RVs are a hot commodity for US consumers, and that’s especially true for retirees who want to take a few years to travel the country – or even the continent. Below are five ways in which your RV dealership can appeal to your customer base via smartphone and with the use of other technologies in such a way that you can drastically improve your business and sales.
#1 – Staging RVs
For many people who purchase an RV, these vehicles become their homes for weeks or even months on end. Sometimes, they even become permanent homes. One of the best ways to appeal to people and really show them the comfort that an RV can offer is to stage a couple show models yourself. Make the beds, put a kettle on the stove, and hang a lovely curtain in the window. These little touches can really make an RV look (and feel) like home.
#2 – Utilizing Video
If you find that you don’t have much traffic coming to your lot, it may be a great time to consider using video to advertise and reach out to people interested in your stock. After staging an RV, consider recording a video to post to social media that can provide a virtual tour of the vehicle on demand. You might also think about reaching out to customers from miles away who have expressed an interest in your RVs and offering them virtual video tours, too.
#3 – Offering Discounts
Discounts are common among auto dealers. They keep people coming back time and again to purchase another new car. With RVs, it’s a little different – they cost significantly more, so consumers aren’t going to flood back every three years on average to upgrade to a newer model. This means that while the discounts you offer to your customers may be a little different than those offered by auto dealers, you should still consider the options and make sure they’re valuable. Offering a sale or a lowered down payment when consumers get their tax refunds is often a great idea.
#4 – Providing Trade-In Options
Again, because people won’t upgrade an RV as frequently as they’ll upgrade a car, you won’t have quite as many people seeking to trade in a relatively new RV. However, it is absolutely worth your time to consider the options for consumers who do want to trade in their older models. RVs are quite expensive, so any sort of discount you can provide will help you generate more sales.
#5 – Building a User-Friendly Website
These days, any business without a website – and without a professional-looking website at that – is not viewed as a legitimate business. In fact, many consumers will go out of their way to avoid businesses that do not have an online presence. A user-friendly website is a great place to post video tours of your RVs, and if you provide financing, you may even consider allowing your customers to get preapproved through your website. Preapproval is a fantastic incentive to get people on the lot.
Business and sales in RV dealerships across the nation continues to improve, especially when dealership owners use the five tips listed above to their advantage. Staging, recording quality videos, offering discounts, giving customers a great value for trade-ins, and making sure your website is user-friendly and functional will go a long way.
