Wow! In my 5 years in the automotive industry, I have never seen so much competition when it comes to third party listing websites for automotive vehicle listings. Facebook marketplace, Auto Trader and now the behemoth Amazon are just a few of the options both auto dealerships and car buyers have as a platform to search and list their vehicle inventories.
Now, I started in a dealership prior to opening up my own digital marketing agency and vividly remember when I would do my monthly reviews with all of our third party website vendors. Some were definitely better than others, but I figured out a system that helped me successfully audit each vendor and hold them accountable. I remember being new in the industry and often found it very overwhelming as there were so many vendors and a plethora of reports to go through. So for all the new marketing peeps sitting at the dealership or the seasoned ones, maybe the below will help you not only get the best out of your vendors, but also help to cohesively flourish in your partnership with said third party listing website provider.
Cheat Sheet Hacks:
1. Schedule a meeting with your third party website vendor rep at least once per month IN PERSON
2. Ask them to send you reports at least one week prior to meeting for your review so you can cross reference with your Google report
3. Interview each third party website vendor to see what their style is and what kind of tools and resources they offer whether it be webinars, conferences or workshops. A third party vendor wants to see you do well as ultimately they will also do well. It is a two way relationship.
4. Have YOUR STUFF together! Meaning, if the third party website vendor is telling you best practices and tips to get the most out of their website, listen to them! You can’t keep them accountable if you do not even know where you are at
5. If you have never worked with this particular company before, perhaps start on one of their starter packages so you can allow yourself to get comfortable with how their platform/portal interface works which will help you be more successful down the road.
If these top 5 tips seem redundant, I apologize, but many of the dealers I work with still are missing the ball and trying to get better to enhance their conversions and lot turns using third party listing websites.
If you have any questions, I am here!
Have a good one!
These are excellent tips. I’d like to add that it is paramount to identify the source of every lead which enters the dealership. This information is simple to attain yet holds immense value. Identify the lead source not only on sale day but every day; and every lead.
Totally agree and this can be done with a simple spreadsheet that consolidates everything that over time will help you go year to date so you can review the data in following years etc. Thanks for the comment!