Learn to test drive online

Please keep in mind – this does not mean that the art of direct communication between a car salesperson and a customer should be written off as unnecessary and put in the archive. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Let’s start with a meaningful fact – the volume of global car sales has grown significantly and will continue to grow. In 2020, it amounted to $237.93 billion and, according to analytics from Allied Market Research, will reach $722.79 billion by 2030, adding 12.2% per year. Of course, there are other projections as well. But they all agree that there will be more and more buyers choosing and paying for a car on the Internet.

This means that car dealers must adapt their art to modern technology. It is no coincidence that this is the second time we have used the word ‘art’. Everyone who visits  a car dealership and, figuratively speaking, ‘falls into the hands’ of a real master, will agree with this definition. It is simply fascinating to watch how a professional who knows and loves their job conducts a vehicle presentation, speaking from memory about its characteristics and features, suggesting during a test drive what and how to do things in order to get the most out of the driving experience. And watching how they manage to convince someone who came to the showroom “just to look” to buy a car, or prove to an economical buyer that the most profitable option is to pay for additional equipment, you involuntarily begin to think about magic.

The question is, is it possible to transfer this magic to the Internet? Obviously, yes it is. Otherwise, where would the impressive $250 billion in annual sales come from? Let’s be honest – modern technology provides a lot of opportunities to present a car beautifully. And this can be done without a large budget, compared against the costs of traditional advertising. An inexpensive camera or smartphone is enough. Mastering editing programs and creating presentations is also not a problem.

A great advantage of an Internet test drive for both the seller and the buyer is the luxury of not having to run a race against time. How long can you study a car in real life? Half an hour? An hour? More likely, ten to fifteen minutes will be spent on a ride at most . With a network presentation, you can really pay attention to every little detail. You can show how the car behaves in different conditions, modes and speeds, at day and night. You can carefully study the equipment in different configurations, consider what is under the hood and in the cabin, send it to the lift to get a view from below, etc.

Paradoxically, such a presentation can be more informative than the classic trip to the dealership. Especially if you are not limited to talking about the car itself, but can also take the time to talk about how you work, how you can make a purchase remotely and how delivery is carried out. Yes, of course, the indescribable feeling that comes from getting to know the car with your hands and feet…let it be your back-up, it will never be replaced entirely. But the latter is by no means important for everyone. And for those who simply cannot imagine choosing a car without this, a high-quality Internet presentation may well become the incentive to visit the showroom.

If you have done everything right, thanks to the Internet test drive, anyone who watches it should definitely have a desire to buy a new car. The question is how to turn this desire into a completed transaction? How to enhance the magic of presentation? At the dealership, the salesperson does this by ‘bewitching’ the client in personal conversation, warming their interest, answering questions or even anticipating them. But, today on the Internet, you can do exactly the same thing. There are more than enough ways to contact a potential buyer and chat.

The Pitch Avatar presentation service, equipped with its own feedback system, has gone the furthest in providing a  convenient process. The main feature of this system is the notification to the salesperson that someone is watching their presentation. Immediately after receiving that, you can inform the client that you are online and ready to answer any questions that arise during the online test drive. For enterprising customers, you can also enable the reverse function – a button with which they themselves can notify the seller that they want to chat right away. You can also set up a contact data collection form that appears during the presentation as well as a customer behavior report. You know what to do with this information, don’t you?

By the way, Pitch Avatar is practically ‘omnivorous’. You can upload a presentation that was created using almost any tool into it – including PowerPoint, Keynote. or even a YouTube video. And the Pitch Avatar presentation itself can be embedded in another site. For example, in your ad for the sale of a car.

By the way, I hope you do not feel that we are addressing only and exclusively new car sales with this text. If you think so, let us hasten to dispel this deeply erroneous impression. Anyone who has worked in a used car dealership knows that employees spend most of their time waiting for customers. Why not perform at least simple Internet test drives for those cars that you want to pay special attention to, instead?

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