Skip to content
Understanding the Powersports Trade Process
Drum up the Trades
In Powersports, trades work a little differently. There are more criteria to consider and quite frankly, some trades don’t even make it back to the dealership. Powersports units are notoriously used, which means that they are used and abused and thoroughly enjoyed, leaving little left to bring in on trade. Therefore, that leaves a lot of dealers begging for assistance from their customers, offering incentives, and trying to find other ways to drum up trade business.
REACH MORE 
You could reach out to your customers, but you don’t want to look desperate. Before you do that, let’s talk about how you can improve your trade process on your own.
STEP ONE: Know Your Market
There is nothing worse than having a customer bring in a trade only to realize that you have no idea what it’s actually worth. Just like you have to know your new sales competition and keep tabs on that market, you also need to know what the used market is like. Keep up on industry trends, keep track of what the competition is doing with their trade process and used sales, and find a place for your dealership right in the middle where you can turn a good profit and still look like the best choice for trades.
STEP TWO: Know Your Department
Do you even know what your used inventory looks like? Does anyone? If your entire sales team just handles used transactions and trades as they come along, no one is going to be on the same page and everyone is going to have half of the information that they need. Get to know your used inventory and how your trade process works. Come up with ways to make changes and improvements. See what you have on hand and which units have historically been most profitable for you in the trade business.
STEP THREE: Do What's Best For Everyone
While you want to make a profit, you also want to keep customers coming back. There's always a lot of negative equity to be concerned within Powersports trades, so make sure that you find a way to help people make up for that. Of course, that’s just one example. You do have to keep the best interests of your dealership in mind, but with that said, the interests of your customers are absolutely on that list. Think about not only what you need, but how you can help your customers trade into a new toy without spending a small fortune.
The trade process is different, but not impossible. Keep these things in mind and you’ll find success in no time.
