People Do Business With People They Trust 

As a vendor, these last couple weeks were pretty busy as we prepared for NADA. It is amazing how much goes into an event like this in order to be successful. NADA consists of some very long days and my body is still trying to recover. The show was very good for us and I imagine it was for others as well. The first thing that stood out to me; unlike years past when the economy was worse and dealers were not spending as much; dealers had positive outlooks on the current and future conditions of the auto industry. Dealers were eagerly looking for new and innovative products to buy. 

There are sure a lot of vendors out there now. Competition is good; it sparks innovation and keeps vendors having to improve in order to keep being competitive. As dealers shopped different vendors it was interesting for me to hear what the technology, features, and benefits they liked. But what was more interesting to me this year, was how many dealers seemed very interested in learning more about the companies, the leaders, the culture and its employees. 

I heard multiple times dealers say they do business with people who they like. I heard others say, it was important for them to really know and trust the people they give their money to. Apart from technology, they also seemed interested in the customer service, the support and the company’s reputation in the industry and what their customers had to say about the company and its employees. 

I feel privileged to work for a company that prides itself for being a moral and ethical company. A company that takes pride in offering services to dealers that they sincerely want to help be successful and works hard to make sure its customers can trust and respect them. Working with people who have character, are trustworthy, honest, moral and ethical goes a long way and makes working with them a pleasure. And these types of behaviors do not just come from how they perform when they are working but even when they are not. This helps customers know that they can rely on us and we will be there for them when there is a need. I think this can also apply to dealerships. 

Apart from the design of the dealership, inventory, advertising and tools they use; customers also ultimately buy from those people who they like. We need the customers to know they can trust and respect dealerships. This ultimately comes from their interaction with the people that work at your dealership. Is moral and ethics an important part of your dealership and business model? Is it in-line with your personal morals and ethics? 


About Hunter Swift 
Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role, he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. Hunter specializes in helping dealerships improve sales and follow-up processes through the use of CRM technology. He is known for his ability to connect with people and demonstrate his knowledge to help others solve their problems. Hunter honed his dealership skills as a salesperson prior to joining DealerSocket. He has earned a Business Degree from Pepperdine University. Hunter can be reached at hswift@dealersocket.com and on social media at @HunterSwift.