An Internet shopper is caught off-guard when he attempts to push for additional discounts after agreeing to an Internet price with the car dealership’s Internet Manager. This comedic video shows what would happen if Dateline NBC’s Chris Hanson shows up and puts a halt to the customer’s efforts.

Starring:
Joe Webb
Arnold Tijerina
Bill Playford
David Hudson
Written by Joe Webb
Directed by David Hudson

Why only three?” I asked.

Then they told me how the only reason they gave three stars was because the salesperson kept trying to make them feel bad after the sale.

“Feel bad? After?” I asked. It turns out their salesperson kept saying over and over “My manager is really upset at me for selling the car this low.”

“My manager is pretty pissed off he has to let for of this car for the price you got online.” ETC. Etc.

We’ve all heard this before (and if you’ve been doing this for a while, you may have even had a manager tell you to say something similar to a customer.) Allow me to say that, in today’s world, saying these unnecessary statements AFTER the deal is made is only begging for negative reviews.

After hearing this (and laughing a little), I asked myself, ”Why?” Why does this still go on? Why did it go on in the first place? I’m sure, in all of the sales I’ve made and customers I’ve closed, I’ve even said this to a customer before. Why would anyone do this? I’ve never heard of a customer relenting and saying – “Okay, then just raise the price $400 more. I don’t want them feeling bad.” Or “You shouldn’t get in trouble for it. How about we add on a few hundred more just in case.” NO. That’s insane.

As a manager, if you accept a deal… live with it. Urge your salespeople to deliver top-notch customer service after the sale and hope for returning service department traffic. Or don’t accept it. You aren’t a guilt-trip artist. You are a sales manager. It doesn’t work anyway and you should recognize that it doesn’t do any good.

If you tell the customer this to cover up the fact that you are gouging them in the wallet, then why mention anything? It is akin to having a royal flush in poker on the draw and then immediately saying “Wow. I’ve got nothing. What a terrible hand of cards. I hope you folks don’t take advantage of my miserable hand here.” NO. That’s stupid.

If you are a salesperson and this is a tactic you’ve tried, ask yourself what good it could possibly do. There are several phrases that we are accustomed to saying or hearing that are No-Need statements. There simply is no-need to say them so why say them at all. If you know of any other “No-Need” statements, I’d love to hear them.

The unlikely event when a customer chooses to purchase a vehicle based on the mundane, unnecessary descriptions of features that the vehicle is listed with online.
Debuted at the 11th Digital Dealer Conference – during the session – Merchandizzle
Starring:
Joe Webb
Arnold Tijerina
Bill Playford
Tim Hommer
Written and Produced by:
Joe Webb
Directed by:
David Hudson

*It is well known that he is not related to Joe Webb, but does often use Joe as his opening act. Likely, based on the accent and hairstyle, Buford originates from either Alabama, Arkansas, or Mississippi. He cannot recall. But what he does know is automotive sales and digital marketing tactics.

Joe Webb and Bill Playford of DealerKnows Consulting share a (comedic) study of how the automotive Internet Sales Manager’s job responsibility has grown to be more than one can handle on their own.
Another funny “car guy” comedy creation from Joe Webb.
Starring Bill Playford as the ISM Joe Webb as the GM
Written by Joe Webb
Directed by Dave Hudson of D. Hudson Productions

With the 9th Digital Dealer Conference fast approaching, it’s never too early to begin preparing for the experience.  If you are one of the lucky dealership professionals attending (along with a thousand of your peers), make sure you get everything out of it you need.  To do so, start with a plan.  Either your ownership or you see this conference as a valuable enough learning institution to spend hard earned dollars for you to attend.  So, don’t take it for granted.

Steve Stauning of Kain-Stauning and Pladoogle wrote just last week in his Dealer Communications blog about the five ways to get the most out of the Digital Dealer Conference.  It was a great piece and I want to both add to that list and flesh it out a little more.

It is imperative you attend this conference with a list of goals to achieve because I know the bright lights and loud slots of Vegas can get you off course.  However, this conference is too important to waste.  Again, let me say, you don’t want to take it for granted.

I hear back from attendees often after their trip to a Digital Dealer conference. The first thing their owners and general managers ask is, “What did you learn?”  Before you can answer that, you first need to have questions going into the conference.  So let’s start planning ahead.

What are you currently missing?  What is it you are doing that isn’t generating the dollars that it should?

What technologies are you most interested in exploring?  What new skills would you like to come back with?

Once you’ve answered these questions, go to http://digitaldealerconference.com and look at the agenda.  Read the descriptions and determine which ones you think will most benefit you and your dealership.  Write down a couple for each time slot. There are ten slots with seven sessions each – 70 workshops in total. (There are three general sessions also, one each day.)

After doing this, you’ll want to look at the speaker’s page.  Who is giving that session?  Are they a practitioner (senior management level from a dealership), a trainer/consultant, or a vendor? Does that matter? Watch the speaker’s video and see who you might connect with most while watching.  That is how you can set a game-plan.

For every three sessions you see that involve topics right in your wheelhouse, check one out that you have no involvement with.  This type of ‘big picture’ learning can help you grow in the future.  Get your own agenda set before the sessions begin so you don’t stand there lost in front of the big agenda board trying to flip a coin as to who to see.  In other words, do your homework.  You will be thankful you did.

