As a dealership, one of your main sales tasks is learning, understanding, and selling new manufacturer advancements and technology. Your salespersons are often tasked with the additional customer research of which technologies are really worth it and add lasting value to the vehicle. Knowing which technologies are flash and which are core is crucial to giving customers honest opinions, maintaining a competitive edge, and of course, selling the most product. Here is a simple guide to avoiding superficial tech and selling what really matters to your customers.
It’s the old adage “no man is an island”, but for car tech. As global communications and automotive technologies continue to merge, everything needs to speak the same language to work well together. Avoid new technologies that are stand-alone and don’t integrate with other systems. Take GPS, for example; not many people rely on their vehicle’s built-in GPS system because their phone can do it better and thus the tech has been rendered completely obsolete.
In the game of manufacturer competition, many will simply mimic others tech, slap one or two more features on it, and boast it’s excellence (and price impact) to the market. Although there’s nothing wrong with competition driving innovation, sometime’s the “innovation” can be more of a quick beat-out gimmick than lasting and valuable tech.
When presented with a new technology, ask yourself what the future steps and implications are. If there are no future steps, it’s likely a one-off upsell. On the other hand, if the tech fits into a larger trend and has obvious future implementations, it’s likely a more valuable component.
Value systemic advancements over surfacy flash. This may seem obvious, but a new safety function or a improvement in the material used for parts will always garner more value over time than a fancy touchscreen.
Thanks for dropping by! If you liked this post, check back for more of our Future of the Industry series. Thoughts, questions, or opinions? Get in touch!