership’s operations very well, including your social media reputation. If you are acquiring a dealership social media accounts and passwords are a vital area of attention, one that might slip through the cracks. That could have unfortunate consequences given that 75 percent of car buyers these days use the internet in their purchase process.
This week, Alexi Venneri, CEO of Digital Airstrike, gives some tips on how to handle social media when an ownership change occurs. One tip: Make sure all the log-ins and passwords are included in the negotiation!
Tesla got mystery shopped recently and its factory-owned stores didn’t do too well, again. Pied Piper Management sent mystery shoppers to Tesla outlets and found the sales reps in some didn’t actually try to sell the luxury electric vehicles. They were more like museum curators. Many also didn’t ask about a trade-in.
Mystery shopping can be a valuable tool to ferret out such weaknesses before a possible acquisition. This week, Marc Ciagne and Julie Strasberg of Person to Person Quality explain the mystery shopping process and how it can boost your due diligence of a potential dealership acquisition.
We also have Transaction News.
Enjoy!
