Mark Gilbert: Three Things Your Dealership Might Be Doing Wrong

According to Mark Gilbert, car dealerships are not really known for stepping out of their comfort zone when it comes to management. A recent poll reveals that car salespeople rank low when it comes to consumer trust. Clearly, there are a lot of things that could use a bit of tweaking, particularly in terms of customer experience.

If you feel your dealership is not performing to its potential, Mark Gilbert thinks you might be doing any of the three things below.

1. Being too specific. We have access to a lot of data that tracks how many cars of each model and color are sold at any given time. But Mark Gilbert says fewer than 20% of customers end up buying the specific car that they were looking for at first. Instead of closing the door on indecisive customers, the smart thing to do is to offer them something else. If they have second thoughts about their first choice, perhaps the next options will reel them in.

2. Not knowing when to let go of a customer. Mark Gilbert shares that one of his pet peeves when he was buying cars at other dealerships was being shadowed by a salesperson all the time. He understands that salespeople are only doing their jobs, but some people need to figure things out by themselves before deciding on a purchase. This attitude shown by some salespeople only shows that they don’t trust their customers to make the right choice. The best thing to do is to be polite and respect the customer’s time and space.

3. Not investing in employee development. Most car dealerships consider training an expense. However, Mark Gilbert says you cannot afford to not train your people. Whether they are salespeople or mechanics, your employees need to know more about the cars they sell or service, the people who come into the dealership daily, and how to figure out the best car for one’s needs. Failing to figure this out is equivalent to abandoning promising leads.

Mark Gilbert on Clever Lead Generating Ideas to Car Sales Using Your Website

Mark Gilbert knows, one of the main goals of any dealership is to make sales. But it’ll take more than a smile and charisma to generate many leads out on the sales floor or online—car dealerships need to get a little more creative these days when it comes to attracting potential buyers.

The one thing that hasn’t change though is that a great car sales team seeks out what the buyers want and what they’re looking for. And then that team finds a way to address that need within the dealership. You just have to be a little creative about it.

Consider the following smart tips and tricks:

1. Populate your blog with great information
Mark Gilbert understands that buyers trust dealers and dealerships to know what they’re talking about. If they sound informative, exciting, and full of valuable knowledge about the industry, they most certainly know what they are doing. It leads customers to trust them more. So why not try populating your dealership’s blog with great information about cars? Once they see that you are credible, potential customers will soon be referring back to you.

2. Make that website mobile friendly
Speaking of your website, you’re missing out on a lot if your website isn’t mobile-friendly. Not everyone shopping online will be coming from a computer. The mobile marketing field is increasing by the day. Mark Gilbert believes that your next customers may be browsing your site as they ride home, frustrated by public transportation.

3. Tap into that FOMO
Strike when the iron is hot. If you sense that there might be a big sales season on the way, bolster customers further by holding a big dealership sales event. People are more likely to take advantage of what they feel are promos or big campaigns, as they wouldn’t want to miss out. Mark Gilbert can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be a little more creative and to think outside the box when it comes to approaching potential customers. It’s a brave new world; it’s time to try something new.

Mark Gilbert Gives Tips for Used Car Dealerships

Mark Gilbert's career in the automotive industry is a success story of the most classic kind. He started from the ground up, beginning as a salesperson on the floor to becoming a dealer principal in several thriving dealerships.

He understands better than most people about how difficult it can be to start, let alone run, a dealership, including ones that deal with used cars. Some people naturally mistrust the industry that might make it even more difficult. Hence, he has come up with a few tips to help budding dealerships get started.

1. Research, research, research Mark Gilbert can't stress enough the importance of knowing your market and your industry. Don't think you can start a used car dealership on the fly. Before you can get started, you need to know about the consumers in your area, what they look for in a dealer, as well as the qualities that they trust.

2. Learn your competitors There are plenty of dealerships in the sea, so to speak, that's why you need to learn your competition. Figure out how they do it, and then figure out how to do it better. See how many vehicles they have, the choices offered, the age of the stock, and, most importantly, their prices. Are you able to compete with them, asks Mark Gilbert? Can you make your offerings more competitive?

3. Develop "the talk." There's a reason that used car salespeople are known for their ingenious way of talking. The art of the sale is something that has to get developed over time. It helps to be able to read your customers, listen to them, not being pushy, and building a good rapport. Building trust with local customers is a must in the used car industry.

