Hello, and welcome to today's webinar. Our speaker today is Paige Boma from Equipment Trader. Before I turn it over to Paige, I'd like to let those of you who are live with us know that you may submit questions during the webinar via the chat box in the lower left side of your screen. The slide deck from today's presentation is available as a PDF in the handouts tab of the webinar homepage. This webinar will also be recorded so that you may watch or re-watch on demand at your convenience. And with that, I will turn it over to Paige. Thank you, Liz. And hello, everybody. Welcome to today's webinar, which is Navigating Disruption in 2020. And we're going to be tapping into the virtual equipment consumer. And I thank you guys for allowing me to talk today, and thank you very much to AED for allowing Equipment Trader to speak today. So, I'm Paige Boma, I'm the Executive Vice President of Sales and Operations at Trader Interactive. I'm so excited to be here today to talk about our industry, the equipment consumer, and how to remain a successful dealership while we navigate around the new norms that are brought to us by COVID-19. Some of the stats that you're going to see today in our presentation come from the nearly 1 million monthly unique visitors that we see on Equipment Trader. So, we're going to start out today talking about the realities of what we are facing during COVID-19. From there, we're going to talk about who is the equipment buyer today, how they are ingrained in the digital world. And that isn't any different when we are looking at how they're researching heavy equipment purchases. We will then get right into how you operate a dealership during COVID, and also, how do you continue to bring in new customers without a showroom floor? So, I work for Trader Interactive, and we offer the largest audience of consumers searching for units that they need for their lifestyle and their livelihood. So, you're going to know us best through Equipment Trader. But some of our other brands include Rock and Dirt, Nextruck, RV Trader, Commercial Truck Trader, and then we've got many more. The reason that I mention this is that because we have such a huge audience and volume of traffic to our site, we are able to obtain considerable amounts of data that we can use so that we can help capture it, we can analyze it, and we can really start to better understand the buyer's behavior. So, despite the unprecedented challenges that are facing our businesses throughout the country over the last month, Equipment Trader has actually seen our second highest month of traffic with over 1 million unique visitors to the site in the months of March. Our traffic is up 9.9% year over year. And despite the fact that COVID exceeded, expected to have a halt at about 4% of construction equipment production, construction and ag industries remain open and are considered essential businesses. There is a national priority set on the agricultural machinery part and the services to ensure that food distribution in our country remains unhalted. Okay, so I've been mentioning these digital buyers, and who are they? Buyers will consult 24 different resources during their path to purchase. That means that consumers are no longer calling a business as soon as they decide that they want to buy. They're doing the majority of their research first, and then by the time they actually contact you, they already have their mindset on what they're looking for. And of those 24 resources, 19 of them are digital. So, other than things like talking to your friends or maybe a colleague or co-worker or reviewing an ad in a newspaper or on television, there are 19 methods of research. And all of those touch points are happening online. All the way from watching videos, seeing digital ads, visiting a website, checking out social media pages, reading online reviews, and there are many, many more that many of you are probably already doing. And buyers are now stuck in their homes due to COVID, so their internet habits are only increasing. More than 75% of potential customers are conducting internet research before generating a single lead. And this was actually prior to the outbreak, which has surely now only accelerated this shift. And when I say shift, I do not mean that this is just now a temporary swing. As we come out of this, you're going to see that buyer's behavior has now changed permanently. So, let's talk about the specific equipment buyer. We found that an average equipment buyer is a Gen Xer or an early baby boomer. But not to be forgotten, the other 25% of equipment buyers are between the age 25 and 44. This is the millennial. They're just starting out their career, they're getting ready to take on maybe the family business, and their influence cannot be overlooked here. Both age groups are still actively working, either in their own company or maybe on behalf of a corporation. And almost half of them make a really good wage and have expendable income. So, even during times of normalcy, we wanted to show the similarities between a boomer and a millennial, and what does their screen time behavior actually look like. So, here you're going to see the millennial and the boomer buyer. Millennials, again, are age 25 to 44. And boomers are going to be a little bit older, age 45 to 65. So, now let's look at this screen time. So, millennials are spending a total of three hours every day looking at their phone. Your boomer is spending 2.8 hours a day looking at their phone. The difference between how much screen time you've got a millennial on their phone and a boomer on their phone is only 12 minutes. Again, these statistics that I'm sharing are actually pre-COVID. So, now I want you to imagine how much they have increased in just the past month. And we know that things are difficult right now. But as we mentioned, the consumer buying habits are not changing. If anything, the time that they are spending on their device are actually increasing. So, what tactics