Here are some tips for car audio retailers for when the country retreats from social distancing.
Suggestions from the Mobile Electronics Retail Leaders Forum on Monday nights:
Once social distancing ends, have a grand re-opening. Or a party. As one dealer in an upscale area noted, “There’s a lot of income there festering because people haven’t been going out or eating out.” Rearrange the store, products, make it new again.
Contact your local car dealerships. They are going to offer gang buster sales once people start shopping again, as the dealerships try to make up their sales numbers for the year. You will want to get in on their new financing packages. “Make sure you stay in touch with car dealerships so you can be preloading vehicles when you come back,” said Tony Dehnke who leads the ME Retail Leaders Forum, a zoom conference. “My gut is those guys are going to have easy financing and lease money. If you can add your stuff, included in the financing, I would be working on those relationships now.” The idea is to be ready to turn on those deals at a moment’s notice when the car dealers are ready.
The same applies to dealers of motorcycles, ATVs, RVs and trailers, said Dehnke.
Another dealer mentioned that social distancing may not be turned off completely. We may still operate in the coming months with limits to the number of people you can have in the shop. So instead of holding one big car show, break it up into specialized shows with smaller numbers of people, such as a truck show, an import night and then rebroadcast those on your Facebook page, so people staying at home can participate virtually.
Make sure you are set up to do virtual consultations by phone with customers. You should get a stabilizer for your phone so your video is steady as you walk around and get a good lapel mic.
For now and the near future: One dealer cautioned that there are going to be a lot of businesses failing so you should be careful about who you allow to pay on credit. “There won’t be a used car dealer getting any credit from me. They are going to have to pay when they pick the car up. Those are things we need to think through,” he said.
And since everything is new again now, if you have terms with new car dealers, maybe now you can reset them.
Of course you’ve heard the advice that now is the time to repaint and refurbish and clean out the shop and jump on the many supplier training webinars. Another suggestion is to use the time to get MECP certified.
Good advice!