In this filmed Interview with Cars.com filmed in early 2008, I discuss just one of the many ways I employed video in my internet lead management process at my former dealership.
Posts Tagged ‘cars.com’
Joe Webb “On Video” with Cars.com
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009Response Received
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009Article from Dealer Advantage (Cars.com newsletter). Written by Brian Hannan after our interview on how to achieve quality, consistent responses from internet leads.
Email Tactics to Deliver the Customer Replies You Want
Ever wondered why those carefully crafted emails sit unanswered in prospects’ inboxes? So has Joe Webb, and he has a theory.
“Customers over-educate themselves and start going crazy,” says Webb, president and consultant for DealerKnows LLC. “I’ve had a customer break into tears because he had contacted and received quotes from 83 Toyota dealerships. It was the worst car-buying experience he ever had.”
Although sympathetic, Webb recognized the shopper’s plight as opportunity to help the dealership where he worked at the time. He knew he couldn’t buck the trend of car buyers researching online; he needed to set his store apart, in consumers’ minds, from any competitor.
“You have to contact them at the right time, quickly, with the right information in a conversational-style format,” Webb says. To shed some light on the process he developed, Webb shared three tips to help your email cut through the clutter and get the response you want.
1. Ask questions. Many salespeople do most things right,” Webb says. “What they don’t do is try to build rapport with the customers anymore. They try to answer their questions like a clerk as opposed to trying to build up rapport and strike up some kind of conversation.”
An effective response to shoppers’ inquiries does that, he explains, through a needs assessment. The questions can lead to yes-or-no answers, so long as they keep you in communication with the buyer. For example, you might ask:
- Who’s going to be using the car?
- Have you had an opportunity to have your trade appraised?
- Since there are new incentives available from the manufacturer, would you like any information regarding lease or finance rates?
In a given market, Webb estimates this strategy is overlooked by most sales professionals – even the top performers. “Maybe one out of 10 will ask questions that a customer will want to give information back for,” he says. “Any question that a customer wants to answer can help you get a dialogue going. They want to hear that you are trying to, through asking questions, offer them even more information. As soon as a person thinks that you’re going above and beyond for them, you’ve usually built a relationship.”
2. Do what you say you’ll do. With your initial email, Webb recommends laying out for the customer your sales process – and then following it to a “T.” He suggests including an offer – one you intend to keep – to call shoppers in a half hour so you can review their request and answer any questions.
“A lot of people will email back or call you just to prevent that call from happening,” Webb says.
3. Be creative. Rather than simply adopting other dealers’ proven tactics, Webb recommends adding something new that makes it your own. Among the techniques he developed:
- Be the last autoresponse. While competing stores focused on an instant response, Webb realized a fast one would be more effective. Knowing that most people read their email from the top down (i.e., they begin with the most recently received), he configured his replies to go out five minutes after his nearest competitors.
- Craft a clever autoresponse. For business hours, Webb wrote messages that began with a casual hello, included a commitment to provide the requested information and closed with questions (e.g., What color would you not consider? Is a test drive important to you?). The clincher? He appended “Sent Via Blackberry by AT&T” to each of his replies, five words that drove his response rates to upward of 50 percent.
“I want somebody to think that I’m busy enough, walking the lot,” Webb says, “but that I care enough to get right back with them. It isn’t framed as an autoresponse, but a personal contact.”
- Recruit the car. Looking for help from your satisfied customers to help drive referral business? Instead of directly asking them to connect you with their friends, family and colleagues, Webb suggests a more subtle approach. On the first anniversary of a sale, he sent buyers a thank you email from the vehicle they purchased, as if their vehicle was the thankful party. Very often, the messages were forwarded to the desired audience because the recipient thought they were cute.
“Since I don’t have hands, just tires, I needed the nice internet guy down at Arlington Toyota Scion to help type this,” the message concluded. “He told me if you are thinking of getting me any brothers or sisters to spend time with in the garage or outside in the driveway, you can rescue them right from his lot.”
