Posts Tagged ‘car sales’
Switch With Me
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009How to Retain Customers by Creating Your Own Social Network
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009Every person and their brother are standing atop their soapboxes and preaching the importance of dealership involvement in social marketing.The reason to be active within these sites is very much the same for being online – to be where your customers are.Since there are many ways to approach this medium in the wrong way, I thought I would share just one small tactic of using it correctly.Here is a quick, best-practices tutorial on how to create and utilize just one form of social networking to better the retention of your dealership’s customers.I believe there are limited ways to be successful when creating your own social site so here are a few simple tasks you must complete when diving into this platform.
1)Understand your primary goals for creating your own site – have an objective.
2)Put someone in charge that wants to be active in following up with customers and is willing to update and manage the network regularly.Consistency is imperative.
3)Create a site on www.ning.com and create a color theme that represents your dealership and brand.
4)Upload pics of staff, logos, and any and all videos and commercials you can gather from your own dealer, the OEM, or third-party sites.
5)Have every sales person and service writer create a profile on the site and share a few family photos.Encourage your staff to show their personalities on the site.
6)Train all sales associates to invite their sold customers to the network as they wait for the business office – and help them sign up.This keeps the customer busy while waiting and gets them as a community member immediately.
a) By signing up, tell the customers they will receive service updates and specials as well as the current financing incentives and new model rollout information.
b) If the customer contacts you through this site for information regarding the purchase of any future vehicle, a social discount will be given above and beyond internet pricing.Let them know of the specific benefits for signing up.It must do something for them.
c) Explain the wide demographic of your customer base and encourage them to promote themselves and their own businesses through your site as well.
7)As the customer is leaving, take their picture in front of their new vehicle (or film a customer testimonial), and immediately upload it to the site.Alert your customers that they will be prominently featured.(This will prompt a customer to go online and actually see themselves as stars.)
Continue to maintain the site and add as much sticky content (media, pictures) as possible and alert them of every special event, sale, or community activity you involve yourself with.
This will not change the culture of a dealership.It will not solve all of your problems.To do it right takes significant dedication and creativity when it comes to content deployment.You are creating your own mini ad agency, but reaching your own customers only. However, with this medium, the customers are one step removed from a dealership’s online presence where, opposed to your website (which is to appease everyone), you have the ability to target specific people with targeted messages.It will take time to catch on and will initially drive more service traffic than sales.It is, though, the only way to effectively create and utilize your own social networking site.You’ll only get out of it what you put into it.The best part?All it costs is time and effort.That’s right.Everything I mentioned is free.Since it is a format that your customers are likely used to anyway, showing them that you are a part of the same online community (and leading the way) will only help you endear yourself to your customers.Use this task list only if you are interested in keeping customers the old-fashioned way…by making them feel special and continuing the relationship after the sale.
Five Senses
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
There are several tricks of the trade to employ while test driving customers. Even with the simplest of instructions, without proper training, every salesperson can get it wrong from time to time. Who is the unfortunate victim of poor training? The customer. Especially in this instance. Another Joe Webb car guy creation.
Starring John Schrimpf and Anthony Pollina
Who is Selling Whom?
Friday, March 6th, 2009We have a serious problem in the automotive industry. No, the Internet is not destroying the car business as the old-timers like to say. The problem is simple. Internet customers, in many cases, are more knowledgeable on the models than the people selling the vehicles.
Sure, you can point fingers and say salespeople should take a vested interest in the brand they are selling. You can train and train and train. The repetition of a hundred test drives may not be enough. You can give up and believe clichés such as, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
It comes down to the fact that many salespeople are relying on their selling skills above their product knowledge to appease their customers. With the large majority of customers having done significant research on builds, options, pricing, invoices, and trade-in values, salespeople are at a significant disadvantage. How does a dealership overcome this epidemic?
An Internet sales professional (ISP) is the answer
If ISPs do their job correctly, they should be as researched and prepared as any customer (Internet or otherwise) that visits the dealership. Quality ISPs should be able to match wits with any customer that steps in front of them.
