Dealership Evolution With GM Joe Orr

Improving the customer experience for car buyers has been the subject of much debate, investment, and trial and error. However, in the midst of trying to understand this topic we talked to a longtime dealership insider, Joe Orr. Joe has been the General Manager of Dick Hannah Honda in Washington State for twenty-four years. According to Orr, an evolution is occurring. Both dealers and their customers have changed over time.

“We’ve all evolved, both dealerships and consumers. It seems like they’re evolving a little bit more rapidly, but we, as dealers need to continue to evolve at a faster pace.”

That evolution is due to an informed consumer with new wants. One of those wants is to start their vehicle purchase online and avoid the typical dealership experience.

On this subject, Orr said, “There’s a certain percentage of consumers who will do business with you just because they don’t have to come into the dealership and go through that (typical experience). They can simply test drive the car, have a great experience, have a latte, sign a few pieces of paper and have a delivery and not have to go through the negotiations here. I think that it’s something that we’re going to be forced to look at and embrace.”

Another evolution dealers have embraced is online reputation management. The online reputation of a dealership is more important than ever before. That means that online reviews are as Orr puts it, a chance to improve the process at your store. Speaking about online reviews, Orr said, “I think that it’s an opportunity to find out where we are weak and where we need to improve and improve our process. How you react to these reviews, I think shapes how the consumer looks at you, really important.”

Finally, Orr told DrivingSales News that dealership marketing is about to undergo large and potentially profitable changes. On the change Orr said, “…Us as dealers taking marketing into our own hands. We always looked to third parties to bring us leads. Now we’re getting more out of our websites. We’re finding ways to generate our own leads out there, our minds are expanding and I’m excited about it. I think that it’s going to be fun and lucrative.”