Grant Cardone, founder and CEO of Cardone Training Technologies (among many other businesses) doesn't chase new customers when his numbers get flat. He goes after the ones who already bought from him.
"When I'm trying to solve a problem, when I'm trying to expand, when I'm trying to get a statistic to move up, if it's flat, I am always going back to my sold customers," Cardone told Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D’Arc and Yossi Levi.
WHY IT MATTERS
Sold customers have already overcome the biggest hurdle—they often trust dealers enough to spend money with them. And they typically understand the dealership's value and have a relationship with the business. Getting them to buy again should be easier than convincing strangers to buy for the first time.
"Just find out what your competition won't do. Find out what they won't do and do it," he explained.
The trick is dealers have to get creative about how they approach those customers.
Between the lines: Cardone’s best marketing costs nothing. It comes from finding promotional opportunities that competitors won't touch (like using April Fool's Day to sell airplanes) or leveraging political controversy for engagement.
"Everything is a promotion. Everything starts with marketing," Cardone explained. The key is using current events and trending topics as chances to get attention back onto businesses.
And he said most car dealers fail at this completely.
"Car dealers, you don't control the narrative. You're always talking about your blue truck and your lowest price," he said. "Dealers just don't make marketing sexy. It's always about price and benefits."
Cardone's approach requires dealers to think bigger than traditional follow-up. Instead of calling sold customers about oil changes, dealers could find ways to insert their dealership into trending conversations or use local news events as reasons to reach out.
Bottom line: Most dealers have a goldmine of sold customers at their fingertips. It just takes someone creative enough to unlock it.
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Sources: 1. Similarweb, Traffic Report (Cars.com, Autotrader, TrueCar, CARFAX Listings (defined as CARFAX Total visits minus Vehicle History Reports traffic), Q1'25, USA. 2. CarGurus analysis of US dealers that changed a vehicle price based on NBDR recommendations compared to vehicles without an NBDR- informed price change from Nov 2023 through Dec 2024.
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