Posts Tagged ‘“Dealer Knows”’

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Second Place: Steak Knives

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

“Always Be Branding” – a message from Joe Webb and Bill Playford of DealerKnows Consulting

There is a famous line spewed melodically from the lips of Alec Baldwin in the genius sales film known as GlenGarry Glen Ross that most car folks can recite. “A B C – Always Be Closing!” This was the key message that Baldwin’s character challenged the sales team with before he gave them the ultimatum. If they were the best in sales, they win… “first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody wanna see second prize? … Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third place is you’re fired.”

This has become a mantra for thousands of sales managers across the country. “A-B-C. Always Be Closing.” They preach the goal that a sale should always be front and center in your mind during every interaction. Unfortunately, this no longer is the case. Much like the movie based on David Mamet’s awesome stage play, this mantra has gotten a little older too. While Baldwin himself has stayed relevant over the years, this catchy mantra has passed its prime. So with that, DealerKnows (with the help of a young Alec Baldwin) brings you a new, more enlightened mantra. A-B-B. Always Be Branding.

A DealerKnows Mantra

"Always Be Branding" ~ DealerKnows

Imagine during your weekly rah-rah meeting, your manager presented you with a fistful of paper leads? You’d probably have to suppress laughter. The world has moved on. Finding all of the information you need to make a sensible purchase decision can be found right online. Your best leads come right from your own website, or better yet, are emailed from your previous clients. People have already made a decision to buy before they even contact you. It’s now up to you to not mess it up.

The sale is no longer only made in face-to-face meetings. Deals are not won and lost based on a handshake over a three-martini lunch. The customer isn’t making their decision based on an interaction in-store (though a great customer experience helps). No. The marketplace has shifted online and it is your branding that either influences shoppers toward you or a lack of online brand presence that will make you less relevant in their eyes.

An entire generation has grown up with brands that are not just trademarks, but interactive entities. Look no further than Red Bull. In just 25 years the company went from formulating an energy drink to owning five soccer teams, two Formula One racing teams, a record label, sponsor countless athletes, and recently spun-off a critically acclaimed marketing wing. They now sell 4.5 billion cans of Red Bull a year, nipping away at the heels of Coke and Pepsi.

A-B-B. Always Be Branding. In everything you do. In every marketing dollar spent, every entity online, every email sent, every handshake at a chamber of commerce luncheon… you no longer have to sell. You just have to brand yourself or be able to deliver a clear brand message. Make people want to BUY FROM YOU (your people, your company, your value proposition, your deliverables) based on your brand. You are what is important. Selling is now a step down the road. Branding comes first. If you don’t realize that A-B-B mantra IS the new Glengarry lead of this generation, prepare for Alec Baldwin to give you some new cutlery. Or your walking papers.

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Posted in Internet Strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »



Building Rapport is OUT!

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

The Meet and Greet.  The Needs Assessment.  Getting to know them on the test drive.  Making friends while waiting for figures from the manager.  All of these are associated with the idea that building rapport is the key to selling cars.  Well, building rapport is OUT!  It is no longer a determining factor for many customers when buying a new vehicle.

We all have countless sales stories from our retail days (those of us who’ve done retail at least) of instances where finding a common ground with customers has helped us sell them a car.  It still can go a long way in creating a more comfortable sales experience.  However, I will say it again… “building rapport” is out.

The new focus should be “Fostering Relationships”.  I know many of you are saying “splitting hairs” or “semantics”, but I don’t believe these two phrases mean the same thing.   Building rapport is looking for some mutual understanding or trying to find ways to align yourself with the individual person.  Fostering relationships involves the development of trust before the handshake, during the interaction, and long after the customer leaves the store.

Building rapport happens mostly in person and occasionally on the phone and email.  Fostering relationships is peer to peer.  It involves creating an evidence of honesty in your interactions with other customers.  It relies on developing ways to grow your relationship further.  It carries with it the idea that a relationship should develop after the sale opposed to just prior to the sale.

I will not tell you to do away with the “Where did you go to school?” or “Where do you work? questions.  I won’t ask you to cease the “How do you use your current car?” inquisitions or the “Yeah, my sister lives in that town” scenarios.

