How To Increase Car Accessory Sales

Jun 18, 2021

Car Accessorys

Nowadays, when a customer buys a car, they tend to be sold the basic package. What makes it special, bespoke, and truly personal to them is in fact, the accessories they then choose to add on. Latest figures show that the global car accessories market had reached more than $415 billion, with that number only expected to grow. But is your dealership really making the most of the accessory market and the potential it can truly offer your business? After all, to succeed in this hugely competitive industry, automotive businesses must do more than simply sell a car to a customer. In fact, by not maximizing these opportunities and selling extra accessories to already keen customers, your business risks missing out on extra trade and ultimately, additional profit. The value of the accessory market simply cannot be underestimated.

Of course, you don’t want to risk your reputation by becoming known as a stereotypical pushy sales team, so it’s important you get the balance right. Your sales team needs to be able to recognize and utilize an opportunity to sell any accessories while being careful not to scare the customer off and possibly preventing any deal at all. So how can your dealership get it right?

Here at SnapCell, we’ve drawn on our experience in the industry to create our list of top tips to help your dealership successfully drive sales of car accessories.

Know Your Audience

Let’s be honest, today’s automotive accessory market changes just as much as trends in the fashion industry, it’s hard to keep up. It’s time to connect with your target audience, so you’re familiar with what accessories appeal to your customers. After all, shoppers in California are likely to be after a slightly different set of accessories to those in Alaska.

Pre-Package Accessory Bundles

Once you’ve considered your target audience, get prepared by building a bundle of accessories that you can sell alongside each specific audience type. Have a think about creating approximately five or so fictional customers and match them to a suitable accessory package, by considering what they would find attractive and appealing.

Don’t be scared off, honestly, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds and shouldn’t take long for you to get a basic understanding of a few client types. As well as taking into consideration your location, have a think about potential lifestyles and budget. For example, consider a parent buying a car, what accessories will they see desirable and find value in? Think practical, like child safety, first aid kits, and trunk organizers. If they’re a businessman with a bigger budget, consider a gadget bundle – the sort that will turn heads and help them stand out from their peers.

Depending on who your key clients are, make sure you have an irresistible set of accessories pre-packaged and priced-up, to sell seamlessly to the customer alongside their car.

Be Consistent

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, one of the most successful and common forms of marketing continues to be word of mouth. If you offer a customer a good accessory deal, then the chances are, they will go and tell their family and friends. Keep this in mind, when their family and friends pay you a visit expecting the same package.

Make sure all of your sales team are familiar with the accessory offers available at your dealership, to ensure customer consistency and more importantly reputation management. Remember, if one customer doesn’t get the same treatment as the next, this could result in an avoidable loss of sales and potentially negative reviews.

Show Customers What They Can Get

Quite often, the way to secure the sale of accessories is to make sure the customers can see what they are buying. When there are so many extra accessories on offer, what better way to showcase them, than by putting them into a car on-site for customers to view in person. Pre-load one of your cars with a whole host of desirable features, then stick it in your dealership and watch the sale of those accessories rocket.

If you’re going to do this, then your sales team must be familiar with the accessories available in these fully loaded vehicles. When showing customers around these vehicles, the aim is for it to become more like a shopping experience, rather than a selling pitch. Ensure your sales team are aware of the accessories on offer and can talk about them with ease. Make sure your staff can interact with the customer, asking them suitable questions, to find out more about them and their lifestyle, so they can highlight the accessories that would be relevant to them.

Preloaded vehicles should be bursting with features that simply enhance the original vehicle but in doing so, become totally irresistible to the buyer.

Make The Most Of F&I Vehicles

Don’t restrict selling accessories to just car owners. Instead, make sure you offer accessory bundles to F&I (finance and insurance) buyers too. Remember, they will be wanting to protect their vehicle, so giving them the option of adding products like splash guards, dash-cams, and all-weather floor mats is a no-brainer. If you do offer extra accessories to leased vehicle shoppers, then make sure both you and the customer are aware of any additional terms and conditions which might be impacted when the contract comes to an end.

Create A List Of Must-Haves

It’s so common for customers to feel overwhelmed with the number of accessories available. Offer a solution that won’t scare them off by showing them what add-ons their fellow customers have purchased. Refer back to your pre-prepared customer types, so you can recommend particular accessories for each vehicle and shopper.

Go Online

As we continue to adapt to the fast-paced digital world we now live in, it would make sense for you to take your accessory shop online, if you haven’t already. As life becomes more and more virtual, automotive dealers simply cannot afford to reply on in-person sales alone. The solution, get on the internet.

Your e-commerce site should be easy to navigate and well organized, with clear imagery and descriptions. Once you have a strong website, boost sales and connect with your digital audience by utilizing your social media channels. Send marketing emails to customers and drive sales by showcasing available accessories and offering shopping incentives, like coupons. The most effective and successful marketing emails come from those who have made the most of readily available tools, just like SnapCell customers. The SnapCell app helps traders in the automotive industry sell their products through crisp, clear, and professional-looking video content that sits seamlessly within an email. The app’s 360 Spin feature delivers a virtual showroom, allowing shoppers to view any part of the car, including optional accessories, before making that all-important purchase.

Buy Into The Accessory Culture

To make the most of today’s car accessory culture and to ensure your dealership is on the road to accessory sales success, you need to buy into it and believe it – from the top down. Management needs to want to drive sales in accessories and this needs to be shouted about and reinforced throughout your entire team.

You want your sales team to have a thirst for selling accessories, so create incentives and praise staff when appropriate. Give your sales team a goal, discuss expectations and recognize internal achievements by way of motivation. Empower your best sellers to share their tips and encourage your sales team to learn from one another.

Train Your Staff

A lot of what we have mentioned relies on making sure your staff are trained well. Your sales team should be experts in the industry, with an undeniable knowledge of the products your dealership offers. If this isn’t the case, it’s time to invest in the appropriate training. Encourage your staff to practice their sales pitch on one another and set them tasks as they learn, to ensure they are prepared, confident, and ready to sell to real customers.

Track Your Sales

So, you’ve noticed a spike in accessory sales, but what products are proving popular? Tracking your sales is the key to success. Among the statistics you need to keep an eye on, it would be worth tracking which brands are offering add-on accessories, which of these are selling, and how much profit you are making. All of this can help you gain a better understanding of the true potential of the accessory market in relation to your customers, which will ultimately support you with your strategy moving forward.

If you’re in the automotive industry, there are plenty of ways that SnapCell can help drive accessory sales at your dealership. Our forward-thinking app, which is designed especially for traders just like you, enhances your current sales pitch by taking customer engagement up a gear. Get in touch with the team of experts at SnapCell now and find out how we can help your business keep one step ahead of the competition.

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