This is not always the case. With so much information available online, just a click away, customers are walking in with all of the information necessary to make the best deal for them. Internet sales professionals must be more familiar with these sites than the customers utilizing them. Ownership and management of every dealership should strongly encourage their ISPs and salespeople to take time out of their day to sit down and research all of their models through the Internet. My mentor, and marketing manager, John Photopulos, made it a point when I became Internet sales manager to send me to every best practices training, phone skills class, and product knowledge course available. I visited web site after web site to learn all they had to offer. By training yourself with all resources available, including the Internet, you know where the customer is coming from, you understand their expectations, and, best of all, you have the knowledge to dispute any of their errant beliefs.
How often do you run into a customer who believes he has a firm understanding of the vehicle’s base price and invoice, only to find he is not in the same ballpark? This is a common occurrence and one that is easily overcome providing the ISP has dedicated his time to understanding these sites. How many customers believe they can purchase a unicorn (a mythical vehicle that has never been seen, except as a part of someone’s imagination built on a wishful web site)? Hopefully, the ISP can utilize these sites to correct the customer for the benefit of the dealership. With a little practice, you will quickly learn how to navigate through the sites. This will give you the wherewithal to inform your customers without turning them into shoppers by overeducating them.
If any web site and its content are explained to a customer the right way, dealer profit will remain and customer service ratings will increase. No longer will the buyer feel their questions are being talked “around,” but instead, talked “through.” Knowing the intricacies of the web sites that your customers are requesting their information through will only put you one step closer to a closed deal with a happy customer and a reasonable margin of profit.
An example: When a client is in your store and wants Edmunds Excellent Value for his trade, take time with him. After a silent walk-around of the trade, build it out on Edmunds. Make sure the customer rates its condition with you. Read the detailed explanations of each value category. Once this is done, go one step further. Build out his new vehicle with him. Make sure to click on the tabs that mention the regional advertising fees being legitimate (though he never expected to have to pay that before). Click on the explanation of dealer holdback and view the TMV (true market value). I don’t know about your dealership, but most busy suburban Chicago dealerships would be content offering a good trade-in value provided the customer pays TMV. In a market like ours, flooded with over-aggressive dealerships, most would be happy to accept this deal. It is a daunting task for a customer to give a reasonable explanation to you, a professional, why the value of his trade is correct on a web site, yet the price that others are paying for a new vehicle is not a legitimate number.
If you are working Internet leads, or any customer for that matter, and you did not know the basic information above, this entire article is dedicated to you. I believe Internet sales professionals must take it upon themselves to learn and understand the sites their customers are surfing. Furthermore, I believe the ISP should train his sales staff how to use these sites to their benefit. My Internet sales coordinator (and right-hand man) Jason, only months into the business turned to me and said, “I can’t believe more salespeople don’t use the Internet to their advantage. Instead, they consider it more like a roadblock.”
As an ISP, you should change the perception of Internet sales, thereby changing the culture of your dealership for the better. In my last article, I mentioned how Internet sales professionals should differentiate themselves from normal salespeople on the floor. It is imperative for an ISP, above others, to function at a high level. We are all a team, though, and it is a good feeling when the sales staff around you is successful too. Share some of your knowledge, experience, and time with them. Do not let them walk into a situation where they are overmatched. Teach them the new selling tactics for today’s car shopper and make a progressive difference at your dealership. And, most importantly, know how to overcome customers’ objections using the very same source where they gathered the information.
In the simplest of terms, the Internet offers knowledge to the public. In our industry, knowledge is power. If a customer knows more than the salesperson, he has the ability to sell you on his beliefs, opposed to the correct way, where you are in control and you do the selling.
Just remember who is selling whom. There is only one answer.
On a Test Drive – “For the wife”
Thursday, February 5th, 2009Several years ago, a woman would be overlooked during the car buying experience. With the majority of buying decisions being made by women, I wonder if that is still the case.
Either way, I feel this video is a true example of how women perceive car salespeople.
Sooner or later, we will all get it right.
-Another Joe Webb car guy creation
Starring Joe Webb and John & Amanda Schrimpf
The Negotiation
Monday, December 8th, 2008This is what happens when an internet-researched client meets the stereotypical car salesperson. When someone appears overmatched and under-trained, it only looks bad on the dealership. Sales Professionals must dedicate themselves to understanding how to overcome online objections. This is a DealerKnows specialty.
