Auto Credit Express Blog
January 28, 2008
Are you marketing to your references?
Many of us at Auto Credit Express are surprised that many dealers that have bad credit finance departments don’t take advantage of an obvious marketing opportunity from their special finance customers.
How do you treat your special finance customers?
There are many phrases that dealers use to describe the bad credit customer: roaches, bust-outs, credit criminals. To that list, you should add a few more: customer, pay check and income generator. You should add those last three, because that’s exactly what they could, and should, be.
It’s a given that if you treat a customer with respect, there is a very good chance that they will come back and buy another car from you. In this regard, special finance customers are no different from your “A†paper customers. If you truly want to be successful with special finance, this is how you will run your department.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing.â€
Great. Glad to hear it. Now that we’ve crossed that bridge, how are you marketing to the reference list that they gave you as part of stips? Here is a built-in opportunity to really grow your business.
“Birds of a feather flock together.â€
If your customer had bad credit, the chance that one or two of their friends might be in the same situation is pretty good. Even if most of the references have good credit, it still makes sense to contact them. After all, customers with good credit need cars too, right?
All kidding aside, if you treated your bad credit customer with dignity, he/she is going to really appreciate it. If, when you tell your customer about the reference list, you mention that you, as well as the bank, may be contacting them, it will give the customer a “heads up†to contact that person and let them know about the great treatment they received at your dealership.
“How do I keep track of all these people?â€
If you have LotProOnline, the built-in CRM system will help you keep track. It will allow you to print letters as well as email to all the references in your database. You can use the letter templates in the program, or create custom templates of your own. It will also keep track of emails, letters and phone calls as well as allow you to change the status of these leads.
What are you waiting for?
Don’t spend another day missing out on this opportunity. It’s a fact that the closing ratio is higher for referrals than walk-in traffic. Contact us at 888.535.2277 or by using our quick contact form.
