Pub. 19 2020-2021 Issue 2

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S I S S U E 2 | 2 0 2 0 32 new jersey auto retailer What are your thoughts about the auto industry and COVID-19? I’ve been in the industry for the lion’s share of my career. No one has seen anything like COVID-19 before. It has been an unforeseeably trying time and has changed us in a way that I think is forever. Many of us expected to see a move away from traditional brick and mortar stores towards more digital engage- ment on what we thought was a horizon of 12 or 15 years. This pandemic and the absence of a vaccine has forced us to leap for- ward three or four years into that future as we wait for a vaccine to feel truly safe. The model going forward, at least-for the near future, is going to be on the internet and digitally-based. People will be talking by phone, not walking the lot in person as often as they were doing before. We will have to be more transparent as we won’t always be able to meet in person. The winners will be the dealers who are willing to be flexible and adapt to the new environment, which includes meeting the demands of new consumer behaviors. If you were a car dealer today, what would you do? I would be doubling down on all the proactive forms of commu- nication that I can use. Automotive technologies can empower sales staff to: • Make informed calls to customers. • Send direct mail pieces that are microtargeted based on consumer needs. • Market through personalized email. • Make social media posts. • Use digital retargeting. For example, if you sent direct mail to the people on a list, utilize the same list to market digital- ly on social media. • Enhance the dealership’s website. I would put my time and resources toward any form of proactive communication I could to my customers, so I am not waiting for them to come to the lot. While consumers are hungry to buy cars, they may not be too excited about physically walking Q&A With Ian Grace of automotiveMastermind