can you employ that will set your dealership up for success while focusing on your consumers? And more importantly, still driving your sales. So, first and foremost, let's keep things as normal as possible during this time. But we have to do that while making smart decisions where we could eliminate some discretionary expenses. So, review and possibly eliminate unnecessary expenses. What could some of those be? Maybe such as coffee, magazine, or newspaper subscriptions that you have coming into your dealership. And some other luxury items that can be cut or even think about could you eliminate them just temporarily. And then you want to implement strategic operational hours and work to set appointments that match your revised hours of operation. Not only will that help you cut down on expenses, but it will also help you eliminate the risk of exposure to COVID-19 viruses. These services can easily be added back once you return to your normal hours. So, let's talk about business hours to start. Regulations and information changes daily. So, you need to be ensuring that you are constantly updating and keeping your consumers informed of when you are available. Once the consumer has made their way to your dealership website, you want them to know exactly when to contact you and when they can expect to hear back from you. If your information is not listed correctly, then you are likely to see that they're going to move to another dealer that states their available hours and states their inventory clearly. Ensure your inventory is listed accurately and your website is now your showroom floor. So, don't forget to update also your third-party marketplace virtual showrooms, as well as any other platform where you've got a consumer that can find you. This is the best for a general practice, but even now it is more important than it has ever been in the past. So, let's keep that communication open with our consumers, as well as don't forget about your sales team. We are all in this together. And without their hard work, you're not going to be able to keep things moving as fast as you need to. So, ensure that your teams have been updated with their automated replies. Also, make sure that they've got their office responses up and running and on, so that they can communicate also to their customers their new working hours. You're communicating your new policies and your new procedures with, again, not only your consumers, but also make sure you're communicating that with your staff. So, here's a tip. You can assign a specific staff member with specific lines of communication, so that they don't miss any of the leads that are coming through. So, imagine it like this. You can say, Jeff, you are assigned to all of our live chat. So, now you are in, you can also say, John, you're going to be in charge of all of our texts. So, you have each person kind of assigned to something specific, so nothing gets blocked through the cracks. So, even though your showroom floor might be closed, there are ways that you can still ensure that your service and your sales operations are running smoothly. As a dealer, your instinct may be to pull back on some creative and new services that you could be offering. The dealerships are now able to, the dealerships that are going to be successful with navigating through disruption are those ones that are going to come out stronger. Those are the ones that are going to be looking to do things a little bit differently now. So, with social distancing becoming the norm, your customers will appreciate and respond to your dealership going above and beyond. Service is always an area to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Why not offer options that include convenience, like maybe a pickup or a delivery? This keeps your employees busy also, while offering a unique service to your customers. Or you could go as far as taking them on a virtual field test drive. This will not replace a real test drive, but your commitment and your service to your customers this will really help you to communicate with your consumers and help you to also get to sale. Additionally, you can leverage video to help consumers inspect the unit before committing to the purchase. Offer live walkthroughs of what that unit is, and you can show them every part of it. Let your consumers set up a time that's convenient for them, when you can walk them through every aspect of the unit. Allow them to ask you questions and show them specific parts of the unit, so there are absolutely no surprises. Be transparent about major inspection items, like the maintenance history, the fluid levels, engine sounds, and the type of exhaust that comes out of the vehicle. It may be more involved showing these areas over video or over a chat than it has been in the past, but it's going to show that you are reliable. It's going to show your transparency and your commitment to getting them the best unit available. So I know that this might sound a little bit strange to talk about buying a unit through a video, but I personally know that you can buy a large, expensive unit through photos and video and interacting without ever stepping foot in a dealership. I bought an RV sight unseen from another state, and it's been nearly two years ago, and I could not be any more happy with this unit. So many consumers might not want to purchase a unit without being able to take it for a test drive, and without them coming into your dealership, the next best option may be taking that unit to them and letting them try it for a couple days. I understand that this will not apply to every unit, but could this be a great option to help move some of your smaller units that can easily be transported for a free trial? So you're going to want to make sure, however, that you put clear limitations on the amount of hours that can be added to this vehicle and any other rules or guidelines that you think might be appropriate. The goal here is you're not allowing them to