Instead, I’d like you to think of ways to engage the customer before you are engaged.  Reviews, testimonials, video bios and more are all ways to start fostering a relationship with customers before first contact.  What is the difference between building rapport in person or fostering a relationship in person?  The former is asking questions, looking for commonalities.  The latter is discussing how you will serve them and continue to earn their business long after the sale.  (Think “new owner clinic discussions” and “loyalty program talks”.)

Put a strategy into place today (whether it is in your service department, your social media calendar, your CRM follow-up, or your post-sale deliverables) that will allow you to truly foster a relationship with this customer.  In the days of multiple mediums to communicate (especially social platforms), it is more important than ever to maximize your connection with your customers.  This connection shouldn’t just be between the customer, the salesperson and their church, but instead, how your entire organization serves the church, the community, and the individual customer with your personal services.

Stop thinking that building rapport is all you need to sell a vehicle in a 2012 world.  You must foster relationships before, during and after, if you truly want to develop ongoing customer satisfaction.  Building rapport is all about completing a short-term action while fostering relationships are about implementing long-term strategies.

Rapport Building

Why the same old questions?

 

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Posted in Internet Strategy | 2 Comments »



An Internet Department Structure

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Creating a basic structure for your Internet department should be one of the simplest tasks for a dealer.  Unfortunately, too many decision-makers at dealerships attempt to get in the way of how an Internet department operates.  One primary element to a department’s evolution is determining the hierarchy of power.
In two previous blogs (Preparing To Grow Your Internet Department – Part 1 and Part 2), I’ve detailed the beginning steps to bringing aboard new talent onto your eBusiness team.  Allow me to first clarify that I understand many people in our industry are pushing for an open floor.  “Divide and distribute all leads to everyone!” they chant.  “All customers are Internet customers so all salespeople should handle leads!”  To this I say, “Not yet.”  Most dealerships didn’t initially hire their entire floor with the expectation for them to handle leads so they likely aren’t the right “breed” for the position. (This can be a later blog rant).
Why I point this out is that MOST dealers still have some form of department.  Specific people dedicated to handling (and possibly selling) the Internet leads for the store.  So if you’ve decided on a separate department for your Internet opportunities (as most dealerships have), you need your team to understand their power levels.
On the sales floor, the hierarchy is clear.
- Dealer/General Manager
- General Sales Manager
- New and Used Car Managers
- Sales floor
Most Internet departments are likely best off if they function under a structure separate from the sales floor.  (Working together is important, but not working for.)


The hierarchy is most ideal if the Sales Management and Sales team doesn’t retain power in the department.
- Dealer/General Manager
- Internet Director/eCommerce Director/Business Development Manager
- Internet Sales Manager
- Business Development Agent/Internet Sales Coordinator/Customer Contact Rep
It is my opinion that no one should be responsible to report to anyone equilaterally.  The ISM shouldn’t have to report to the Sales Managers.  BDC staff should never have to “explain themselves” to the sales consultants.  They are independent entities that work together, side by side.  Too many personal agendas get in the way when one with a “sales” and “profit” agenda controls people with an “appointment first” agenda.  One sales manager setting pricing or controlling follow-up process to make their own showroom job easier usually creates obstacles for the Internet person focused on bringing in qualified customers in the first place.

When creating your Internet department, make sure to set specific rules regarding the hierarchy in the dealership.  This will allow people to focus on their own jobs rather than how someone else should do theirs.

Internet Department Structure

Defining the roles of your Internet Department

 

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Posted in BDC/Internet Department Structure | 4 Comments »



New Blood, Bad Blood

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Not all new employees are promoted from within. Rarely have all of the sales managers at your store once been the salespeople on your floor. In other words, dealers often look outside of their own four walls and bring in a candidate from another dealership. Sometimes, though, new blood can cause bad blood. Some deserved and some not so warranted.

There are a few ways I’ve learned to avoid the cold front that occurs when a new manager is hired. One method is to get your current team bought-in and even excited about the new arrival. “How the heck do you do that?” you ask? Simple.

