Remote service delivery is an operation that many car dealerships have instituted around the country, but one car dealership in Vermont decided to take a new approach. On today’s show, we’re pleased to welcome Mark Alderman, General Manager of Alderman’s Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Vermont to discuss why he decided to do away with remote service delivery and what’s working for his store now.
Alderman begins the conversation, by discussing his decision to do away with remote service delivery. He says he realized that the way to increase customer loyalty and retention was not through remote service delivery. When it comes to services like remote service delivery, Alderman says it’s counterintuitive, especially in the car business. There’s a large market out there that wants to have a personalized car dealership experience. Well over 50% of their customers, Alderman says, begin the car buying journey before setting foot in the showroom.
At his car dealership, Alderman says they are doing everything they can to increase traffic. He continues to say that a lot of lucky things happen when customers are able to get a better in-person experience.
People want an exceptional experience and are willing to invest their time if you make it worth their while. He says car dealers that are still doing remote services need to ask themselves, are they costing it correctly? There were many stores that didn’t recognize the cost or consequences of that particular avenue of business.
As far as the chip shortage and pandemic are concerned, Alderman says they are doing well. Their sales success and employee performance have never been better and they are having outstanding results. Alderman says he owes a lot to the car business and it’s never been a better time to be in the industry.
Alderman wraps up the conversation by sharing his thoughts on the future of his dealership. He says his colleagues are always looking for new deals but he’s always trying to execute on a high level. It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds and if you don’t like what’s going on in the car business right now, just wait a minute, Alderman says, because it’ll change.
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