use this as a free trial or a free rental, but you're allowing them to try it out before they buy it. You might also want to look at giving several days money-back guarantee on the sale of a unit. Make sure to highlight the interior of the unit as well as letting them know that it has been deep-cleaned the day before delivery. So again, with consumers practicing social distancing or having stay-at-home orders, coming into your dealership may actually be the last thing that they want to do. So ask yourself, do you have technicians willing and able to make house calls? If so, how can they practice safe social distancing? By taking information maybe over the phone and then communicating from at least six feet away. The consumer doesn't need to be near your technicians while they're working on their unit. And when done, they can easily take a payment via a mobile purchasing app or maybe a device such as Square. And now let's be resourceful. Because of a lot of these new social distancing rules, which may continue on for a while, some job sites may be working with limited staff while your non-professionals might still be considered essential workers and not able to get their unit in for servicing. Other customers who just want to practice safe social distancing, they may want to Other customers who just want to practice safe social distancing may not want to bring their unit offsite. So you may offer to actually pick it up for them for repair so they don't have to bring it to you. You can also greet your customers from at least six feet away at maybe the front door or do a quick handoff of keys while wearing gloves. Or have them place it in a secure location for you and bring it back to the shop when when the repairs are completed. When done, your technician can drop it off at the consumer's home or maybe even on the job site. Let's just make this easy. Most of the buying process can actually be done online. So you can attract them to your dealership online. You can sell a specific unit through pictures, descriptions, and videos, just like I talked about how I bought the RV online without ever seeing it in person. But putting that pen to paper is going to be the biggest leap that you have to take. However, your business model can quickly be adapted. You can use e-signs and you can use the mail to send contracts and paperwork. You can use links to consumer banks. And if your consumers are comfortable, you can offer a delivery of the paperwork and you can actually wait there while they sign it in person. Maybe you drop it off in their mailbox and you wait for them to then sign it and then they can put it right back in the mailbox. There are options to make this work. You might just need to look at it a little bit differently and, you know, again, look openly. But above all, be safe and be sure that you are not putting yourself or your employees health at risk just to make sure that you're keeping your business open as usual. To allow your employees that can do to work from home. Adjust your short store hours and also your employees' schedules to ensure that you've got a smaller amount of employees that are working together at one time. And I think this is really important and something different than we may have done in the past. Keep a clear record of who is working what days and in what departments they're working in. That way if somebody does go out sick, you're able to easily isolate those that worked around them. And make sure you are deep cleaning everything. Maybe you can have somebody assigned to deep cleaning. And even though your physical showroom floor might be closed, you still have ample opportunity to attract, engage new buyers into your business. This is the time to step up your digital marketing while the next buyer is spending a lot of time on their phone. This is your time to be in front of them. Some of the stats that you're going to see here are pre-COVID and they are already impressive. So imagine how much they've increased in just the last month. Americans are actually checking their phone an average of 80 times a day. Wow, that is 80 touch points that you have an opportunity to connect with a consumer every day. And again, this is during the time of normalcy. A recent study has shown that 73% of Americans are spending more time on their mobile devices since they have been quarantined. And as Google explains it, smartphones are the champion that people turn to. They're the I want to know. I want to know. I want to go. I want to do. And I want to buy moments throughout the day, especially now as consumers turn to their phones more for news resources or gross resource or even for entertainment. We've said this before, and it is more relevant now than it ever has been in the past, but your consumers are doing internet research before they ever consider your dealership. So when they contact you, they expect to hear back from you as soon as possible. 53% of equipment buyers want a response from a dealer within one hour or as soon as that day, the same day that they contact them. And 65% of equipment buyers said that they would contact another dealership or give up completely if they did not hear back in a timely manner. In other industries, we are accustomed to that instant gratification and same-day deliveries. These consumer habits are now transferring over to our industries as well. In this new environment, you need to ensure that all information is up to date and at your consumer's fingertips. The more ready they are to purchase, the easier your job will be. So you need to ensure that you are giving consumers as many ways to contact you as possible. And they're going to do that through the listings on your website or on third-party marketplaces. During this time, you want to make this as easy as possible for your consumers, as I mentioned. The more lines of communication that your dealers offer, the more you're going to open yourself up to have communication with them, even with your doors