The first step is by involving the sales floor in the hiring of said manager. It is unlikely that your sales team is native only to your dealership. My guess is they’ve worked elsewhere and experienced other processes and people. Your sales team understands the makings of quality management material. For that reason, get them involved. If you are shopping for a sales manager (and not looking to replace someone on the floor currently), ask your top sales reps if they have worked with any great managers at other locations. Since sales managers are such valuable commodities for a store, why not try to reach for the best and snag away a competitor’s top performer? If your team feels you are valuing their opinion, they will be more open to a change at guard.

The second step is by bringing a leader from the sales floor into the interview process. Most dealerships have that one popular salesperson that can both stir up the pot, but also lead the pack. When you are interviewing candidates for executive management positions, by all means, allow the salesperson to interview them as well. If you can get buy-in from the leader on the sales floor, they will, in turn, share their approval with others and immediately generate goodwill before they ever start. One little “I like him. I think he’ll be really good.” from their lips to the ears on the showroom floor can go along way in minimizing any anxiety that occurs when a new manager begins.

If you don’t give your sales team a voice during this hiring process you are opening up the ability for them to resent the decision, thereby causing bad blood.

How else can new blood negatively infect the positive vibes on a sales floor? Allowing them to make immediate technology decisions. Any good manager measures the tools at their disposal when they come into a new store environment. However, many new managers want to immediately surround themselves with only solutions and technologies that they know. They try to create a “former dealership west” or a mirror image of the store they recently came from. Just because it was being used at their previous store doesn’t mean it was successful there. Unfortunately, some managers just like working with those tools they are most comfortable with. They bring in these vendors, not because it is the right thing for the store, but because it is most convenient for them.

When looking to change up the technology (think CRM, websites, desking), make it an organizational decision rather than a one-person, “they must know what they are talking about” situation. (Same goes for any major process overhauls they recommend.) “This is what we did over at my last store”, isn’t worth anything because all dealerships are different. If new blood brings in these wrong solutions and processes, then it will negatively affect the entire sales floor’s performance and the sales floor will blame them and you for it. Don’t allow that one person to change the direction of the ship without proper guidance from the crew. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t believe the sales team should run the roost. However, a strong, motivated crew in the showroom goes a LONG way to a store’s success and overall culture.

One last way to help create a positive relationship between new hires and current employees is to sponsor regular lunches with them. A few times a week after the new hire begins, send a small group of your employees out to dinner with them. Pick up the tab. It doesn’t hurt a dealer’s pocketbook to cover a few lunches and the time your salespeople (as well as service and parts managers) spend getting to know the new manager outside of work breeds a better working relationship. Also, your salespeople won’t get disheartened when a new floor manager starts as it means free lunch for them. It’s amazing how the little things can have such a big impact.

As ownership, it is imperative that the people you hire into your dealership adhere closely with the culture. Nonetheless, even with the right hire, there will always be hiccups and hesitation that must be overcome early on. You must do your best to ensure that the infusion of new blood into your store doesn’t cause a cancer in the rest of it. Take a few measures to involve your sales team into the process and you will see much quicker buy-in and better working relationships.

Adding a new piece to the puzzle?

 

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Posted in Leadership/Sales Management | 1 Comment »



Dealership Bugs

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Do you have bugs in your dealership? If so, DealerKnows can help exterminate these bad habits.
Starring Joe Webb, Bill Playford, Arnold Tijerina, Tim Hommer and David Hudson.
Written by Joe Webb
Directed by David Hudson

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Posted in Funny Videos, Videos | No Comments »



Address First

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

New leads pour into your CRM.  Used car leads flow in as well.  Some customers are submitting their information to get a value for their trade-in.  Others are interested in financing information.  A few ask to schedule test drives.  The majority of customers expect info about price and availability.  Before every form field there is a specific call-to-action.  Attached to every form field is a comment box.  And yet, regardless of the customer’s inquiry and the information they’ve provided above, your Internet sales manager is sending out the exact same template response every time.

 

One of Internet shoppers’ chief complaints is that dealerships don’t answer their specific questions.  Now many ISMs believe that if there was nothing written in the comment section, the consumer must have no specific questions.  This is false.  The call-to-action that brought them to the form field, and the page they were on, all carry with them questions.