The Perfect Fit
Saturday, October 4th, 2008Finding strong candidates for Internet Departments and Business Development Centers continues to be a challenge.It is a rare breed of person that can stay personally motivated sitting in front of a computer, expecting to hear ‘no’ over 80% of the time.What type of candidate is the perfect fit?
The perfect fit definitely depends on your process and their job responsibilities.Dealers must understand that a more researched and educated customer is showing up onto their floor.Not only do representatives of the BDC and Internet Dept need to be technologically savvy, but the general sales and leasing consultants do as well.If your Internet Sales Team is handling their leads and customers through the entire sale then you must only find a few strong candidates.If your Internet Sales Team is simply a customer’s first contact into the dealership sales funnel, then you must also focus on the continuous training and education of your sales staff.
There is a paradigm shift going on in the world and dealers must understand that it affects the way they go about their hiring process.The battle of old school versus new school is waging and sales tactics of the 70’s and 80’s (even early 90’s) are losing to newer, e-business initiatives.If you knew 90% of your customers were coming in after researching the internet, wouldn’t you want your entire staff to be just as studied?
Look at the difference between negotiating with a customer just 8 years ago compared to today.The only variable that seems to be changing the culture of car sales is the use of the internet and ease of obtaining information. That’s a big variable, but the same reason I am excited about this field.It will be forever evolving.The dealers that tag along with this change will lose business, but those that lead the way will gain market share.As a dealer, you must recognize this and focus all efforts on developing internet initiatives and shying away for old school methods to gain conquest business.
AT&T just announced that they are abandoning their phone booth business across the nation.It wasn’t too long ago that I remember fishing around in my jeans for change to use a pay phone.The cell phone industry has enhanced the way people communicate in a short period of time.The internet is much the same way.Customers are not just sitting at their desks emailing back and forth with dealers, but they are carrying their computers with them.Telecommunications as a whole will be evolving the internet department.Every ISM has received a response similar to
“What colors do you have in stock?John Carbuyersent via blackberry”
Blackberries, IPhones, Smartphones, etc. all will affect the way the internet consultant interacts with the prospect.I can’t fathom how different Internet Departments will be functioning 8 years from now, but I am looking forward to it.
Technology is not just changing the customers’ car-buying processes, but making dealers reconsider the attributes they look for in a quality candidate.In regard to the Internet Department, I have found success hiring and training college graduates to handle inbound e-leads and phone calls.Having the determination and discipline to complete college seems to parlay well into handling the daily grind of internet sales.I call this monotonous multi-tasking.Anyone who has sit and handled hundreds upon hundreds of e-leads understands that finding a person with the commitment and skill set to succeed in this hectic, yet sedentary role is the real challenge.College graduates seem to adapt better since they are used to sitting in classrooms with similar work ethic.A degree is something I personally look for in a candidate.However, a determined applicant without a degree who exhibits perseverance, good business sense, and strong computer skills can still be good candidates.I want someone who can essentially learn through “internet osmosis”.Their knowledge and talent in the position will increase from simply being immersed in a successful Internet Department or BDC around their peers.
Though the oldest of individuals seem to be making their way online to shop for vehicles, the highest percentage of internet shoppers will always skew to the younger generation.Fill your Internet Department, BDC, and even showroom with this demographic and see the lines of communication open and the rapport-building flourish.
Finding the “write person” for the Internet Department is much like catching lightning in a bottle.Good candidates for this position don’t come around often.A dealer principle may have struck gold finding you, but they cannot always be relied upon to find another.I believe the best person for evaluating talent is the very same people that perform the daily duties in the department.If you are a General Manager, GSM, or Sales Manager, trust your Internet Sales Management team to determine the strongest person for the job.Quality ISMs will see the traits that make themselves successful in the right applicant.Who better to find the “perfect fit” than someone else who competently handles the very same responsibilities?
While this hiring practice may seem unconventional, it certainly is a new way to look at the evolution of the recruiting process.Be a forward-thinking dealer.Trust those that understand the technology to make the decisions regarding it. Allow successful ISMs and BDC reps to surround themselves with their own kind.We are a rare breed.
The world is continuously adapting to new technology and telecommunications.It is time for dealerships and, more importantly, their employees to do the same.
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.