Let me paint you a picture—literally.
You've got a $60,000 SUV sitting on your lot. It's clean, detailed, ready to move. But when a customer pulls it up online, they see dirty cupholders, poor lighting, and photos that make it look like a $30,000 trade-in at best. They move on. Your vehicle sits. Days turn into weeks. And you wonder why leads aren't converting.
Sound familiar?
This scenario plays out every single day across dealerships nationwide, and it's crushing gross profit before you ever get a customer in the door. In this week's LotTalk episode, performance engineer Eric Gidney joined hosts Chris Keene, John Anderson, and Renaldo Leonard to tackle one of the most overlooked profit killers in the business: merchandising.
Here's a reality check that should wake everyone up: 75% of used car shoppers switch brands during their buying journey. And on the new car side? Brand loyalty just dropped to 51.1% in the first half of 2025. That means nearly half your customers are willing to walk away from their preferred brand.
The lesson? You're not just competing with other Ford dealers if you're selling a Ford. You're competing with every dealer in a 50-mile radius selling anything that fits the customer's budget and needs.
"I was just randomly curious about some vehicles, so I just jumped out there like a customer and started looking at inventory online," John Anderson shared. "I hooked a whopper, dude. I can't believe that in today's environment, I'm looking at a $60,000 vehicle that was just crud. Photos with dirt in the center console. It was just nasty, and it's online like that."
The problem? That vehicle is sitting there aging, getting zero attention, because the online presentation killed any interest before a customer could even pick up the phone.
Eric Gidney, who works with dozens of dealer partners, puts it bluntly: "If you have a problem with the check-in, you're going to have a problem with the stay."
Think about it like a hotel experience. If the lobby is dirty and the front desk is unhelpful, you're already planning to leave a bad review before you even see your room. Your website is that lobby. Your photos are the front desk. Your lead responses are the concierge service.
When a customer sees poor merchandising online, they're already setting their price expectations low. As Renaldo Leonard noted from a recent dealer conversation: "He says, 'We get customers that come in, but the first thing they want to do is cut my price.' I did a site audit—you're setting yourself up for it. You've got a $60,000 vehicle that looks like it's worth $30,000."
Here's an exercise that'll open your eyes fast. Chris Keene challenges dealers to do this:
Pull your last 15 deals and compare the contract price to the advertised price.
If you're seeing consistent discounts, you've found your problem. Now isolate it by salesperson and sales manager. Are they defending value, or are they folding because your merchandising already made price the main objection?
Next, measure trade allowances against actual cash value (ACV). With 53 different widgets on dealer websites now showing trade values before customers even arrive, are your people defending that ACV or over-allowing because they feel trapped?
"If you make the price the object, count on it becoming the objection later on," Keene emphasized.
Eric Gidney broke down the non-negotiables for proper merchandising:
Your photos should be museum-quality. Would you hang these on a wall? If not, they're not good enough. Every angle matters. Every detail counts. Dirt in the cupholder? That's a deal killer.
Stop writing generic descriptions. "Great car, runs well, clean title." That tells me nothing. Instead, paint a picture of ownership. Talk about the heated seats for winter mornings. The backup camera that makes parking at the grocery store a breeze. Make it tangible.
In today's market, video isn't optional—it's expected. A quick 60-90 second walkthrough lets customers see, hear, and almost feel the vehicle. It builds trust and separates you from competitors who are still stuck in 2015.
Nothing kills trust faster than pricing games. Be upfront. If you're pricing aggressively, explain why. If you're at market, show the comparisons. Transparency builds confidence.
Here's where most dealerships completely drop the ball: lead response. And it's not just about speed—it's about substance.
"If you ask me a question and you don't respond to my question, I'm out. Simple as that," John Anderson stated. "When we dig into CRMs, we find that all the time—a question was asked and it wasn't answered. You've essentially silently answered: 'We don't want to talk to you.'"
Eric Gidney sees this constantly in his dealer audits. Customers ask specific questions about features, trade-in process, or financing options. What do they get back? A template email asking when they want to come in for a test drive.
Stop asking for the test drive immediately. You haven't earned it yet.
Instead, Eric challenges dealers to think differently: "Put yourself in a position where they're practically begging you when they can come in, not the other way around."
How? By actually answering their questions. By providing value. By treating them like the informed, digital-savvy shoppers they are.
Too many dealerships are running on autopilot with canned responses. A customer asks about a specific feature, and they get back: "Thanks for your interest! When would you like to come in for a test drive?"
That's not engagement—that's a brush-off.
"Are you more templated? Are you trying to follow a process? Or are you truly meeting the customer where they're at?" Keene asked. "Are your responses driven to fulfill the customer's needs?"
The dealerships winning right now are the ones personalizing every interaction, answering every question, and building relationships before the customer ever sets foot in the dealership.
Want to know what your customers really experience? Eric Gidney's secret shopping exercises reveal the brutal truth.
"Most of the folks that I speak to in these roles have never secret shopped their own store," Eric explained. "I guarantee when you do that exercise, what it is that you think is happening versus what is actually happening are going to be two completely different realities."
He recommends a simple exercise: Secret shop your own team. Submit a lead. See what comes back. Time the response. Evaluate the quality. Is it personalized? Does it answer your question? Would it make YOU want to visit?
Then—and this is critical—secret shop your competition. See what they're doing. Find gaps. Exploit them.
Here's something Eric emphasized that often gets overlooked: it's not always about bad salespeople. Sometimes it's about bad processes.
"We take the wrong message when we go to our website," Renaldo noted. "We show a picture, ask for a credit app. We've got everything out of order, and we're reinforcing poor execution all the way through the process."
If your website pushes for a credit app before building value, you're training your team to do the same. If your merchandising makes price the main feature, don't be surprised when customers only care about price.
Fix the process, and performance follows.
Let's make this practical. Here's what you can implement immediately:
In a market where brand loyalty is dying and 75% of shoppers are willing to switch, your merchandising and lead response aren't just marketing tactics—they're profit protection strategies.
As Eric Gidney put it: "There are simple steps to executing this process properly. Everybody has a tendency to miss a step here and there."
Don't miss those steps. Your margins depend on it.
The dealers crushing it right now aren't doing anything revolutionary. They're just executing the fundamentals at a high level: great photos, transparent pricing, personalized responses, and a relentless focus on the customer experience—starting from that very first digital interaction.
Your competition is still running on autopilot. Don't join them.
Want to dive deeper into these strategies? Listen to the full LotTalk podcast episode featuring Eric Gidney at LotTalkPodcast.com. For more insights on improving your used car operations, subscribe to LotTalk, powered by Lotpop.
About LotTalk Podcast: LotTalk is powered by LotPop and hosted by Chris Keene, John Anderson, and Renaldo Leonard. The podcast brings actionable insights, industry trends, and expert analysis to automotive professionals. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or visit lottalkpodcast.com.