Here is my newest (somewhat) comedic video, The Dating Game. Created for the Lead to Appointment Show session at the 8th Digital Dealer Conference, it details how dealerships must put their best foot forward when managing a customer’s expectations before visiting instead of confirming their beliefs that they will be meeting with old school car folks.
Posts Tagged ‘car dealers’
The Dating Game
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010Act As If (You Own the Joint)
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009A great sales manager and friend of mine always said, “It’s all about perception.” How the Internet shopper perceives you and your role in the store will affect whether they visit your dealership or not.
A title is important. While many dealerships are hesitant to throw around manager titles, it is imperative the individuals in the Internet department refer to themselves as Internet sales managers (ISM). Whether or not an employee has been officially given the title or not, they need to communicate with the automotive Internet users (AIU – a new term for Internet shoppers I picked up at a seminar) as a person with manager status.
Anyone who has sold cars knows that the position of manager carries with it the air of authority. Customers often want to work directly with a manager. It makes them feel more important as if they are dealing with a true decision-maker for the store. I often laugh at this because it is quite possibly the worst way to buy a car. I tell friends and family that, when shopping for a new vehicle, always try to work with the person who seems the most new to the business. Those people care more about getting another unit sold rather than focusing on profit. On the other side of the spectrum, a manager’s main focus is on profit. A person is promoted to manager when they are successful at selling consistently at high gross. Why a customer wants to immediately work with the person (manager) who is most adept at making maximum profit, I’ll never know.
The automotive Internet user is different. As I’ve said in countless past articles, the AIU feels they are entitled to better care than that offered to them by an everyday salesperson. They need to feel as if they are dealing with someone who has the power to make significant decisions regarding price and payment. The AIU wants to know they are talking to a manager. If your Internet employees have the official title of “Internet sales consultant”, “Internet sales coordinator” or any variation in between, encourage them to refer to themselves as “manager” in all e-mail, phone, and face-to-face communications with the AIU. While the role and responsibility for your employee won’t change, the perception of the customer and the mindset of the employee will.
When I began in automotive sales, my title was sales consultant. In a perfect world, our sales staff would consult the customer, but today they act more like sales clerks. However, I encourage my sales staff to stretch the limitations of their titles. ‘Sales associate’ holds no weight with a customer. ‘Sales professional’ does, though, as does ‘certified sales professional’ or ‘senior certified sales and leasing specialist’. Since roughly 90 percent of customers are shopping the Internet prior to visiting to dealership, I wouldn’t even mind if sales consultants referred to themselves as ‘Internet specialists’ (provided they did know how to navigate the web and were familiar with the popular automotive sites). It allows the customers to believe they are dealing with an individual who has attained a higher designation from the dealership, and therefore is more important.
In my Internet department, however, I prefer my Internet sales coordinators to refer to themselves as ‘Internet sales managers’. The AIU doesn’t want to think just anyone is responding to their e-mails. They want someone with clout to handle their transaction because they are special. A little hint for those who don’t know: All Internet shoppers believe they are special. That is why, when they show up unannounced, you are expected to recall their name, their vehicle of interest, and all communication you’ve shared. Even though they need to carry the information into the store with them inside a manila folder tucked under their arm, you should know who they are. It is not like you have 250 others you are conversing with. They are the special ones. (Notice any sarcasm there?) The truth is, though, if they are in the store at that very moment, you should treat them as if they are the most important. The title of manager will carry with it a little more authority, allowing you to stand your ground on topics such as price, payment, and trade as well as make the customers feel they are more important than the average walk-in.
Working with an AIU is a little like the early stages of dating. If you present yourself as a servant/lower-class citizen to your potential girlfriend or boyfriend, it’s over before it begins. Men and women want to be with someone that they look up to and are willing to fight for. The same holds true for car shoppers. No consumers look up to sales clerks. People want to interact with their equals. Referring to yourself as a manager to a customer (provided you act accordingly) makes you an equal.
If you are an owner or GM, allow your staff to present themselves with a title of authority. Let them put it on their business cards if they ask. The pay plan dictates their pay, not their business cards, so you have nothing to worry about.
If you are an Internet sales specialist or a similarly titled position, just go ahead and try using a manager title in your e-mail signature. You will begin receiving more favorable responses. Some of these responses may actually ask more detailed questions, requiring decisions out of your pay grade. That’s fine. It opens the door to building credibility and rapport with the AIU and the medium of e-mail always gives you time to find out the answer from the powers that be.
Simply having the title of manager alone won’t even the playing field with your customers. You must act as if you are a manager. You must be as responsible and professional as your management staff. You must be courteous and respectful to the AIU’s wishes. You must position yourself as a customer’s solution.
It is not the title that makes the manager, but the actions. Even if you are not, act as if you are in charge. Act as if you have been doing this for 100 years and you are the best at it. Act as if you are the only person that can help them through their shopping ordeal. If customers perceive you are a person of power and influence in the dealership, they will have confidence in you and everything you say. If this newfound confidence breeds more sales, act as if you own the joint.