closed. So let me share with you some of these lines of communication. And think to yourself, how many of these are you doing? And if not all of them, you should be. So you've got phone calls, emails, live chats, video chatting, texting, and there's even more. I'm going to pause here for a second and mention that many providers are offering a these free services right now or even at reduced rates. I understand that this may not be your preferred method. But even now, more than ever, I cannot stress this enough that you need to be available as many ways as possible for your dealers to reach out to you. Let's talk about each one of these and how they're important. So let's start with emails. It's typically like the reference that you are used to is checking your email leads. But given that this is time sensitive, this is a great opportunity to check in with your consumers via email and see how are they doing. Reach out to these new owners. Maybe reach out and ask them if they need help with their new unit. Do they need any help with servicing it right now? Do they have any questions? Also, follow up with prospects to see where they are in that buying process and assure them that you will be here for them when things get back to normal. This is a perfect time to also humanize your dealership, meaning continue to build those relationships with your customers and let them know that you care. And again, you can do this very easily through emails. So you're probably already familiar with phone calls and emails, and you use them regularly. And now, while your doors are closed, you need to open up, again, as I mentioned, as many lines of communication as possible. So live chat is a great resource. And 79% of consumers prefer chat because it is immediate. They are already browsing on their computers. This feature lets them ask quick questions to you on units. They can ask a question about the unit or your hours of your operation or any other questions that they might have. Give them these touch points to show, even with your doors closed, you are very much available to them. And as I mentioned earlier, you can designate people at your dealership to answer these questions. To respond to inquiries and also be available during chat hours. Again, I mentioned earlier, this is where you could assign Don to be responsible or Josh to all of your live chat. Now, let's talk about texting. Again, this is another resource that you should be leveraging during COVID. I get that texting as a contact method can still be a new concept for a lot of people. So let's talk through this a little bit. 97% of text messages are opened. And over half of the consumers would be using texting to discuss a unit with their dealers. Like chat, these leads are leads that you could be missing out on if you're not available on chat or if you're not available on text and having that available as an option for your consumers. It might not, again, be your preferred method of contact, but it is a consumer's preferred method. And we need to be evolving and making sure that we are meeting their needs. Now more than ever. And during times of normalcy, you can meet with your prospect in person. You can develop a working relationship with them and show off your great expertise without any problem. It's very easy face-to-face. And although email, chat, and texting offer great ways to connect quickly, one way to help replace that face-to-face contact is utilizing video chat. Video apps downloaded had surged a hundred percent in March. Just because people are not able to meet face-to-face does not mean that they do not want to have that human connection and see you. If a prospect agrees to a video chat then they are already considered a warm lead as they are interested enough to have this conversation with you kind of face-to-face. Video chat allows you to have that direct exposure to your customers where you can build rapport. Show off your expertise and your personality and review and show them the inventory and provide them every single angle and part of this unit that they are interested in buying. So let's talk about best practices around these communication methods. So while some of these best practices might seem irrelevant, they're actually quite important and they can be a total game changer for your dealership. So make sure you are designating the right people to connect with consumers. Ask yourself this question, who is that person in your dealership? Is it Jeff? Is it John? Set guidelines for them to respond in a timely manner. We don't want your buyers going somewhere else. And then this may seem like something you don't have to mention but you have to. You have to be professional. They have to be helpful. They have to be informative and you have to use correct grammar. Remember these communication channels like text and live chat are just another way to set yourself apart from your competition. Meaning that spelling and grammar and using the appropriate words are going to be paramount here. I once had a dealer and this was on automotive, not in this industry, but got way too friendly with me via a text message. Really responding to me like, hey I got you girl, with regards to helping me find the right price unit. It was kind of uncomfortable and it became awkward for me and I went somewhere else. So this is a true story. Again, these interactions are an extension of your dealership. So all right, answer all of these consumer questions and if you don't have the answer, make sure that you are telling them that. So not every time you're having a conversation via chat or via text are you going to have the answer right there or is your employee going to have the answer right there in front of them. So let them know that is a great question. Let me get back to you and then you need to determine what are the right steps to practicing that social distancing next. As mentioned earlier, the importance of taking your physical showrooms online are one of the most important pieces and the easiest way for you to do this and do it correctly is by honing your online listings. 