The Context

Katie Takemoto knows a great product when she sees it. As Business Development Manager at Serra Chevrolet of Southfield in Michigan, she leads the marketing efforts to build their brand, to drive more online and in-store traffic, and to convert that traffic into happy and loyal customers.

Making the Switch to Trade

“When I first saw Trade a few years ago, I understood right away that this was going to be a fundamental change to our inbound lead generation and inventory sourcing strategies,” says Takemoto. They previously used solutions that weren’t focused on website conversion or transparency to their customers.

“Trade is so simple and consumer friendly. We have it prominently placed all over our website, not only for lead generation, but for how quickly it gets someone their trade-in value. With just a few keystrokes they’ve got their offer. It’s a big win for us and customers”, continues Takemoto.  

Pairing Great Technology with Smart Sales & Marketing

Trade is effective at generating leads on websites, and Serra Chevrolet maximizes its potential. In 2021, Katie and her team used Trade to convert a whopping 1.1% of their website traffic into new leads, which means new chances to source inventory when those opportunities were scarce nationwide.

Driving those stellar conversion rates are regular emails to their marketing database. Their messaging stays intentionally simple and straightforward, with their last campaign in January 2022 netting over 100 new leads. Their streamlined BDC process creates an average conversion rate of 10%, routinely grossing $20-30K monthly from Trade leads.

In August of 2021, they upgraded to Trade+ for additional features. The biggest win has been  the “VDP View History” feature, which allows the BDC team to see which vehicles a consumer has been browsing on their website. 

“We’re no longer guessing what someone wants, which makes conversations so much easier. We begin conversations focused on the makes, models and body styles that person is most interested in, which keeps us from wasting their time and ours”. 

Building Trust Between Dealers and Consumers

Serra Chevrolet of Southfield has to battle every month to get more cars on their lot. “We’ve changed everything we do,” remarks Takemoto. “Because Trade is so flexible, we’ve been able to get more aggressive on our trade-in offers.” 

“We also have peace of mind knowing that TradePending updates their values daily to match our local market. The value that a customer sees is the value we’re going to give them. They’re not being misled by a false number. TradePending has really helped the automotive industry by reframing the conversation around “market values” instead of “book values”, says Takemoto.”

If you could spend a few hundred dollars per month to generate $30K in revenue and a great customer experience, wouldn’t you?

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