DealerRater in Canada – are you ready??

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ATTN CANADIAN CAR DEALERS:

The most powerful dealership rating website has recently added your dealership to their directory.  Forward thinking dealerships will be jumping for joy while those not in “the know” may find their on-line reputation at risk.

What the heck is DealerRater?:   “DealerRater.com was founded in 2002 as the first car dealer review website worldwide. The site currently features more than 24,000 US and International car dealers and 85,000 user reviews. DealerRater.com provides the opportunity for users to search for car dealerships, read current reviews, write their own review, and find car deals – all for free. Car Dealers are rated on the criteria of customer service, quality of work, friendliness, price and overall experience. DealerRater.com users also have the option to recommend the dealer and provide a descriptive review. Website users and car dealerships may post free auto classified ads. DealerRater.com visitors may request vehicle quotes and Certified Dealers receive free vehicle leads.”
Source: DealerRater website

I knew the day would come when my fellow Canadian dealers could stand out from their competition the way our friends south of the border had been doing for years.  For the last year, every few weeks I would type in a Canadian dealer just to see if the time had finally come.  When I noticed my good friends at Downtown Acura had been added the fireworks went off (ps. they do not have 1 good rating or 1 bad rating).

When I was working in the dealership our GM would stress how important CSI was and if you received anything less than 4.0 (perfect for GM) you would feel the wrath.  My CSI was one of the highest in the dealerships and this wasn’t because I was frightened into it (maybe a little).  I became so confident in my process that it was easy to ask for a top score.  Customers were not hesitant to give me a 4.0 when I had done a perfect delivery, gave them a tour of the dealership, Explained how important this survey was, and actually followed up after the sale.  Those dealers that are dominating their market with CSI can follow the same simple steps with DealerRater.

If I were still on the front lines and had a customer say,  “I can get it for $7 a month less down the street” I would be thrilled to handle this objection.  My dealership would have multiple reviews on DealerRater, some with my name in them.  Do you think someone shopping for a restaurant or hotel minds shelling out a few extra bucks for multiple positive reviews?? Of course not.

Being a Certified Dealer is the only option in my opinion.  Certified dealers receive

- Certified Dealer Seal

- Two week reconciliation period (communicate with negative reviews before they are posted)

- Testimonial feed on your website

- Facebook Classified Application

- Facebook Dealer Reviews Application

- Unlimited Vehicle leads

- Ratings are Integrated on Google Maps (one of my personal favourites)

- Plus more

I will leave you with this video on how Acton Toyota became one of DealerRater’s many success stories.

By : Ryan Thompson