82% of equipment buyers say that listings are an important part of their online research. Almost 100% of buyers are telling you that they value a detailed listing that shows them everything they need to know about a unit before they're contacting you. Again, this is a stat that is actually pre-COVID and now we know that people are online even more and they're engaging even more, so it's even more important. It's vital that we are adapting our listings to accommodate the needs of our buyers. The listings have to be better than ever before. Shoppers can no longer just visit your physical dealership. So now more than ever, your online inventory is your online dealership. So I want you to think about a word and the word is paid. By using the word paid, it will help us to remember the best practices as it relates to setting up and updating your online listings. So here's how it goes. Paid, price, availability, images, and description. It's actually a simple concept. I'm going to go a little bit deeper into each one of these so that you know exactly what needs to be included in your listings so that you can get paid. There are a lot more factors that could be or not be in the price and you have to be transparent about that. No one wants a surprise after they've settled on a unit and they find that it's going to cost them a bunch of extra money to get the things that they did not factor in. So include all additional pricing that comes with buying a unit so a consumer knows exactly what the unit is going to include and what they should have their heart set on. Listings that include price perform much better than listings without a price. Conversion rates are higher with listings that actually have a price and have far more engagement than listings that don't have a price. Don't lose a customer because you didn't put a price on your listing. On Equipment Trader, we offer features like make an offer. It's a newer feature that we've started to include for all of our dealers during COVID and that will help you start a conversation with the buyer when they reach out to you to actually make an offer on a specific unit. As buyers continue to research and shop online, now more than ever it is important to be available for these buyers. I reiterate, features such as live chat and request a video chat allow you to engage with buyers and capture their attention while they shop on our marketplace site. Now this might seem redundant, but once you activate these features, you actually need to make sure that you are there and you are available. So if a consumer reaches out via chat or via text or via video and they don't receive a response, that's going to be even more frustrating and they're going to go somewhere else. You've got to be available when you set these up. You also want to give consumers a realistic picture of your unit. So make sure you're taking good photos. You want to make sure that they're impressive and they really highlight your unit. Again, this now probably seems like makes the most sense for you to be able to take these these pictures, but make sure you're being honest in these pictures, that you're showing if there's any damage there. Show it up front. Show every scratch, every dent, every issue. You want to make sure that the buyer has absolutely no surprises. Have your staff spend their spare time to film some 360 videos of these units. Do some walkarounds. This will help create the visuals that consumers cannot see when they're coming into your lot right now because they're not able to come in. And they can see it for themselves, all the different features and pieces of this unit. It also helps to humanize your dealerships and starts to have your sales staff do the walkthrough, makes them start to know your sales staff a little bit more. So now, let's make sure that we are drawing in this buyer. You're going to put everything out there so that the buyer does not even think that there is any reason to go anywhere else to see any other unit. So let's highlight all the capabilities of this unit. So here's a pro tip. To help expedite the process, you can actually create templates of everything you want to make sure is included in every single listing. So make sure you've got your hours that you're open. Make sure you're showing the make, the year, all the different uses of this specific unit. And you're outlining the conditions. So as you are posting them, you can quickly go in and make sure that you're including everything in your listings and you're being consistent. So now, let's utilize retargeting to extend out your listings reach. Retargeting is valuable because unlike traditional advertising that displays to a broad audience, retargeting allows you to focus your ad spend on consumers that you know are already to some degree interested in your product, your services, or that specific unit. I know that right now you need to be smart with your advertising dollars. So what better way than to spend it on folks that you know already want your unit and you can keep them in your sales funnel and bring them back to that specific unit. So how does retargeting work? So a user visits your website or your listing on a third party site. But when your ad is shown to them now, again and again, it's going to be showing it across other websites. They're going to keep seeing that ad again and again as they are browsing even off the third party site or off of your website. And as our consumers are spending more time online, they're going to be using, you can use retargeting now to keep them warm and you can keep them interested in your unit and bring them back. So let's talk about social media. Contrary to popular belief, social media is an incredible resource that expands beyond teenagers or just silly memes. In fact, the average American is spending three hours a day on social networks. And Facebook recently reported that they're seeing a record-breaking activity on their site since the beginning of COVID. So with consumers turning to Facebook or any social media to communicate with friends, stay informed, and to look maybe back on old vacation photos and, you know, continue to think back to different things that they did, this is a great opportunity for you to be here and for you to be humanizing your brand. 