Why Car Dealerships Should Reimagine With An “Old School” Approach
If you’re in the business of selling and servicing cars, buckle up, because this is about to get real. We all know the golden rule: your best shot at sales and service growth is with your existing customers. Direct, meaningful conversations always beat blasting people with ads and posts, right? Yet, somehow, we’ve been sucked into chasing the shiny object—“In-Market” customers.
We’ve shifted from building genuine relationships to chasing down customers the moment they get online. Instead of guiding them through their shopping journey, answering questions, and adding value, we’re chasing them with banner ads and social posts, hoping to stand out from the thousand other dealers hitting them daily. Spoiler alert: this is just another form of spray and pray.
Yeah, you might be targeting a specific audience, but you’re still bombarding them with the same generic, faceless noise. And then, we scratch our heads and wonder why it’s not working. “But they’re In-Market!” you say. Yeah, and they’re still looking to buy from someone they like, know, and trust—not just another faceless ad. That hasn’t changed folks. We have.
So, What’s Happening Here?
Capacity: Let’s break it down. The average dealership selling 150 vehicles a month would need to have over 130,000 conversations per month just to engage with all potential customers—yeah, that’s 5,652 conversations a day. To pull that off, you’d need a BDC with 94 people. That’s $5.6 million a year in payroll. Nope, that’s not happening.
Quality: With everyone in your store trying to squeeze in more conversations, the quality tanks. Poor conversations lead to poor results. Simple as that.
Desire: When conversation quality drops, customers disengage, sales drop, and soon your team’s motivation to keep pushing dies out.
So, what do we do instead? We go all-in on targeting “In-Market” customers, blasting them with ads, posts, and banners, hoping something sticks.
Here’s the Thing: There’s a Smarter Way…
Enter AI. AI can handle these conversations for you. It can build relationships, answer questions, and—unlike your team—it never gets tired or leaves a customer hanging. AI is relationship-building at scale. And no, this isn’t some futuristic fantasy. It’s built on a philosophy that’s been around for decades. In 1999, Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger wrote The Cluetrain Manifesto and predicted all of this: “Markets are conversations.” Fast forward 25 years, and here we are.
What Should You Be Doing Right Now?
- Get a CDP (Customer Data Platform) – Your dealership’s core competency isn’t tech, data management, or maintenance. Find a partner that knows what they’re doing and stick with them. AI doesn’t work without a solid CDP.
- Start Conversations Before They’re “In-Market” – Let AI engage your customers before they even think about buying. It can answer questions, make personalized offers, and when they’re ready, pass them off to a salesperson—equipped with all the info they need to close the deal. Remember, AI starts the convo, but people still want to buy from a human they trust.
- Keep the Conversation Going Online – Those “In-Market” ads will perform a whole lot better when the customer has already had a conversation with you. It’s like when you buy a car, and suddenly you start seeing that model everywhere—same thing here. The familiarity from earlier engagement makes the ads more impactful.
The Goal: More Conversations, Less Ad Spend
Here’s the payoff: more conversations, less ad spend. Done right, you’ll cut ad costs by 50%. Now, some folks might say AI has the potential for a lot more, and that’s true, but for now, the biggest win is more conversations with less of the post-and-pray ad strategy.
