EV Chargers for Dealerships: Vehicle Preparation
Improving the Customer Experince
When a customer is in the market for a new electric vehicle (EV), it is important for car dealerships to deliver a powerful sales experience. To accomplish this, properties need strong, data-driven strategies to optimize EV charging for dealerships and vehicle preparation.
Multiple components play a role in preparing electric vehicles for sale, from implementing strong EV infrastructure to charging batteries on a continuous basis. If your dealership is selling EVs, the following tips can help you enhance conversion rates and improve the customer experience
Keep Vehicles Charged
When a customer visits a dealership in search of an electric vehicle, they will want to test the merchandise. No customer wants to wait 30 minutes or more for an electric vehicle to charge while waiting for a test drive. As a result, it is important for dealerships to keep EV batteries charged and ready for a customer to take the vehicle out for a drive.
Test drives are a common and important part of the dealership experience, but they can become logistically complex with electric vehicles. Staff will need to monitor vehicles’ battery levels to ensure that they have enough power to travel. Continuous monitoring can be cumbersome for a busy dealership, but advanced data analytics can streamline the process.
Future Energy’s Interface™️ data dashboard provides a complete view of a dealership’s electric vehicle chargers. It also integrates with other systems on the property, including surveillance cameras, lighting systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. A dealership can use Interface to remotely monitor its EV battery levels and develop a charging strategy.
For example, Interface can alert dealership staff when a vehicle’s battery level is too low, enabling them to charge the EV before a customer arrives. When a customer shows interest in an electric vehicle, the dealer can use Interface to identify the best EV to recommend for a test drive.
Dealerships can also use Interface to create a charging schedule. Using historical data, staff members can identify when the dealership tends to see the most requests for test drives. During these times, the dealer can ensure they have a fleet of cars that have optimal battery power and are ready to drive.
Using Interface, dealerships are able to reduce manual labor and ensure batteries are operating at optimal levels at all times. This leads to reduced wait times, a smoother test drive process, and an enhanced customer experience.
Personalize and Streamline the Sales Experience
Customers value a personalized and efficient sales experience when purchasing vehicles. According to a 2020 report by McKinsey, a survey of 1,000 US adults found that 80% of them wanted personalization from retailers. Dealerships can capitalize on this trend and streamline the electric vehicle sales experience by leveraging data from Interface.
Personalization Enhances the Sales Experience
Interface collects data from customers, charging stations, and other sources in and around the dealer’s property. Stakeholders can use data from Interface to map out their buyers’ journeys, identifying potential areas for optimization and personalization.
This software can also help dealerships identify ways to improve sales processes, delivering a seamless purchasing experience to the customer. With personalized sales tactics that leverage predictive analytics, dealerships can increase the chances of a conversion.
Personalization also enables sales professionals to prepare vehicles in advance of a customer visit. Using data about popular offerings, customer purchasing habits, and attractive qualities, employees can identify which EVs to show to a potential buyer and craft a sales strategy before the customer arrives. This vehicle preparation saves time and further streamlines the purchasing experience.
Dealerships can also use Interface to:
- Develop training materials to help sales professionals guide customers to a purchase
- Identify the top qualities in electric vehicles that attract customers
- Create user profiles and develop sales strategies based on each type of customer
- Analyze customer habits to identify after-sales opportunities
- Identify various use cases for EV customers and tailor vehicle offerings to fit each customer’s needs
- Automate manual processes, such as follow-up emails and notifications about new offerings
- Monitor key performance indicators to meet sales goals, identify areas for improvement, and hit dealership benchmarks
Personalization May Improve Reviews
Many consumers perform some level of research before visiting a dealership and purchasing a car. When deciding where to purchase a vehicle, potential buyers may rely on word of mouth and online reviews.
Personalization enables dealerships to make a strong impression on the customer, which can help generate new business. A customer who receives a positive and personalized sales experience is likely to spread information about the dealer to friends, family, and online forums. If a dealer builds a positive reputation as a place to purchase EVs, it can attract more drivers who are in the market for a sustainable vehicle.
Invest in Customizable Electric Vehicle Chargers
If a dealership wants to sell electric vehicles, it will need to invest in EV chargers. This crucial infrastructure is important for streamlining the customer’s experience and supporting their decision-making. Without charging infrastructure on premises, dealerships are unable to deliver adequately charged vehicles to their customers—preventing a conversion. Seeking EV chargers for sale can help dealerships expand their vehicle preparation capabilities.
EV Chargers Are Convenient for Dealerships
It is important for dealerships to invest in electric vehicle chargers for convenience purposes. If a dealer is selling EVs, it needs to be able to keep EV batteries at optimal levels for customer interaction. Dead batteries can extend customer wait times and harm the sales experience.
On-site infrastructure saves time, reduces manual labor, and makes it easier to support the customer experience. With commercial EV chargers on premises, dealerships can quickly and easily charge their vehicles without needing to move off site. When a customer is ready to purchase a vehicle, the dealer can deliver the EV to them fully charged.
EV Chargers Extend the Customer Relationship
Electric vehicle chargers can help dealerships promote after-sales opportunities and extend the customer relationship. The customer will associate the dealership as a reliable place to charge their vehicle. With these associations in mind, the customer is likely to visit the dealer to make their next EV purchase or receive service for the vehicle.
Future Energy has powerful EV chargers for sale that come with customizable branding. Dealerships can place their own graphics on this infrastructure, increasing brand awareness among its customer bases. Additionally, public EV chargers may attract existing EV drivers to the dealership, increasing the chances of new conversions.
Expand Your Electric Vehicle Chargers
Electric vehicles present a number of valuable after-sales and marketing opportunities for car dealerships. To take advantage of these benefits, it is important to implement EV charging for dealerships and vehicle preparation strategies to drive sales success.
Future Energy’s EV dealership solution delivers a complete data-driven strategy to help businesses strengthen customer relationships, enhance conversion rates, and effectively manage electric vehicles. If your dealership is seeking EV chargers for sale, Future Energy can help.
Included with Future Energy’s EV dealership solution
Future Energy’s complete, EV vehicle charging solution delivered as a turn-key environment.
Future Energy’s data visualization and management dashboard that connects all intelligent building systems.
Future Energy’s intelligent building systems solution that integrates your property’s lighting, climate, safety monitoring and more.
Rebates & Financial Incentives
Growing into the world of electric vehicles has never been more affordable or easier. Incentive programs include an array of combinable credits that can potentially cover all of the cost of your EV charging installation. Contact us to find out what funding is available to you.
