Long gone are the days where a dealership could adequately maintain its inventories by utilizing traditional methods of vehicle acquisition alone. That’s according to the folks at Autotrader, who hosted the company’s Interactive Dealer Summit in the North Carolina capital last Thursday.   

One of the workshops for dealers at the event, titled “The Frond-End Fundamentals: Transforming the Art of Selling to the Science of Results” was presented by Glenn Pereira, Autotrader’s manager of industry education.

Pereira hit on what the company sees as the eight key areas that successful dealerships should focus on the front end of the vehicle sales process, from vehicle selection all the way to customer handling. One topic during the event proved particularly poignant: dealers can’t stay in a selling-only mindset.

“You can’t afford to only sell cars,” Pereira said. “You need to be in the business of buying cars, as well.”

This statement, made while discussing the vehicle acquisition process, resonated well with the dealers in attendance at the event. Pereira went on to break down the traditional and non-traditional methods of vehicle acquisition.

He explained that a good acquisition strategy involves pursuing every avenue possible. In addition to more traditional methods, like vehicle trade-ins and auction purchases, Pereira heavily emphasized the use of more non-traditional acquisition methods, such as a car-buying campaign or a “trade-in marketplace” on the dealer’s own website.

“It’s a good plan to have a buying center without the contingency of selling them a car,” Pereira said.

Autotrader says its most successful customers advertise their car-buying intentions separately and in addition to their own vehicle sales. While some dealerships have an acquisition manager on staff, some of the larger groups will even have an entire acquisition team dedicated to targeting ideal inventory.

For more information and further Autotrader advice on the acquisition process, visit its site here.