Every Used Car Dealer in America wants to do 2 things, sell more cars (or trucks) and increase their return on investment (ROI). The hard part is figuring out how to get to the next level once you get stuck in the rut. Watch this video and we show you how, step-by-step. California Used Auto Dealers have so many moving parts as a business and competing with the new car stores or peer-to-peer outlets like TrueCar. That’s not even to mention that nice dealership around the corner that is trying to steal all your clients into their sales funnel.
Step 1 and 2 – Strengths and Weaknesses
The SWOT analysis requires you to put pen to paper and list out things that are very simple but profound when the data is looked at together. Watch the video to see the exact steps but the “S” in SWOT stands for Strengths. This is an area where you want to list your best tools for competing for market share against the best car dealers in your area. Do you have the gift of gab, are you great with social media, do you really know how to make stunning graphics, or do you have the best location in town? What makes you unique and relevant?
The next step can be painful for some of my used car dealer friends but the juice is worth the squeeze here. Now to list your weaknesses and be honest. If you don’t identify the areas that you could improve in, then the chance of turning those weaknesses into strengths drops dramatically. Perhaps you are not good with a computer, or don’t understand social media at all, or don’t have enough of a marketing budget to advertise the business the way you believe you should be. List all of those weaknesses, don’t judge yourself in the process, and let’s create a teachable moment here to build on for your future!
Steps 3 and 4 – Opportunities and Threats
The next step is exciting to most auto dealers and takes a lot of the detail you have listed as strengths and weaknesses. This step is to create a list of your opportunities for your dealer business. You can prioritize later into a logical phase-in plan but the idea here is to set aside time to focus on your opportunities.
Now to list the (T)threats to your auto dealership or wholesale operation. Again, every list will be different but some threats could be that your credit rating has decreased and your bond is coming up for expiration within the next few months. It’s possible that your rate will jump from $750 per year to $5,000 which could be a huge threat to your business. Let YCDB shop around and we will get you our best rate for your $10,000 bond of $50,000 used auto dealer bond.
Other threats could be that your lease is running out and you need to move soon. Perhaps you see that foot traffic has dried up over the years and don’t know other ways to promote your business.
What do you do with the info collected through this SWOT Analysis?
Now you have a list of all your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your used car dealership. Look at the scariest area first which are the threats. Allocate a certain amount of time every week to creating processes to protect your dealership from those threats.
Then focus on your weaknesses and pick some low-hanging fruit. What are those weaknesses that you could convert into strengths in the least amount of time? Set a timeline for yourself and let’s get cranking to turn what you are not good at into things that can make you more money! Most of your strengths will create your opportunities but let’s look at both lists and figure out how you can start increasing the number of vehicles you are selling every month. Set reasonable targets and start slow.
Now take another look at your strengths list and let’s see how any of those can help your weaknesses. Most times, your strengths can be leveraged to help you use your weaknesses if you are creative enough. For instance, I have a little weakness keeping my attention on something for long periods of time. After trying to change it for years and getting nowhere, I started to focus on allowing that tendency to help me.
Now I set myself with 2 – 3 projects that I can bounce back and forth between so when I get sick of looking at one for too long, I pivot to something else that will renew my interest. This keeps me engaged and able to sprint through my next task with fresh legs.
