Traditional desking is going the way of the dodo. Born of the four square and grueling three- to four-hour marathon negotiation sessions is the common negative perception of the car buying experience. Advances in mobile desking, however, hit a sweet spot between alleviating these bad customer feelings and expediting a dealer’s way to pay dirt. Surprisingly, only 20 percent of dealers use mobile technology.
It’s difficult to maintain goodwill with your customers if your salespeople have to constantly excuse themselves to go consult with a desking manager. A level of transparency that the modern consumer expects during a purchase is lost in an environment that feels adversarial.
According to a 2015 study by CTIA (the Cellular Telephone Industries Association), wireless penetration is at 115.7 percent of households. Mobile usage surpassed desktop usage globally in 2014, and as many as 80 percent of users access the internet from a smartphone. Bringing mobile to the desking process provides customers with comfort and a higher level of trust.
A truly valuable mobile desking solution should enable your sales staff to:
- Calculate deal structure
- Provide trade-in value with a professional presentation
- Present a variety of payment options
- Push the final structure of the deal to your DMS
- Never leave their customer’s side
The best dealers have changed with the times by placing a premium on customer experience. It is up to you to provide what they want — supplemental product information (such as detailed products specs), financing options, and a test drive to confirm or refute their predetermined opinions — instead of driving a hard sell. The marriage of mobile technology and desking can help turn the tide against long-held negative car buying perceptions, keeping your dealership relevant to the evolving car buying consumer.