 

The first thing I am advocating for is to target all of your responses based on what the customer sent in and where they sent it from.  However, you do not need to answer every question.  You are not required to be a help desk clerk, giving out endless information and meeting every customer’s whim.  While I’m all for transparency, I understand that not every single question should be answered in email.  Sure, eventually, if requested more than once, you will need to provide them either a specific answer or a very good objection as why it is most beneficial to have that answered in the store.

 

You must, though, ADDRESS every single question.  If they came in from a trade evaluator site or conversion tool, you must address the value of their trade.  If they ask what their payments are, you must address the fact that payments are important to them, and give them reasonable next-steps.  Whether the consumer asks for a simple test drive or a detailed breakdown of 10 lease scenarios, you must acknowledge their request in your correspondence.  Yes, an answer might be necessary, but always start by addressing their specific request for more information.  Addressing is the first step to prove that you are listening.

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Posted in Internet Lead Process | 3 Comments »



No More No. 2

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth goes the salesperson negotiating with the customer.  Up to the sales manager’s desk the salesperson walks and then back down to their desk they go with another price.  Another attempt.  This volley with the customer has become archaic and antiquated.  It is disliked and disgusting.  The days of penciling deals over and over must end.

No more No. 2.  No more pencils.  That strategy is done.  It’s finished.  Someone tell your sales managers.  Break into their desks and steal the pencils and multi-colored Sharpie markers.  The consumer has moved beyond this tired strategy and is ready for new days of selling!  Stop the negotiating with customers and start the educating.

It is time your sales managers and sales people end the rigmarole they’ve used for years and do away with how they’ve penciled deals.  Instead, your managers and salespeople must learn how to overcome objections and negotiate through education.  The consumers are coming in with very specific expectations and very detailed research.  Why put them through the constant back and forth?  Instead, you must utilize the online resources and data at your (and the customer’s) disposal to validate the price you charge.

Dedicate yourself to understanding what all is available to your consumers online and begin using the third-party data as evidence to defend the price you are charging.  I’m not advocating a one-price solution here.  Negotiation is still allowed and going for gross is still acceptable, but be prepared to answer the “WHY?” question when it arises with real data.

We have now entered the era of Validation Selling.  (Yes, I’m coining a new term here). We must prove the reason we price our vehicles by utilizing the data they already have.

Moreover, we must eliminate the tactic of writing down our offer on a half-blank sheet of paper with markers and pens and begin presenting our figures on a fully-printed out pricing proposal.  All figures must be entered into the CRM and printed out as if it were an official contract.  This must happen from the very first offer.  Having it printed and available in a clean format lends credence to the numbers your sales team present.  Certainly more validity than a four-square with $24,995 scribbled across it in thick blue ink.

Get on board with Validation Selling.  Throw out any previously-held beliefs that the customer still enjoys the ‘back and forth, up and down, crossed-off price here and slightly lower price penciled there’ strategies that you’ve grown accustomed to.  Educate yourself and then educate the customer with online, third-party data – or be prepared to overcome it.  You will sell more vehicles and build a quality customer sales experience at the same time.

No More No. 2
This is how to sell vehicles in 2012 and beyond.  Education over Negotiation.  DealerKnows are the Validation Selling Specialists.  Let us explain it to you.

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Monotonous Multitasking

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

What is listed under the ‘Responsibilities’ section of your Internet Manager’s job description? (Provided you’ve written them one). Monotonous multitasking may as well be. This phrase defines more about what your Internet operators do during their daily grind than any other phrase I can conjure.

When stepping foot into dealerships week after week to train new clients, I hear one of three statements from General Managers and dealer owners:
“I don’t know if I have the right people back there. “
“I don’t think they are doing the right stuff back there.”
“I have no idea what they do back there all day long.”

First off, I do find it amazing, as I pull phrases out of my head while typing, that the term “back there” pops up so often. Isn’t it time we give the BDCs and Internet staffs of our industry a more suitable, front-of-the-dealership, work environment? How many of your Internet departments and BDC’s are in the back of the bus? Oops. I’m sorry. I meant “back of the dealership”? Do you keep them back there so they can be undisturbed throughout the day and have quiet time for all their ‘monotonous multitasking’ or is it to be more ‘out of sight, out of mind’?

