I was often asked this question in my first years in the automotive industry. Whether I was really sure that I wanted to become an entrepreneur. Whether I had thought about all those sleepless nights, the stress, the uncertainty, and everything that comes with being an entrepreneur. My answer was always the same: YES.

We have more and more companies in Europe working with us at #DCDW with Calldrip! That is good news for us. However, with these expansions come challenges. After all, German, Belgian, and French dealers all have their questions and remarks about challenges that we all face.

The challenge is that we must follow up on leads faster than ever before. That is what today’s customer expects; they want an answer. And quickly. A lead that is submitted is essentially a question that has not yet been answered. The answer must therefore be provided quickly by the salesperson, and Calldrip often provides a helping hand here.

Last Sunday it became painfully clear to me again that following up quickly is a must. Not a plus, and not even a question: you must follow up quickly in the automotive industry, otherwise you’re out of the game. Especially if you sell the same product for the same price as a hundred other car […]

It’s over: two full days with #DCDW Events in Antwerp and Houten, and I can say it was a great success! The feedback from the participants was particularly positive, the turnout was good, and the content we delivered certainly stood out!

The VDP page, the so-called Vehicle Detail Page, is the most important page for selling your used cars, and possibly also your new cars in stock. This is where it happens: calling, apping, direct messaging or a showroom visit! Without a visit to your VDP, there is no chance of a conversion with the online […]

Yesterday and today I am attending the Remarketing Fleet Europe Days in Luxembourg, by invitation of Johan Verbois and Silvio Grandelis. We were nominated for the Innovation Award – unfortunately without a win this time. But to be honest: the insights, conversations and encounters make it more than worthwhile to get out of bed at 5:00 a.m.

Last week we were in America, visiting our partners at Calldrip. Every year we take such a trip; it’s always valuable to meet in person to discuss the business and look each other in the eye to see if we’re still aligned in our approach. Besides that, there’s also plenty of time for fun activities outside of the meetings, which are enjoyable in themselves! For example, we drove over 130 kilometers off-road in Jeeps to one of the most beautiful viewpoints over the Grand Canyon. We spent hours there, sitting on camping chairs, barbecuing, and simply talking about life, business, and everything in between.

Why we use data from Indicata

Even though we only have a small store, we use data to determine the value of trade-in and sales cars. We do this using data from Indicata • Netherlands. We use this data to stay on top of our inventory cars, but also for bidding on trade-ins.

Our strategy is as follows: we divide the cars into three buckets: gold, silver, and bronze.

Did you know that you need to follow up on leads quickly? Of course, if you read my articles regularly, you know that the best approach is to call immediately once the request comes in. After all, the customer wants information, and the faster you call, the better! The chance of making contact is much higher after 1 minute than after 10 minutes. See below the chart from Calldrip, based on thousands of calls we monitor monthly. You go from 75% connections to below 40% in just 10 minutes. That means you need to call, email, and message much more often to even get in touch with the customer. Call after 10 minutes, and you’ll have much more work!

Google My Business was originally developed not for automotive, but for restaurants.
For dealers and car companies, Google My Business (GMB) is extremely important. Contrary to Google’s usual practice, it is still free. But are you really making use of it? Have you optimized your GMB profile for what matters to you? This week I’m speaking at Wash Expo Europe about the importance of GMB for car washes. And what applies to car washes naturally also applies to automotive.