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend that brand to their family or their friends or their colleagues. Your dealership is your brand, so make sure that you are becoming part of this social media mix. So what can you post on social media in order to gain traffic back? Take some inspiration from some of your OEMs and how they post. Take a look at some John Deere posts, for example. Those are great ones to look at. John Deere is posting about how their factories have produced over 200,000 medical masks. You can actually repost that and spread that positivity about your manufacturer and all of the good news. You can share posts about safety on job sites during COVID. Construction Drive publication has dedicated an entire section of their website to job site safety. You can share podcasts, you can share YouTube videos that take the consumer and give them some good interests and good things to be paying attention to. Buildercast has been posting weekly podcasts covering various topics around job sites and COVID. So when you're getting ready to post, ask yourself these questions. Is this relevant for your dealership and is this relevant for your consumers? And will this be something that will help them see you in a really good light and good information that you can share to them? So let's touch on videos specifically. It's not hard to imagine why video is so popular these days. In fact, over one third of all online activity is spent watching videos. With consumers searching for units outside of their traditional business hours now, you want to be sure that you can deliver exactly what they're looking for, when they're looking for it and make it convenient for them. Video your unit and leverage the personalities of your sales staff. It's going to provide engaging content for your consumers and again, it humanizes your brand and puts your dealership in the forefront at the time that they're looking at, that they're looking. So here are a few best practices around videos. In addition to pictures, be sure that you are leveraging videos on your listings. The more angles you show, the better equipped your shoppers are going to be to make an informed decision. Showcase videos on your social media channels as well. They can be specific to your listing or they can also be specific to your dealership. Your goal here, when you're looking at videos, should be to cultivate relationships with your audience. So share videos that introduce your team members or give some quick how-to videos where you can share your expertise. So one of the easiest ways to plan for posts on social media is to create a schedule or a calendar. Followers will start to look forward to seeing your regular posts. So planning for social media makes it a lot easier for you. So how often should you be posting? Pick what you can handle. While people are at home and they are craving that new content, make sure you're leveraging your employees that can also help with this content. Share sales promotions that you are currently running with COVID. Be sure to plan for some flexibility. Things are changing daily and be ready to let your consumers know any updates that you have. So don't just be stuck to that schedule that you might miss out on some authentic opportunities to engage with your audience. So let's recap. Some of the best practices for social media are going to include determining the platforms that you want to be on. From Facebook to Instagram to LinkedIn, Twitter, or maybe there's others out there that you think might work best for your customers. Whatever platforms you choose, make sure that you keep them up to date. With your new store operation hours, engage your followers and respond to all comments. Whether they're positive or whether they're negative, make sure you're responding. Share interesting content on a regular basis so that your followers keep coming back to you and they see you as a trusted resource. Right now you have a real opportunity to engage with consumers while they are online. Every channel, every platform needs to be leveraged. So let's fast forward and now looking at you've employed all of these great methods that we've talked about in this webinar, but how do you actually know what is working? So reporting tools are imperative in setting goals and creating a successful digital dealership. Remember, as you open all those lines of communication that we talked about, it is extremely important to monitor leads that come through your website or your third-party advertising site. Each and every lead that comes in is valuable and should be looked at as a potential sale. Ensure each lead that comes in, regardless of the channel, is followed up on and it needs to be followed up on immediately. And your sales teams, they're nurturing these leads. I cannot drive this home enough. You need to be following up on your leads and making sure your sales teams are following up. It's easy and it's simple. You have to have a team, you have to have your team there that is capable of doing so. So continue to look at all of the metrics so that you can make sure that you know what your consumers are also looking for. The better you can monitor your consumers behavior during this time, the better you can tailor your marketing mix to them. So at Equipment Trader, we have a feature called Lead Enrichment that actually tracks buyers shopping behaviors. And it is attached to every lead notification that you get. So these are the types of data that you need to be analyzing and then making sure that you are shifting your