Improve Your Dealership’s Response In 5 Easy Steps

Are you worried that your dealership’s phone isn’t constantly off the hook?

Are you frustrated that you’re unable to get frustrated about the sheer volume of emails flooding your inbox?

If you’re lucky enough to have a Friday-Ad dealership page then we’re about to give you 5 simple pointers to virtually guarantee a better response from it. There are thousands of potential customers ready to pick up the phone and you’ll be shocked at the simplicity of the steps you can take to make that happen.

Ad Pictures

Let’s start with the most basic of must-dos yet – oddly – the most common of doesn’t-dos; upload pictures for every one of your vehicles. A dealership without vehicles is just an empty room and a dealership page without pictures is the same. It is surprising how many dealers spend hours getting their vehicles washed, waxed and vacuumed yet fail to do their efforts justice when it comes to advertising them online.

Use a high definition camera and if you don’t own one, try and borrow one. Failing that, most new smartphones come equipped with very decent cameras offering a high pixel rate. Be sure to include as many images as possible; covering every angle from the dashboard to the boot. Before customers commit to an enquiry they will want to ensure that they are chasing their ideal motor rather than wasting time asking for more pictures or visiting the dealership in-person only to realise the poor quality image they had viewed online was actually disguising some deal-dampening blemishes.

Ad descriptions

Never presume that every one of your potential customers is a budding Top Gear presenter with a wealth of car knowledge floating around their head. Many will be first time buyers who don’t know a great deal about what they’re looking at beyond the picture so make sure each of your ads educates as well as excites. Equally, those in the know will want to deep-dive the details and that could be the difference between landing an enquiry or not.

Company Logo / Cover

Make sure you upload your company logo. Think about it in a high-street sense: if you were walking through town looking for somewhere new to eat, it’s very unlikely that you’d opt for the restaurant with no doors, windows or name. You’d probably choose to dine in the slightly more enticing Bon Apetit next door, right? Once you’ve uploaded your logo, make sure it is dimensionally correct. An image that is too tall or wide will result in part of it being cropped out and an image that is too small will appear blurry. Ok, so no one’s going to be coming to you for graphic design advice but a high quality logo that is framed nicely both reinforces professionalism and is great for brand awareness.

The cover photo is the first thing your customers will see when visiting your dealership page and is great opportunity to stand out from the competition. Don’t upload a screenshot of your opening times, phone number etc as this should already be featured on your page; it will just make everything cluttered. Avoid stretching small images to fit the dimensions as this will look amateurish but most importantly, don’t leave it blank. Try and use an image that represents who you are and what you stand for as a dealership. That could be anything from your forecourt, to some beautiful, rich photography of a sports car set to a mountainous background, just don’t leave it blank. If in doubt, our dedicated customer service team have some eye catching stock photography you can used in the meantime. Did we mention not to leave it blank?

Contact details

So, you’ve managed to get the basics right; your page looks slick and professional and your stocklistings are both eye-catching and informative. All of that will be for nothing if people don’t know who to contact. Although users will be able to contact you via messages on Friday-Ad, be sure to include your phone number and address as they may want an immediate response or even better, want to browse your showcase in person. The map feature included with your profile will pinpoint where in the country you can be found.

Check Your Messages

This one sounds obvious but so many people make the mistake of relying solely on incoming telephone calls. On Friday-Ad, many potential customers will choose to send a message via your page before committing to a phone call or anything beyond that. What’s more, with the rise of social media, people often expect a near-immediate response. Check your messages daily because that enquiry about your Ford Focus you didn’t read 13 days ago is almost certainly now a no-goer. That person will have bought one from someone else and driven off into the sunset by now. Make it part of your routine and check your inbox daily if not more.

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