Mark Gilbert stresses that beyond the financial and logistical concerns, a used car dealership runs well when the people in charge know what they're doing and how to do it.

Mark Gilbert on How to Start a Successful Car Dealership

Mark Gilbert continues to stress to everyone he’s had the pleasure of training or communicating to on a speech: think before you act. In these days of split-second decisions and impulsive actions, thinking about a course of action, adequately planning a strategy, and then working on it, can go a long way. This concept is especially important when starting a car dealership. Starting a business like this one needs specific preparation. Here are some vital automotive industry expert tips:

1. Understand your costs One of the first things that must be addressed immediately is the cost. Unlike other businesses where a small startup capital is enough, Mark Gilbert explains that a car dealership won’t come cheap. Consider:

• Costs of inventory
• Cost of the sales facility
• Employee salaries and benefits
• Prices of surety bonds with your state’s DMV

Including insurance, legal personnel, accounting personnel, and bookkeepers, the value of the upkeep is something that must be prepared for. An owner must be able to handle these costs or must find investors to shoulder them.

2. Get the right people
Making the car dealership a success means giving it the right workforce. Skilled staff with real motivation and drive can take even a small dealership and elevate it to success within a short period. Consider their experience, their personality, and, most importantly, their history in other places. Mark Gilbert recommends a robust interview process to get to know the candidates.

3. Know the Parts of the Showroom
A car showroom and its staff should be like a well-oiled machine. When staffing the different roles that run around the showroom and the offices, you need to know the function and importance of every job. Otherwise, how will you determine a strategy that maximizes the skill and ability of the whole team?

Mark Gilbert underscores the fact that a car dealership is a complex business that needs careful planning and preparation. It’s not something you want to get into on a whim. By knowing what to expect and getting a team ready for it, you can brace yourself for the start of a challenging but rewarding journey.

Mark Gilbert: How to Use Social Media for Your Dealership

According to Mark Gilbert, social media has become a major influence on buyers’ decision making processes. A vast majority of car buyers have accounts on Facebook and Twitter and most millennial buyers also have Instagram installed on their mobile devices. Any strategy to reach out to these markets must incorporate social media marketing; otherwise, Mark Gilbert says, they run the risk of missing out on potential sales. Below, Mark Gilbert lists different social networks and how dealerships can get the most out of them.

1. Facebook. As of 2015, 84% of potential customers are on Facebook. This figure is likely to be higher in 2019. With Facebook rolling out the Marketplace platform, dealerships suddenly have a dedicated venue for promoting their inventory. You can place ads and specify the geographic areas where you’d like to promote your dealership. This strategy results in higher click-through rates (almost 200 percent) than Facebook ads for other types of products or services.

2. Twitter. In 2013, Twitter users posted more than 320,000 tweets about cars daily; 75% of these tweets were related to either buying or owning cars. Social media marketing platforms can target these users and either send direct messages or make focused advertising visible on their timelines. For the same year, Twitter was directly or indirectly responsible for around $716 million in car sales – a drop in the bucket compared to other advertising media, but still a significant amount.

3. Instagram. This mobile-focused media-sharing app, owned by Facebook, has a massive user base among millennials. Instagram provides an excellent platform for sharing photos and videos that feature cars in actual use, whether it’s a lazy drive by the seaside, at a campsite, or at a tailgating event at a college homecoming game. With more than 5 million Instagram users in the U.S. alone that claim cars are their number 1 passion, the app holds endless possibilities for promoting your dealership.

Mark Gilbert Observes Dealership Need for Compliance Officers

Mark Gilbert joins other trainers and automotive dealership stakeholders in acknowledging that one main issue in the industry is the lack of competent employees like service technicians and compliance officers. According to some, these two positions are most vital to the field.

The National Automobile Dealership Association estimates that out of all the showrooms and groups nationwide, only 14 compliance officers are accounted for in the organization. Supposedly, most dealerships are using outsourced personnel for the post, which some think tanks warn against. In addition, the post is not actually a required position to fill, so most in dealership managements just let it be.

Supposedly, having an in-house compliance officer has more advantages than downsides. According to Mark Gilbert, one main reason to retain an officer in the position is they are the most knowledgeable when it comes to rules and regulations. They can serve as regular liaisons between the company and the local agencies.

Experts also agree that with someone knowing the ins and outs of bureaucracy, a compliance officer is versatile enough to step into other roles when needed.

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