ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

In a market where used-car prices are high and consumers are willing and able to shop around for a deal, fostering customer loyalty is becoming increasingly important to dealers.

And One Pennsylvania dealership even started a “club” for customers who successfully refer shoppers to the dealership.

Through Lehigh Valley’s Brown Daub Pre-Owned “Bird Dog Club,” the store’s staff is looking to thank loyal customers for recommending the store to friends and family.

Just how does the “Bird Dog Club” referral program work?

“For every ‘bird’, or referral, someone makes they will receive a ‘bone’, or reward. ‘Birds’ will be tracked on an annual basis with a new ‘hunt’ starting every Jan. 1. Brown Daub will send customers referral ‘bones’ each time a unit is sold to a ‘bird’,” dealership staff explained.

And “bones”, or cash rewards, are doled out in the below format:

First – Third Bird = $100 each
Fourth – Sixth Bird = $150 each
Seventh – Ninth Bird = $200 each
10th and up Bird = $250 each

“Brown Daub is committed to making ‘hunting’ season as fun and rewarding as customers hope it will be. Become a part of the ‘Bird Dog Club’ and refer some ‘birds’ to the dealership today to receive ‘bones’ as Brown Daub’s way of saying thank you,” officials encouraged potential customers.

For more information, see Brown Daub’s website here. 

Keeping Shoppers Coming Back

And as customer loyalty is potentially high on the minds of dealers all across the nation, Auto Remarketing sought out some insight from AutoTrader.com regarding how best to keep shoppers coming back.

Jeff Perkins, director of dealer marketing for AutoTrader.com, told Auto Remarketing that “transparency” is key. 

“Many dealers are trying to focus on more transparency in the sales process in order to give the shopper a better overall experience.  If that shopper has a positive experience, he may be more willing to continue to do business with that dealership for service and eventually for another car purchase,” he explained.

He also noted that tools, such as AutoTrader’s Trade-in Marketplace can perhaps take the “tension” out of the trade-in process.

“Many of AutoTrader’s Trade-In Marketplace dealers like using this tool because it takes the tension out of the trade-in process,” he noted.

“Shoppers come to the dealership with a guaranteed trade-in value.  And as long as the car matches the description, the dealer will honor that price.  It’s a win-win for the dealer and the customer,” Perkins further stressed.

And as quality used cars remain scarce, trade-ins are becoming more and more important to dealerships’ inventory.

In fact, as new-car sales climb, many dealers are keeping more and more trade-ins instead of turning to the lanes.

“We are seeing a slight uptick in wholesale availability today, but they are not all coming through the physical lanes. Many are going upstream and to the many online venues,” Black Book managing editor Ricky Beggs recently told Auto Remarketing.  

“Even more so, trade-ins are more often being kept by the dealerships as many of today’s trades are in better condition than those last year, when many of the new sales were a result of a transaction that was ‘need’-based instead of the growing number of ‘want’-based deals during the past couple of months,” he continued.

Editor’s Note: For more insight into what climbing new-car sales could mean for the industry, see the Auto Remarketing feature "Turning up the Volume" in the June 15 print issue.