Are you following this advice and still coming up empty-handed? Kathy Kimmel, a Cars.com manager of automotive consulting and dealer training, recommends that you mystery-shop your store. You may be surprised to learn the problem stems from how a message is delivered to shopper’s inbox. If your lead management and customer relationship management systems aren’t communicating, even your best efforts will fail to impress.
“‘Dear [Customer Name]‘ may seem like a simple problem of a template field not being populated, but it tells prospects to stop reading and move on to the next dealer’s response,” Kimmel says. “Although we often rely on these automated tools to do our jobs, we must stay in control of the sales process. Shoppers buy from people they recognize as professional and believe have a personal interest in helping them.”
ECommerce Uses for Old School Tactics
Friday, May 15th, 2009I believe I am fortunate for having spent time in dealerships that were littered with “characters” and old-school, stereotypical car sales folks. It definitely opened my eyes to the full-spectrum of sales strategies employed by others and also taught me how negative perceptions of our industry were created. That being said, having seen and been taught some of these tricks has allowed me to expand my repertoire for online tactics. The oldest, meanest of car sales tricks have some useful applications within the internet sales realm, good and bad.
Disclaimer: The views, tricks, observations, and opinions in this article are mine and should not necessarily reflect the official policies and beliefs of this magazine. (I don’t want anyone else to get in trouble but me.)
Up Systems
- Old school: Rules of most dealerships were set. The first salesperson in the dealership every morning took the first customer. The order you came in was the order you took your dealership’s ups. A simple round robin system was employed after that. If you were the fourth salesperson to walk in that day and there were only three customers, you didn’t speak to anyone.
- New school: Internet leads should be set round robin as well, but dealers should use the CRMs that allow an automatic transfer of a lead if it hasn’t been answered within a specific time. That way, the e-prospect is answered quicker by someone available rather than waiting on the ISM they were originally assigned to. It is no longer about fairness for the sales crew, but what is convenient for the prospect.
The Bait and Switch
- Old school: Advertise your cheapest, stripped down, bare-bones new car for an amazingly lowball price (or your rattiest beater on your used lot) to lure customers into the dealership and, once they see how miserable that particular offering is, you switch them into another vehicle.
- New school: A similar, but acceptable bait and switch tactic you can employ online is by offering the prospect several different options of vehicles – with one being “models start as low as”. It may be misrepresenting what the customer actually wants, but since it is just one option you provide out of many, it is allowed. While they still have the price of the vehicle they inquired about, it is the lower number that will stick in their head.
Playing Keepaway
- Old school: When a showroom customer wanted to leave before the purchase because they were unhappy with the figures/numbers, the salesperson would say they’ve misplaced their keys. This would keep the customer there and allow for more time to make the deal. If the used car manager was approached, they would appear scattershot and act as if they were looking for the keys (that they had in their pocket.)
- New school: In today’s market, ISMs mistakenly attempt to keep information away from customers, hoping that their interest in the vehicle will outweigh their displeasure with the lack of transparency. This is still an unrealistic tactic with dangerous implications. There is no way to play “keepaway” with information regarding an internet customer and come out unscathed.
The Evil ‘attaboy
- Old school: Salespeople used to offer gifts (oil changes, tube of touch-up paint) if their customers would bring their CSI surveys back into the store after the sale. This way, the dealer’s staff could fill it out for them and pump up their numbers.
- New school: Since coaching is forbidden and you cannot directly tell a customer how to fill out their survey, new tactics have been invented. (I invented this, actually, so I don’t believe it is widely used by any means.) This occurs after a deal is completed, while the customer is speaking to his/her sales rep and waiting to enter finance. Have a manager walk over and speak to the salesperson directly. “Hey John, you just got in another survey – all excellent – 100% across the board again. Great job. Keep it up.” It doesn’t even have to be true, but since it is said to the salesperson and not the customer (but within earshot), my belief is it passes the “coaching” rules. (I never asked an OEM so I am out on a limb here.) The benefit is that a customer sees what a positive survey can do for a rep and also likes to be involved with a dealership that promotes positive reinforcement.
