“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
-Sun Tzu’s Art of War
Other dealerships in your area may not be your enemies and you’re not exactly at war with them. However, we can all agree that they are your competitors meaning there is a competition, and in every competition, there is a winner and a loser.
Getting to know your competitors can give you an edge and help you to dominate your market - and theirs.
So how do you get to know your competitors?
1. Define Your Competitors
You probably know most of your competitors already as most them are going to be local. With the internet and shoppers’ increasing use of the internet however, people are no longer limited to their immediate area and are driving further to buy cars. This means that the playing field has expanded, and you may have more competition than you’re aware of.
The easiest way to know all your competitors is to perform a Google search for “car dealerships,” and expand the map area. The dealers in your closest vicinity are going to be the ones you want to know most about, but you also need to at least be aware of the others on the edge of your market.
The most important things for you to know are what events, specials and promotions your competitors are offering for both sales and service. This will allow you to develop a more informed marketing strategy and give you an idea of what you should be offering to entice customers away.
2. Familiarize Yourself with Your Competitors’ Products
Knowing what your competitors sell can be just as important as knowing what you sell.
You’re in the car business so we can assume you know about more than just your brand. It may behoove you though to know more than just the cursory details about other OEMs.
Know the match-ups of competitive makes and models to the vehicles you sell. This can help when talking to customers to highlight where your product excels and either outperforms or adds more value than the competition. The best resources for learning info on competitive makes and models are the OEMs' websites and reviews. Combining these two shows you not only what they are bragging about, but what other people are saying as well.
3. Analyze your Competitors’ Performance
This last step is one that not a lot of dealerships spend much time on and it is one that is tough to do yourself. While information on other dealerships' sales, internet traffic and volume is available, it is usually subscription-based and quite costly.
Fortunately, this is something that we can help with. At Edifice, we offer free market studies that will give you a snapshot of the competition and what they are up to. These market studies show the web traffic and sales of other dealerships in your area and are 100% free.
Want to get to know your competitors better and see your potential market growth? Click the button below and an Edifice Representative will reach out to you within one business day.
