Time, Motivation and Emotion
As we see it, there are 3 main factors that distinguish private sellers from dealers that in reality, dealers should be up to play with. Time, Motivation and Emotion. Private sellers spend the time to put blood, sweat and tears into their listings. They only have 1 vehicle to sell – so can put everything into it. They’re motivated – they need the cash, for a new car, or an overseas trip or some other reason. They have to sell it. They’re emotional – the sale of that vehicle will mean a trip, or an engagement ring or a new car. They put this emotion into their listing, they will think of every single benefit and feature to mention in their listing to promote their vehicle. They tell a story about how great the vehicle has been, how well it runs, and how well they have looked after it. Let’s take look at the things that private sellers are doing well.
Taking the time
We recommend that dealers spend 30min to 1 hour day 3x a week loading and editing listings. This is a reasonable amount of time to spend, and you will reap the benefits. You can usually display up to 20 images on your listings – we recommend 10 images minimum which show the exterior and interior of a vehicle. Once the listings are loaded, you can go in and edit them as required. Change around the photos. Add details you may have forgotten. Some vehicle management systems provide features that save you time when loading or editing your stock. For example you may be able to upload multiple images in one go, or load generic information about your dealership onto every listing without cutting and pasting it in one by one, e.g.: “Acme Motors is a family-run industry and has been in Auckland for over 40 years. All Acme Motors vehicles are AA Safety Certified, AA Appraised, AA Serviced, and odometer certified. Delivery can be arranged anywhere in NZ.” Your vehicle management system should enable you to load stock once, and have it appear on your online classified website and your own company website, without having to load each vehicle twice. It is worth asking your VMS supplier about such features which will save you time loading and editing your stock. That bit of extra time spent in creating great listings will benefit you in the long run.
Private sellers may have time to focus on selling one vehicle, but dealers are easily contacted and flexible. A private seller is often at work, cannot be reached all day and cannot show the car at any given time and they are generally slower in following up their leads than a dealer is.
Listing quality
Recently I saw a dealer’s listing for a vintage Mercedes. What did it have in the comments field? Two words –“leather seats”. Private sellers do not subscribe to the thinking “If people want it – they will contact us”. This just isn’t the case. Buyers search for and compare multiple vehicles online, and are more likely to contact the person whose vehicle has a lot of information and special features listed than one which has a one or two word description. Private sellers put more detail into their listings – they are packed full of features, comments and tell a story about the vehicle. There is a lot of competition on the internet, so you want your vehicles to stand out from the crowd.
There are free, easy ways to create good quality listings. Firstly, make the most of all the space available to you – fields, comments, photos. Pack your listings full of key words such as ‘automatic’, ‘turbo’ or ‘economy’ that will be picked up in a buyer’s search results. Be emotive - tell a story about that vehicle – what condition is it in? How does it drive? List all the features. What special deals or services are you offering around this vehicle? Vehicles should be treated the same way when advertised online as they are when being sold face to face on the yard. Use classified websites as your ‘digital salesperson, and take the same care and level of detail when listing your vehicles as you would showing that vehicle on the yard.
There are free, easy ways to create good quality listings. Firstly, make the most of all the space available to you – fields, comments, photos. Pack your listings full of key words such as ‘automatic’, ‘turbo’ or ‘economy’ that will be picked up in a buyer’s search results. Be emotive - tell a story about that vehicle – what condition is it in? How does it drive? List all the features. What special deals or services are you offering around this vehicle? Vehicles should be treated the same way when advertised online as they are when being sold face to face on the yard. Use classified websites as your ‘digital salesperson, and take the same care and level of detail when listing your vehicles as you would showing that vehicle on the yard.
Use your levers
Dealers have multiple levers that private seller do not. Private sellers just want to get rid of their vehicle, and have one lever – price. Dealers can use multiple levers when trying to sell the vehicle, such as warranties, finance, price, trade-ins and other comparable vehicles. Dealers also have information on the manufacturer and model of the vehicle that private sellers may not - design changes or important factory information or could offer advice on replacement parts for that vehicle. Promote these benefits and services in listings and when speaking to the buyer to capture their attention.
Promote your knowledge and services
Dealers provide confidence. Many dealerships offer vehicles that have had full mechanical checks, are AA approved which reassures the buyer that their purchase will not break down a week later, or that they have after sales services available. It is in a dealer’s best interest to make sure that the vehicle is mechanically-sound vehicle and will run OK after sale. Selling a lemon is bad for the dealer’s reputation, so it's in their best interest to sell a reliable, compliant vehicle.
So when listing your vehicles, take a leaf out of the competition’s book – utilize time, motivation and emotion to drive more traffics to your listings and beat private sellers at their own game.
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