If your dealer wants to break their own volume barriers and start being a player in the region, then from the point of sitting in your shoes
we need to build perception while offering such an amazing experience for every customer moving forward, that customers wants to do business with your dealership no matter if you have the exact Mazda or not. I know this from experience when working with a Nissan store . We went from being the bottom volume dealer in the region to top 1-3 (in a large metro area not).
Reputation and Experience:
I see you're using a service - Review Lobby. I've never heard of them but I'm guessing this is an internal review service and NOT your traditional 3rd party review service like Cars.com or DealerRater? I'm usualy not a fan of these type of review services because they become more of a "push" service - HEY, LOOK AT US. Not saying they don't have their place but I would be working on a balance of review across other websites.
I see you also have a link on your home page to you cars.com reviews.. but the link goes to a page blank page -
http://pearsonmazda.com/Cars-Reviews/ --- maybe you have this unlinked due to the small flurry of not so great reviews. No worries - that happens but I would be working hard to get those reviews down the page.
Are you getting reviews from your Mazda service customers? Pony up and go after those - unless you know your service department isn't good enough, and in that case you have another problem all together.
Video: Unless you're dealer refuses to do trades, I would go after a few video reviews from customers that were ecstatic with how quick you were able to get them the right Mazda despite not having it on the lot.
"If we don't have it, we can get it!" help push this message across your channels. At at least for awhile.
Also:
Inventory: Some might not agree with this but there are times you gotta do what you gotta do.
Option 1: Find a service that offers "virtual inventory". These services offer VDPs and SRPs that give the impression that you have just about every vehicle model, trim, color and options
available. At first glance this can be misleading to the consumer but with the right disclosure and process (online and offline) it can work and be effective.
Option 2: Use an inventory management software service that allows you to "lock" the vehicle into a status that will keep that vehicle in your online inventory. Doing this, you're essentially building out you own virtual inventory. I would only do this with the more common trim levels and colors and not the more hard to get configured vehicles (big bonus if you're taking photos if your new cars). I would also advocate offering a disclosure letting the customer that this vehicle might not be located at your dealership for test drive but can/could be acquired from the
storage facility - that being port or every other Mazda dealer you trade with.
You may also want to add something to the stock number so when someone walks into the dealership or calls looking for that exact vehicle by stock number, your sales team is aware that it's a
virtual car and they now need to use a different word track / approach.
Both of these virtual inventory options insist upon a tight approach and process with the right word tracks to be successful. I've offered this advice before and a few didn't agree with it. Found it misleading. It can be IF you don't include the right disclosures and know how to deal with the lead and customer.
I know it works because I did it myself, several times with little to no negative implications. These dealers are now selling more volume and making more money.
You're in a tricky position and you need to do what you need to do to pump out some volume in order to get more inventory. But before I would move forward - I would find out where the upper management heads are.
