Do not fall into the trap of thinking everything the media is saying about leasing is accurate. The latest data reviewed still shows 20% of all new vehicle transactions in 08 have been leases. The luxury imports will continue to lease more than anyone else but looking at the top leasing manufacturers, Honda, Ford, Toyota and GM are currently reporting 15 – 21% leasing penetration. In your efforts to work with your managers on good effective hooks and great merchandising – there is no substitute for having a well trained sales staff who can take a customer off a lost leader ad car and flip them into a lease.
You have to remember a majority of your staff does not and will not ever think like you do. They will believe more of what they see on TV and read Online. When the market slows, you have to use every trick in the book to stay on top of it, so pull out your “Leasing Advantages” materials and retrain your salespeople on how to talk to customers about why leasing your products is different from what they hear from the news media.
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John Paul Strong
John Paul Strong combines his two decades of automotive marketing experience with a team of more than 150 professionals as owner and CEO of Strong Automotive.
