IMPORTANCE OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT FOR CAR DEALERSHIPS

I have seen first hand the effect a bad reputation has on a local business. There are so many scenarios where a bad couple of reviews can cost you as much as thirty percent of your business or even more depending on your market. There for rendering your advertising dollars null and void. Let me elaborate to clarify exactly how dollars and hard to get clients in this current economy are flying out your doors. Say for example your a local car dealership,you spend money getting the customer to consider you for their next purchase or service. I know that the average walk in cost about three hundred dollars to get in the door. They seen your ad in a newspaper,TV,radio or on a third party site. Customer calls or emails your salesman, he or she spends time working to get the customer in the door. I know from independent research the average new or used car customer spends five to six hours on the net before they ever walk in the door. To think they wont see the negative reviews that are out there is foolish. Even if they don’t see it on line they will surly see it when the put your address in their smart phone to get directions to your store and the reviews pop up. With out question this will influence their buying decision. Ask yourself this question wouldn’t it influence yours. When the national average profit per car purchase is over fifteen hundred it doesn’t take long to cost yourself large amounts of profit. Action needs to be taken right away to build a stellar online reputation,before you get to far in the hole. If your good make sure it stays that way,if its bad or not so good take steps to fix it. Don’t take this lightly and just hand it off to some manager or office person,who has no idea how to manage your reputation. Hire a full time person to do this most important job, or if cost effective hire an experienced reputation firm to take on the task. Either way make sure to put this on the top of your to do list before its to late. I know from experience the difference a good compared to a bad reputation will make to your bottom line right away. I’ve seen it over and over again with the same result each and every time.