Business Intelligence for Car Dealerships
Business intelligence is a broad topic because it deals with the accumulation of how different raw data interacts in your car dealerships.
Business intelligence makes use of all the different devices, operations, technology, and implementations of the raw data collected by your dealership and analyses it.
We can use this valuable processed information to form a pragmatic plan that helps your car dealerships make more informed decisions.
The processed information that business intelligence helps us to acquire is important when we try to understand past, present, and future market trends and it also helps dealerships know how to adapt to survive in an ever-changing consumer market.
The reason why is because we can first organize and understand our key performance indicators in a more meaningful way as business intelligence summarizes all the information for us.
These key performance indicators help dealerships to know whether or not they are meeting their objectives and measure the success of their current business plan. Learn more about key performance indicators here.
Business intelligence gives us a gateway to reflect on our customer, human resource, marketing, and financial metrics, it is a holistic view of performance which is beneficial for any kind of business when attempting to attain its goals or plan for the future.
Read more about the benefits of Automated Metrics here.
Finance and Insurance in Car Dealerships
Having an A-Team in your finance and insurance department is necessary for the growth of your dealership. Your team should be made up of professional, well informed and trained, experienced employees who all work toward the common goal of providing a stellar customer service experience.
Buying a car is not a spur of the moment decision for customers, it takes time to shop around for the right vehicle and find the right finance plan. However, having a quick and thorough sales experience is always preferred for both the customer and the dealership. Making effective presentations that are focused and accessible is one way that your team can remain united and work together to provide a worthy financial and insurance plan that customers cannot refuse.
One of the major contributors to the profit of any dealership is the financing of vehicles. If you can get a customer to finance their vehicle through your dealership then you successfully cut out the middleman and generate more income for your dealership.
This means that your car dealerships needs to offer finance and insurance plans that are in competition with or surpass other dealerships. Make the offer pretty and perfect they say, and the only way to do this is to make sure that your team is equipped and trained to know how to comply with regulations that govern the automotive industry.
It is a necessary step to have a compliance officer as part of your finance and insurance team. These employees work together to ensure that your dealership meets all of the regulations of the automotive industry thus betting penalties and inconveniences of penalties for noncompliance.
Your team should also be offering extra products and services in your dealerships packages or independently to help make the package look more appealing to its audience. Additional products and services that your team can consider adding to its menu are:
- Scheduled maintenance plans
- Anti-theft devices
- Road hazard and wheel warranties
- Paint and fabric protection
- Credit insurance/payment protection
- Extended warranties
The finance and insurance department of any dealership must be guided and trained to attain maximum profitability for your dealership but also continuously make sure that the customer is satisfied with the product or service that they are buying or have bought.
Remember that this department is providing a long-term service to your customers, so you need to ensure that the practices and procedures adopted by your dealership are as compelling as the first day they were invested in. Your team and dealership must be understanding of the customers’ needs and must remain loyal to the customers and the practices of the automotive industry.
The Next Best Thing: Business Intelligence and Finance and Insurance Department Integrated
When competition is high we can use business intelligence in your finance and insurance department to aid you in creating a wealth of deals that are attractive for the market you are trying to penetrate.
Integrating business intelligence in your finance and insurance department can be a quick and easy step if you have the right tools. For example, using software like Automated Metrics can help you to efficiently and effectively gather your raw data and transcribe it into meaningful business intelligence that you can in turn use to grow your business.
We can use this information to measure our performance and compare it to other car dealerships. This information is necessary for our survival in the market because we can use it to predict patterns and prepare accordingly.
Many automotive companies have geared up and are implementing business intelligence technologies. It has allowed them to try and test various procedures and practices that have proven their value and success. Based on these trends dealerships can rely on the obvious knowledge and use these methods to help them increase performance.
Using business intelligence has allowed the automotive industry to come to a state of equilibrium, they have agreed that certain factors have aided their management and profitability.
These factors include:
- Using technology to facilitate effective and efficient work and help your business grow.
- Using evidence manuals to create a more personal touch.
- The use of menus when selling a product or service.
- Using visual aids to help your customers see the prospective product.
- Making customer satisfaction the priority of your dealership’s culture.
- Using different tools, tactics, and technology to help you explain the value of your product or service.
- Using a standardized checklist to ensure that you have been compliant with all the steps you have taken to sell a product or service.
- Keeping up to date with regulations in the automotive industry and ensure that your dealership complies with the latest regulations.
- Ensuring that your team is trained routinely.
Conclusion
Business intelligence can help you to improve the tactics implemented in your finance and insurance department. When there is an improvement in the performance of your finance and insurance department you will notice positive shifts in profits and consumer satisfaction. It will also improve the ability to be consistently compliant with the automotive industry regulations and you will be aware of and predict market trends.