Vanguard Dealer Services Blog

3 Ways to Improve Dealership Profits in 2016 and Beyond

Written by Vanguard Dealer Services | Jan 12, 2016 3:30:00 PM

Your dealership has to have a plan to increase profits for the new year. It's either plan for the future or be subject to the whims of your sales team and economic conditions. 

For those of you who want to take the bull by the horns and figure out the best ways to increase profitability, here are 3 proven ways that any dealership can become more profitable.

We've implemented these methods in hundreds of dealerships nationwide and without fail we've seen profit margins increase, employee performance go through the roof and anxieties decline every time. 

 1. Sales Strategy and Proficiency Analysis 

You have to know where your dealership is in order to plan for where you want to go. For any dealership that's serious about improving for the New Year, take a long, hard look at your sales team and F&I team's performances. Where were they strongest? What needs to be improved and where should their focus be this year? 

This can be an overwhelming process. But it must be done. 

That's why Vanguard Dealer Services offers comprehensive F&I and Sales strategy and proficiency analysis. What this means for your business is that we have auto consulting experts on the ground in your dealerships analyzing your sales and F&I team's strengths, weaknesses and providing actionable recommendations that put the focus on customer retention and increased sales. The end results will be increased profit margins, higher CSI scores and happier customers. 

You can view our Sales Strategy and Proficiency Analysis details here.

2. Dealer Incentive Management. 

It's no mystery that money motivates. Whether its your sales team or your F&I managers, having a well structured and targeted incentive program in place will motivate your team to do better.

Fully understanding how to structure and implement incentive programs isn't easy. You first need to understand where you want your F&I and sales teams to focus on and figure out what they can do differently to most benefit your target areas?

Then you need to calculate how much you can afford for incentives and ensure that you have the resources to meet the higher performances of your team. Plus there's ongoing incentive plan management to make sure that over time all of your business's needs are being met. 

Incentives programs are a critical component in a broader profitability strategy. Let us help you organize, implement and track your dealer incentive programs. We have the experience and know-how to get your incentives programs on track and increase your dealership's profits. 

You can view our Dealership Incentive Management services here.

3. Automotive Management Training

No matter how great your incentives programs, inventory or prices are, if your staff isn't properly trained, your dealership will struggle. 

Training is a process, not an event. By taking the time to continually educate and train both your management staff and sales employees alike, you're making a sound investment in the profitability and sustained success of your dealership. 

When considering a training program for your employees, you have to think about the varying experience levels of your sales and management team, the experience of the training staff you're considering and the track record that they have. In order to be the best, you have to learn from the best. 

At Vanguard Deal Services, we offer some of the most comprehensive, in depth and effective sales training in the industry. The training methods we teach and the principles we instill in our students have been increasing profits and producing results for over 30 years. Our training services are tailored to resonate with sales teams of all experience levels and all personality types in order to produce the best results. 

To learn more about our Automotive Management Training and other training services go here

Dealership profitability is a complex topic that takes care and experience to improve. Although these 3 points are just a starting point, we've seen the results of each of these strategies increase dealership profits time and time again.

Vanguard Dealer Services not only offers the service mentioned here but countless other means to help increase your dealership profits for the next year and the next decade alike. We would love to help your dealership gain more profits and run more effortlessly for you and your customers. 

If you have any questions about these services or what else Vanguard can do for your dealerships, feel free to contact us