The Columbo
- Old school: Just when a customer was walking away because they couldn’t agree on numbers with management , the manager would pull a “Columbo” and remember one more trick to try or question to ask. Often, they’d make the salesperson run out and knock on the customer’s window as they were about to drive away to give it their one last shot.
- New school: The Columbo can be used effectively in two different ways within the internet lead process. The first way, and most simple to create, is the use of a pop-under coupon/certificate. After a customer has visited your site and they are closing out of their browsers, there is just one more little attempt for you to lure them back. Whether it is an additional discount toward a vehicle or a promotion to receive something free for inputting their information, it is one more way to grab them.
The second way a Columbo is effectively deployed is by having an email message(preferably a video message) from the owner/GM with a personal touch. It should let the customer know that the primary decision-maker in the place understands they submitted a lead a little while back. Not only does the message offer to answer any newly discovered questions, but it should offer a specific value just for mentioning that particular video. It makes the customer feel that they have a connection directly to the top.
The Ladder
- Old school: As a customer agrees to a deal, the salesperson is told by the manager to put them on the ladder. The salesperson then has to go back and apologize that they forgot about an extra feature/accessory on the car and it will cost the customer a couple hundred more. The customers usually relent. Then, later, they say they’ve reviewed their credit and it won’t be the payment they expected because the higher rate raises the monthly expense another $20 or so a month. Each time you speak to them, you put them on the proverbial “ladder” taking them higher and higher.
- New school: This also is used two ways in Internet sales, but I don’t approve of either. One way to put an internet customer on the ladder is by sending them a quote on the vehicle they desired, minus one option – or telling them their vehicle is in stock, but not telling them your in-stock model also has a sunroof for instance. You get them in and hope to sell them on the feature, putting them on the ladder. The other way to put a customer on the ladder is by saying “plus fees”. The customer expects the fees to just be taxes, but is asked just prior to signing “how do you want to come up with the destination fee/internet negotiation fee/etc”. They’ve spent time with you and are invested in the sale and the car. They will usually pay a portion of the fee – bringing in more profit on the deal. Either of these tactics will give your dealership a bad reputation in my opinion.
The Time Bomb
- Old school: When a customer is about to leave before purchasing a specific car, the salesperson tells them it will not be available if they walk out. Whether it is a Today Only Price or that another customer is coming to pick it up or that it is being transferred to a “sister store”, it won’t be here when they get back. It attempts to force a decision.
- New school: When emailing a prospect an internet price, ISMs can attach a statement saying that the internet pricing changes every month and offers the prospect a “good until date”. Then, toward month’s end, it gives the ISM the ability to call/email and ask if they haven’t yet purchased, would they like a new, updated quote when the pricing changes. The same can be done for incentives. This is a tactic to have a specific reason for the dealer’s follow up with the e-lead.
Even with the industry turning online, there are still lessons to be learned from our predecessors. Whether right or wrong, these old school tactics do have new applications in today’s online market. The newest performers in our dealerships can still benefit by having a few tricks up their sleeves.
Lights, Camera, Sold: Leverage Online Video to Desk More Deals
Thursday, May 14th, 2009http://dealeradvantage.cars.com/da/2009/05/lights-camera-sold/ – This is the link to the article written about…
Lights, Camera, Sold: Leverage Online Video to Desk More Deals
The above link is to a Cars.com webex webinar presentation I participated in regarding video marketing to increase dealer and brand awareness. Hosted by Ralph Ebersole with myself as a panelist along with Rob Fontano of John Marazzi Nissan in Naples Florida. The applications for videos in a dealer setting is endless. How you dedicate yourselves to the video experiments will determine how you shine online.
Check it out.