Seeing Double
Saturday, October 4th, 2008Seeing double is never a good thing. Not in any circumstance, short of hold cards in a Texas hold ‘em tournament. Seeing double can be dangerous and very costly. More and more Internet Sales Managers, though, are seeing double on a regular basis. Duplicate leads are an expensive problem for all dealerships.
With dealers trying to acquire as many internet leads as possible and vendors fighting tooth and nail to obtain the leads on behalf of dealers, duplicates are more prevalent than ever. Not only do lead generators sell the very same leads to more than one lead provider, but those lead providers are passing that customer’s information along to the same dealership. And a duplicate lead is born.
The other way a lead becomes duplicate is by the internet shopper visiting more than one website to acquire quotes. Often, the customer first visits the dealer’s website and then requests quotes from a third-party site to keep their dealer honest. Otherwise, they shop multiple channels because they actually believe three quotes from Edmunds may not be as aggressive as three quotes from Cars.com, or vice versa.
Problems arise when more than one individual is handling leads. An ISM cannot remember the names of all of their active prospects. Even then, the duplicate lead may not attach to the original if the address, first name (spouse’s name), vehicle, phone number, or any other variable doesn’t match.
Since lead aggregators obviously aren’t aware what other leads companies are sending you, dealers are being double-billed. If you already are actively working a lead generated from another source, whether it originated from your website or a third-party site, you shouldn’t have these duplicate costs. Lead providers don’t actively try to send you duplicates, but it is revenue so they are not actively trying to train their dealers to prevent and catch them either. As Stephen Stauning, eCommerce Director for the Asbury Automotive Group says, “While duplicate leads will always be an issue for dealerships, it’s important to recognize that the big three aggregators have done a very good job of self-policing.”
As a dealer, if you have not yet recognized the problem of duplicate leads, you are paying far more than necessary to generate e-business. There are several ways that you can track the duplicates and make sure you are credited for those leads.
Stephen Stauning believes “the best weapon any dealership can employ against duplicate leads is a great ILM tool that will not only de-dupe, but will also generate one-click duplicate lead reports that the dealership can easily submit to the aggregators for credit.”
Majority of CRM and ILM tools do actively search for duplicates, but some are more pro-active than others. Webcontrol AVV and Contact Management, I know from first-hand experience, do catch a decent amount of inbound duplicates. IMagicLab DealerCRM has developed a software that takes a more complete approach, not only focusing on the capturing of duplicate information, but assists in the crediting of said leads. Tom Harsha, Vice President of Training for IMagic Labs, says “Anyone that has worked Internet leads knows how frustrating and incredibly time consuming the ritual of checking every lead each month can be. In most cases salespeople don’t have the time to perform the manual review of leads and still sell cars so the leads go mostly unchecked. The real beauty of fully automated duplicate and bad lead checking is that is allows dealers to finally purchase third party leads with confidence. (The right CRM) will allow a dealer to know that each lead is checked, rejected and automatically credited so they don’t pay twice for the same customer opportunity.”
It is nice to know that today’s best ILM and CRMs are attempting to shoulder more responsibility of keeping lead costs and internet advertising budgets down for their clients. As any ISM or Internet Director that has handled a significant amount of leads and utilized these systems as their sole means of catching and crediting duplicates will tell you, no system is perfect on its own. That is why there are companies forming such as ILead Control whose product performs as a filter between all lead providers and your own CRM. Their solution is capturing a greater percentage than the CRMs since they are searching for a wider range of variables that will trigger an alert of a possible duplicate. Their reporting software provides the necessary documentation to provide the lead aggregators for credits as well as the exact amount to short-pay the invoice (so you don’t have to wait a month for the credit, but have it deducted before the invoice is sent). Bill Hilbun, owner of ILead Control, estimates lead duplication rates are around 12% to 15% for most dealers that are active with internet leads. He states that “duplicate leads are a fact of life…overpaying for them and waiting for credit doesn’t have to be! Use tools that save you time and money and puts the pressure back on the lead providers to send you quality leads.”
If all dealers make it a point to be credited for duplicate leads, then the lead providers will focus their attention (and own advertising) on making sure theirs is the first site visited by each and every automotive internet user. Duplicate leads are the large problem, but there are also bad leads (incorrect information) to worry about as well. One training company, Automotive Internet Management (AIM), spends time training their dealers on how to classify leads. Chris Olsen, Director of Sales for AIM, promises to argue justification about leads that don’t provide correct phone numbers and email addresses on behalf of dealers. Bad leads can be close to 10% of all leads – close to the same percentage of duplicates.”
So there you have it, folks. You just learned that for every 100 leads you receive, 20 are bogus. And you are likely paying for those 20. Simple math – 20 leads at an average $20 per lead means you are paying $400 more than you should. If you are a larger store receiving 1,000 leads a month like mine, it could add up to $4,000. Most ISMs would love an extra $4,000 to spend toward more, legitimate leads. All you have to do is utilize the right tools, CRM solutions, and dedicate your time to the problem. Pay attention and save your dealer money. They will love you for it. The easiest way for me to put it is…be careful what you pay for.