As a company that has an intimate knowledge of how car buyers use the internet as part of the buying cycle, we're often asked how best to use the internet as part of their sales and marketing mix. We describe the methods and techniques for car dealerships to make the most of the internet to drive car sales.

Every dealership we work with has different methods and techniques of making use of the internet.

There's no doubt that a commitment to learning how to make the most of the internet is the way forward for virtually all dealerships, regardless of size.

One look at the research that is freely available on the web will confirm this.

For those that are beginning to take a step towards understanding and tapping into the internet, there are some key steps that help dealerships get the most out of it.

Here they are:


1. Management buy-in
2. Your staff
3. Effective strategy
4. Get external help
5. Test, measure, iterate


Management Buy-In

Any forward step into a new emerging technology must have complete management buy-in from the top down.

Letting one of your staff with a basic knowledge of the internet run your internet sales department just won't cut it. From the very start it's crucial to have the support of upper management in order to get the most of your strategy.

We all know how important the internet is to the car buying public. The more people who are sold into the idea of broadening their internet penetration, the easier it will become in the long run.

US dealerships have known for years that the only way is to make a financial commitment to building an internet sales team.

Your Staff

Any business will tell you that their most valuable asset is their staff, yet many dealerships start their internet presence with a team made up from a weak core of sales staff.

The car buyers you want to walk into your showroom use the internet as part of their buying process. Make sure your team understand the whole buying process, not just once they've contacted you, but the behavioural habits of consumers whilst on the internet too.

A team that understands the full process is one that can connect with your next customer, and close the sale effectively.

Effective Strategy

Without an effective strategy for execution, preparing a business for the best use of the internet will not succeed.

Often, we hear about managers who implement great strategies, but are unable to execute them, usually as a result of political and bureaucratic obstacles. This is where stage one, Management buy-in, is important.

Organising and communicating with other departments is also a good idea. Involve people within your organisation whose daily functions are closest to your customers.

Get External Help

For many dealerships, using the internet as part of their sales and marketing mix is new territory. We often see organisations attempting customer behavioural targeting, contextual advertising, search engine marketing and digital messaging without the necessary knowledge to pull it off, and often cite bad results as a reason for not progressing any further.

The internet is a relatively new sales and marketing platform, which can be incredibly complex, time consuming and difficult to target the right consumer effectively.

By partnering with a company like Askaprice.com, you will be able to concentrate on what you and your staff do best: sell cars.

Learn, test, measure, iterate

The online buying market is a constantly changing environment. The more you can keep up to speed with buyer habits, and how consumers use the internet as part of the car buying process, the better you will be able to anticipate change.

Ongoing success can be found by constantly testing new strategies for targeting car buyers who are using the internet, measuring the effectiveness, and repeating variation.