Learn more about how special offers help you move cars, and how you can use them more effectively.

5 Reasons Specials Are Effective

Specials are a hugely important part of retail, but many car dealers find themselves reluctant to use them. There’s the concern of the razor-thin profit margin most new vehicles provide. There’s also the time and energy involved in a special that only works for one car. Despite these concerns, special offers are an incredibly important tool in any dealership’s toolkit. Here are four ways specials can help your business by helping your customers.

1. Cars are expensive, so make them a bit less so

The prospect of buying a car is a daunting one. Right from the jump, there is the matter of cost. A car is the third most expensive thing a person will purchase in their lives, behind a home and a college degree. So there’s a baseline of stress that a customer is always going to have. Keep that in mind when it comes to figuring out a price the two of you can live with.

A special offer helps alleviate a bit of this stress right off the top. The customer gets to see that they are already getting a deal. And here’s the important thing: make sure they are getting a deal. Honesty to the customer, and the value of an offer is a determinator, in how good it is for the overall experience. You’re not trying to bleed this person; you’re trying to turn them into a loyal customer. A great offer is the perfect first impression.

2. It defies the negative expectation

If you Google information on car specials, you’re going to find a glut of articles on how to negotiate for a car that reads like someone being prepared for battle. To someone like yourself, with a good knowledge of SEO, that tells you everything you need to know about how the car-buying experience is viewed by the general public. Your goal is to help change that.

Instead of delivering the experience of hacky late-night monologues and stand-up routines, give them the best possible deal you can. A special offer isn’t the entirety of that, but it’s an excellent step. It shows the customer that whatever negative expectations or experiences they might have come in with, they can leave those on the other side of your door. You’re there to help get them what they want at a price they can afford.

3. It gets you new business and new old business

According to a study by A.C. Nielsen, the lingering impact of the Great Recession has caused coupons to return to their previous prominence. The same study determined that 60% of customers actively look for new offers. So these special offers could be the one thing standing between you and a brand new customer.

Souce (A.C. Nielsen): https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2010/the-coupon-comeback/

It’s more than just bringing new faces into your dealership. There are also familiar faces who haven’t come back who might need a nudge to spend some money. A special offer reminds them of why they became your customers in the first place and makes them feel valued. Getting them an affordable offer on a vehicle is the least you can do.

4. It gets people into your showroom and into your service department

Anyone looking at a specials as merely a tool to sell a specific vehicle is missing a far larger picture. Let’s start at the top.

First, there’s their trade-in. Without a special offer to get your customer in a new(er) vehicle, you’d have no chance to get your hands on a trade-in that still has a ton of value. So this one offer is now potentially netting you two customers for two entirely separate sales. And that’s saying nothing about subsequent service visits.

Second, you’re getting a customer through your doors. Let’s say the coupon was for an oil change. Great, you provide that service. But what’s a customer doing while that’s going on? Probably will avail themselves to a cup of coffee and find themselves ambling over to your clean and well-lit showroom. See where I’m going with this?

The converse is true as well. Sell a car, and you have a chance to get a customer to have a look at your service department. Maybe you have a special deal there as well. The point of this is, you’re not selling one thing, you’re selling a bunch of things. The special offer allows you to get your customer inside, where you can absolutely assist with the one thing they want, and at the same time let them see how much more you have to offer.

5. It’s easier than you think

Happy Hao Car is unveiling a new product called Symphony that takes all the effort out of creating specials. Instead of spending your precious time calculating payments and cobbling together a special offer for each and every vehicle on your lot, Symphony does the work for you. So you get to reap all the benefits of great offers, while shouldering none of the load.

Special offers are incredibly valuable tool that a dealership has. While there are some potential roadblocks, they are dwarfed by the kind of benefits that such offers bring to your business. So what are you waiting for? Put some specials together and move some metal and fill those service bays!

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Author Justin Robinson-Prickett

Justin Robinsion-Prickett is a content writer from Los Angeles with over a decade of experience in the auto industry under his belt. When not working, he enjoys fencing, re-editing dialogue in old movies to remove articles, and playing with his two dogs James Westphal and Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.

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