Next, check out the 80 or so exhibitors that will be in attendance.  (Just click on the exhibitor tab on www.digitaldealerconference.com and you’ll see the list there.)  Surely a few of these have been calling on you for a while asking for a little of your time to view a demo.  Why not set it up there?  When the hall first opens, go and meet those solutions/companies that have been blowing up your phone.  Schedule a specific time for a demo of their product while on-site.  (Often, these vendors give special deals if you sign up on-site so having your ducks in a row and planning ahead could save some cash.)

Then visit the booths of those companies you already use.  If they aren’t one of the “big boys” in the room, they may be willing to give back for your valued patronage and take you out one evening as a little payback.  This is when the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so to speak.

In addition to the sessions and exhibitors, you do not want to miss the Peer Networking Tables that begin and end the conference. You sit at a table with eight of your peers (people from other dealerships) and a moderator. This is a great place to discuss challenges and solutions you may have, as well as picking up new ideas to take back to the dealership.  (As a regular moderator of the Networking Roundtable, make sure to track me down.)

Lastly, take notes throughout.  Write down every new idea and progressive ideology you can from the sessions and gather all of the detailed info you can from each vendor you speak to.  This will save many headaches in the future when you try to remember who offered what service at which price.

So prepare yourself as you would if you were gearing up for a test — especially considering you may be asked to take one when you return.  If you plan ahead, you have the chance to come out the smartest person in the class.

There are several types of employees, but I am only going to highlight two of them for this question.

Show Pony – This person is, straight up, the most talented on your squad.  They have the highest closing ratio, the strongest word tracks, and the greatest skill.    When they have a customer on the phone, the show pony will convert to an appointment at an exceedingly high clip.  When a customer is in front of them, more often and not, they buy.  When the commissions come in, the gross profit is substantial.  However, their effort level is fleeting.  They don’t apply themselves 24/7, but when they do, the success is there.  The Show Pony tends to doddle.  Take some time off.  Not manage their time as well as they should or make all of the follow-up calls set for them for the day, but those they do make end in results.

On the other side of the room, there is the Work Horse.  This employee isn’t going to set the world on fire with their statistics, but when they are at work, they are working hard.  The Work Horse is disciplined, does all that is asked of them, completes all of the calls in a reasonable manner, closes the customers at the average rate, and keeps themselves busy WITH WORK during downtime.  If there is one thing you can assure yourself of is that the Work Horse will exhaust all effort in selling a unit and completing their calls. 

Now I ask you, who is more valuable to have on your staff?  The Show Pony or the Work Horse?  The one with unending talent and skill or the one with amazing work ethic?  Ideally, we’d like to have both characteristics in one perfect person, but this is rarely the case.  So when interviewing candidates, ask them which one they believe they are.  Or when giving your employees their monthly reviews, categorize them and praise/train them accordingly.

You are the owner of this stable.  If you do have someone with both of these traits, be thankful.  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.  Praise the person.  However, don’t be afraid to celebrate someone in the winner’s circle and dole out some public praise for their skill or effort.  Just ask yourself first, which is the more admirable quality to have?

Dealers ask me to mystery shop them frequently and give them my assessment of their email templates. Over time, I’ve found that dealers are pushing to be more progressive, more professional, in the emails they are sending out to customers.

In the past, emails were sent in plain text, easily read, the occasional spelling error mixed in. Then we began including banners of the dealerships for branding and pictures of the Internet Sales Managers thrown in for good measure. Today, templates have involved into flashy, overdesigned advertisements.

I understand why dealers have paid vendors for these jazzy versions of email responses. They want to appear to be as sophisticated to their consumers as possible and they’re looking for some conformity for all of their templates.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I believe these glittery, some say garish, email template advertisements being sent out (being paid for) are getting your customers to fast forward, to Tivo, past your emails. I check email much the way everyone else does, and when I see a bright, shiny picture to review – or worse, click to “show images” – I click past. There is very little value to me in an email that appears to be nothing more than a template advertisement. It is just like a commercial in need of skipping.
There are some consumers out there, I could imagine, that prefer these snazzy, ostentatious emails, but to most who take the time to submit an inquiry, they want a proper, personal email back. They don’t want something that looks as if it is an automated, showy response that is all glitz, no guts.

This is the same reason why some CRMs allow dealers to decide if they want their emails to be sent in html or plain text format. The same reason other CRMs let the dealers decide if they want to include the “opt-out” message or not to their automated templates.

Don’t get me wrong. I actively train to send dynamic video messages, include fun, personal pictures in the emails, and well-created e-Brochures. However, I also request that there are a variety of templates being sent. Specifically, in the initial emails sent, it is important they get through spam filters which is why a plain text email works best. It also seems that a customer would be more willing to read something being sent from a person than a computer system. (And I won’t even delve into the content being sent – which is just as important.)

So put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Sit in their living room and flip open the laptop. Mystery shop yourself and determine if your emails are coming across as emails or getting fast-forwarded like commercials. Do the templates look like the normal spam emails you receive and automatically delete? If so, change the design of what you’re emailing. Don’t let your prospects Tivo past the value propositions you are sending.