Dealership Marketing Strategies

Lessons From Coach K
By Kurt Baumberger

One look at a dealership’s financial statements shows that dealers need to change how they “go to market.” That’s the easy part. Figuring out what to do about it is hard.

I was lucky enough to meet Coach Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of Olympic Gold Medal Team USA and four-time NCAA National Champion, twenty years ago when I was in graduate school at Duke. Since that time, I’ve spent a lot of time learning from him, especially how he “goes to market” with his basketball team each year.

Coach K explained to me that he spends a lot of time figuring out how to “go to market” with his team (i.e., his “dealership” business) at least once a year. After all, kids graduate (or head to the NBA). New freshmen arrive. Kids improve their skills over the summer. He’s got to adapt how to “go to market” in order to keep winning. There’s no such thing as “set it and forget it.”

More important, Coach K recognizes that what worked in the past, won’t necessarily work in the future. When he started coaching, he won with a great center and quick guards. Then, he won with deadly three-point shooters. Now, the tough man-to-man defense that Coach K loves is often shelved for a zone defense. Each year he continuously wins because he continuously adapts.

But how many dealers and GM’s take a step back every year and consciously consider how to change their “go to market” approach in order to win? For instance, how have dealerships overhauled their sales process to handle the fact that 90+% of customers today will extensively use the internet to do research before they walk into a dealership?

How have dealerships incorporated behavior tracking (or BT) in their internet infrastructure? Behavior tracking alerts your dealership that a specific customer (name, phone number, email, year, make, model) is engaged with your dealership “virtual showroom” in real-time, so salespeople can connect with them.

Yet, many dealerships have computers from the mid 1990’s. What’s more, these ancient computers are often locked down in a painfully slow internet network. If dealership folks can barely access their own website, then how do you expect your dealership to ever win in that kind of environment? How can the dealership win consistently? How can the dealership achieve any standard of excellence?

If you need help figuring out what to do, call your Black Book representative and they’ll help you “go to market.” Because winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

Kurt Baumberger consults with Automotive Dealers looking to drive sales while cutting expenses. He speaks to audiences across the country and his book, Adapt Or Die: How The Internet Is Killing Dealer Profits And What To Do About It, is available on amazon.com. Email: kurtbaumberger@gmail.com.

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