dealership tactics accordingly. So right now it is crucial to make sure that all of the marketing dollars are providing value. Be sure to take advantage of any reporting services that you have access to. And use this time to monitor your performance and see where you can improve. Right now, it might be a knee-jerk reaction to say I'm going to cancel all of my advertising spend, and I get that. But you're thinking just about cost-cutting. Be mindful of platforms that are working and driving leads directly to your dealerships. This is also going to be beneficial so that you can manage your leads while you're working remote. Even if you are not in the office, these tools are going to still be available to you and you can really understand what's happening. So I've got some key takeaways that I want to share. So we're going to wrap up here. And these are some of the key takeaways and the best practices that I have shared today. So 73% of consumers said that they are spending more time on their mobile phones. More than 75% of potential customers are conducting online research before generating a single lead. And get creative with service and test drives to help continue to bring in revenue. Open all lines of communication, including your emails, texting, live chat, video chat. And I cannot stress this enough. Hone your online listings to continue to attract new buyers and help you get paid. Utilize social media to engage your customers and help bring your brand's personality to life and ultimately humanize your dealership. Virtual retailing is so important. And one of the most important takeaways that I want to reiterate here, which I had mentioned at the start of our webinar, is how important virtual retailing and the digital presence that you have is. And that is especially right now as our industries and our economy, you know, is facing some new challenges. So more and more people are relying on the methods of digital communication. Remember to consider the needs of your customers. Keep up with current demands. Get creative. Be innovative. And continue to grow sales by following these best practices. We know that in our current economy, things are on your mind. And at Equipment Trader, we are here to help you. We've created an entire virtual retailing resource center that you can find at EquipmentMediaKit.com. These resources are going to give you a lot of great information for yourself that you can share with your team. You're going to be able to grab guides. You can get trend reports. You can see different videos and articles that are all going to be aiming to help your dealership cope with these turbulent times. Again, you can visit this at EquipmentMediaKit.com to view any of these resources. We'll also be able to send you an email after today's presentation that will have this link and then also a recording of today's webinar. So now it's time for questions. So at this point, we're going to be answering any questions that have come up during the presentation. So if you have any questions, please make sure you're entering them in the chat section. And then I've got a couple here that I can share that we already received. So here's the first one. So what is one thing that equipment trader dealers should be doing right now? So as you're all going through some downtime and you may have a little bit extra time on your hands, I'm urging everybody to go back through your database of all of your customers and make sure you're contacting them. Not necessarily just to sell them something, but you could also be checking in with them just to see how they're doing, see if they've got any questions about maybe a new unit that they might have or even some of the prospects that are out there. It's going to be important that you are reaching out and letting them know that you are open also and that you are available to them. So another question that we've got is how many listings do you see with videos and how long should the videos be and should we feature a salesperson or just maybe a voice? So the more listings with videos, the merrier. You want to have as many listings out there right now that have a video and people want to see walkarounds of the unit and get as much detail as possible before they're going to reach out to you. You can have videos and use visuals to really showcase that unit. I suggest featuring the salesperson. It really adds that personalization and it's going to allow you to show the expertise and what you recommend about a specific unit versus just having a unit there and not giving it that personal touch. And then I think a couple of you have also asked, can you receive a copy of this presentation? Yes. Everyone that was part of the AED Foundation will also get free access to this webinar recording and we'll also send it out. And then I'll ask Nicole if there's any other chats in the box that we need to address. There is one question here. It says, is there a preferred channel for social media for this audience? Are more on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? So my thought was just looking at the kind of demographics would really be to start with Facebook but you could also use Instagram. And I think LinkedIn, because this is so B2B, is also a great social media channel for this audience. Any other questions? All right. Well if you have any additional questions or you'd like to learn more about Equipment Trader, please feel free to contact us directly through marketing at Trader Interactive. And I hope everybody has a great rest of your day and I want to say thank you again to AED for hosting me today and hosting Equipment Trader. I hope everybody has a wonderful day and continues to be able to navigate through this disruption that we are facing and setting yourselves up for a wonderful 2020. Thank you.

webinar

virtual equipment consumer

COVID-19 pandemic

online research

digital presence

buyer preferences

detailed online listings

social media engagement

video engagement