Fresh powder is usually the last thing an auto dealer wants to see. Traffic drops, the lot becomes a mess, and a large portion of the staff can't make it in. What if we thought about snow days differently? What if we used them to our advantage?

Here's a couple big snow day advantages:

  1. Customers are Home: How often does a sales associate follow up with  a customer and find them to not be home? Snow days increase the chance a customer is home dramatically, especially if they have kids whose school has been cancelled.
  2. Customers are Shopping: The next time winter weather visits, pop into your site analytics. You shouldn't be surprised if you have higher traffic and/or leads of any day in the past week. 
  3. Customers are Reading: With the roads clogged and the kids driving them nuts prospective customers are either watching tv or passing time on their mobile devices. Wouldn't that make the perfect time to promote your online showroom via a text or email campaign?

If we know the opportunity is huge, how can we make the best of it?

Campaign Ready

Have a snow day campaign saved in your CRM ready to go. That way you can just click send while you watch the traffic and weather segments on TV.

Mobile Equipped

Ensure you're using a CRM system with a mobile app or the ability to access from home. That way even your team members who can't make it in will be able to get follow up done.

BDC-Ready

Make sure whoever you have doing lead response is ready to surprise customers with a quick answer. The couch-stranded customer will be impressed and likely to continue dialogue.

Lot Parties for Porters

For the sales / BDC staff that does make it to work consider having them inside and making calls while other support employees (or you) focus on getting unburied.

Appointment Focused

Make a focus to load up your appointments for once the snow clears. Consider adding a BDC or sales contest for whomever sets the most appointments that day. Execute this right and it will be like the weather never happened.

Snow sucks for dealerships and we all know it, but how you prepare and execute a snow event can be the difference between missed forecasts and your best January ever. 

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