With that rant over, let’s look at these three scenarios.
1) You don’t know if you have the right people back there.

Who hired them? What criteria were you looking for? What was their orientation like? Have you provided them all of the training to prepare them for their position? Do you listen to their requests for new technology? Or do they maybe just want more seamless communication with your sales management team and need you to facilitate it?

All of these questions must be answered internally (or reviewed by a trained practitioner) if you truly want to know if you have the right Internet team leading the department into the future.

2) You don’t think they are doing everything they could be doing.

Quite possibly, you are right here. This is something that almost every trainer/consultant will admit after reviewing an Internet team’s process. There are cracks in every foundation. The question is, do you know where to look? Do you have a process, tool or technology that monitors your Internet team for you? Inevitably, when you do the same thing over and over and over, day in and day out, (read: monotonous multitasking), you will lose some of your focus and your passion for what you are doing. Leads can start to look less like customers and more like words on a screen with no value so ensure they are always recognizing the cost of the customer lead. Give your team all of the motivation to perform at a high level, but most importantly, TRAIN them so they understand what the right daily duties are. Then measure.

3) You don’t know what they are doing back there all day long.

Have you provided them a job description detailing their duties and your expectations of them? How do you measure them? If you are being provided reports – as is one of the chief duties that coincide with all of their monotonous multitasking – are you pleased with their performance? Do you even know what metrics they should be achieving? While it is up to them to complete their tasks competently, it is up to you inspect their performance and hold them accountable. If you need to know the metrics you should be achieving, don’t worry about industry standards at first. Just focus on improving upon your past month’s numbers. Every month.

So… what DOES your Internet team do in their room all day long? Know that the position of Internet Sales Manager/Director consists of many small duties (that are major ordeals if not done correctly) repeatedly.

• They answer the lead, but have to do it quickly.
• They must answer all of the customer’s questions, but must do it thoroughly.
• They must send out the perfect email, but must do it in a way that it gets through spam filters.
• They must answer the phones promptly while smiling, but must do it in a way that leads to an appointment while still capturing the customer’s information.
• They must respond back to customer replies, but often have to remove themselves from behind a computer to get the correct information they need.
• They must keep a vigil eye on multiple tools and CRM pages to ensure they are properly engaging every customer every time. (Leads don’t stop coming in when the store closes it’s doors.)
• They must answer questions for salespeople – as Internet managers have become the Mall Information Centers of the dealership world.
• They must solve IT problems and bugs in the system daily, even though they have no experience with IT. (Information Technology and Internet Sales are two entirely different gifts.)
• They must gather data and reports from multiple sources in a myriad of amalgamations, but they must simplify them enough so they can be graded on them.
• They must answer an unending stream of calls from vendors, though they have no final decision-making power usually.
• They must actively seek solutions to problems, vendor ticket issues, qualms, and process breaks, all while fielding calls from others in the dealership asking questions about the very same tools.
• They must complete a number of other issues.

And they must do this every day. Every time. With zero discrepancies. THAT is why the “monotonous multitasking” of your Internet team should not be overlooked as anything but the requirements of their positions. Give them credit for the balls they keep up in the air while juggling a myriad of other tasks asked of them.

Those individuals who can take on several tasks simultaneously to this extent, all while sitting in front of a computer for the majority of the day, are some of the most valuable employees you can bring into your organization. Being adept at monotonous multitasking is a true skill. It is not a problem with your team’s work or work ethic.

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Posted in Understanding Internet Sales | No Comments »



How to Catch an Internet Customer

Friday, January 20th, 2012

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

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Posted in Funny Videos, Videos | No Comments »



The No-Need Deposition

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

I was speaking to friends at a New Year’s Eve party who had recently purchased a new car. I asked about their experience. They said it was “good”… just as they had expected. They had researched the vehicle online (OEM, Edmunds, KBB and finally the dealership site) before heading into the store. Everything had gone according to plan. I asked if they left the dealership an online review and they said “Yes. Three stars.”

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.

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Posted in Leadership/Sales Management | 2 Comments »



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