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Joe Webb’s Proper Car Etiquette While Dating

Friday, June 19th, 2009
To tell you the truth, I knew almost nothing about cars before entering the auto industry. Zero. Zilch. I’m not ashamed to say it. I was selling cars for three weeks before someone explained to me (and showed me) the difference between alloy wheels and hubcaps. True story.What I did always seem to know was how important a role that proper car etiquette played in dating. There are definitely “rules of the road” that a person in the dating world must take into consideration when attempting to make an impression on that certain special someone. I thought it would be fun to list some of the proven (and chivalrous) right ways to use your vehicle on a date as well as a few of the wrong ways. The Do’s and the Don’ts, if you will.

If you have your own practices, whether they are generational or age-related, regional in nature, or gender-specific, please add them. I thought this would be a fun, entertaining, and comical way to remind us the many ways cars shape and affect our lives – away from just the sales and service of them.

Do: Park your vehicle’s passenger side closest to the front door if possible when arriving at your date’s home.

Don’t: Park your vehicle out of sight from the home. When walking back to the vehicle, it makes them feel as if you are leading them to certain doom.

Do: Walk up to the date’s home to meet them.

Don’t: Lay on the horn repeatedly until your date hurries out of the home.

Do: Open up the passenger door for your date.

Don’t: Stand back 10 feet and watch as they get in the car by themselves, all the while creepily biting your bottom lip.

Do: Walk around the back of the vehicle to the driver’s door after closing your date’s door.

Don’t: Walk around the front of the car so your date can hear you mentally psyching yourself up for the night. (Pointing at your own face “Don’t screw this up! Don’t screw it up, you stupid S.O.B.”

Addendum: In days before power locks, it was only proper for the date to lean across and unlock the driver’s door for them.

Do: Have your radio turned off when you start the vehicle. If you know your date’s music genre of choice, a low volume radio station (not a CD – looks planned) can be turned on.

Don’t: Have speakers blasting hardcore gangsta rap, raucous heavy metal, or boy band music. It will either turn off your date or frighten the crap out of their parents still inside the home when they hear you blaring Eazy E’s song Hit the Hooker.

Do: Ask if the date is comfortable and adjust the air/heat to their liking.

Don’t: Demand that YOU put on their seatbelt for them and make animal noises as you drag the belt across them.

Do: Drive at a reasonable rate of speed and obey traffic signals.

Don’t: Drive recklessly and be overcome with road rage by cursing other drivers with sayings such as “I hope your BMW strikes a median and your family is engulfed in a ball of flames!” or “This funeral procession is the bane of my existence. Who do they think they are?! It’s not like the person in the hearse is in a hurry.”

Do: Make casual conversation.

Don’t: Talk about your car like it is a person. “She’s got an Orion subwoofer in the back. I give her bathes thrice weekly.”
And don’t speak about lascivious areas of your car – “Check out how big that back seat is.” “Hey, you ever see the inside of a trunk before?”

Do: Consider taking your date to a drive-in. They are still magical places.

Don’t: Drive to a completely deserted part of town and educate your date “This is where my uncle used to bring me when I was young. He should be getting out soon.” (then shiver).

Do: Wait until your date enters their home before you drive off. Make sure they get in safe. You don’t want them stuck outside. (If walking them to the front door is not necessary).

Don’t: Slam the door shut behind them and peel off dangerously down the road while screaming “Back to the motel room so I can get my drink on!”

These are just a few vehicle tips on how to handle yourself when on a date. I’m well past the age (or need) of dating so I’d like to hear from those others who are willing to share similar advice, as well as from those young single folk out there who have more up-to-date experiences.

Just another Joe Webb “car guy” creation.

 

 

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The Importance of Approachability Online

Monday, June 8th, 2009

The more people that peruse the online thoroughfare for vehicle information, the more dealerships have to go out of their way to be, not only found, but approachable. Dealers must dedicate themselves to being “Open For Business Online”.

A website and some nice organic listings will not be enough anymore. What is most important is that the customer finds access to information about your dealership easily. From the homepage of a dealership website, shoppers should be invited in and welcomed. Simple navigation toolbars must lead the customers down the path to information enlightenment. Moreover, dealerships should take into consideration what their customers are looking for on their site opposed to simply what they want to sell the customers. A homepage that looks like an advertisement in a paper is a put off to internet customers that are only on your site to accomplish an objective. Steering them away from information they seek with the use of pop-ups and big flashing pictures of an in-stock pre-owned special will only get people turning away from the site. A clean, inviting homepage is a priority.

How do you find out what your customers are looking for when surfing your site? Ask them while they are in your store. Majority of sold customers have taken a peek at your website. Before they enter the business office, politely ask them what attracted them to your website and what they were hoping to find on it. A brief survey can assist dealers in determining some basic “best practices” for website design.

How else can a dealership be approachable online? Make sure pictures/videos or your showroom, location, and most importantly, staff is prominently posted. At my former dealership, the positive responses we’d received from in-store customer that looked online were endless. So many of these customers mentioned our detailed Staff page that was filled with family photos and personal information, it put customers at ease with the sales crew they’d be working alongside. Considering we always amped up the individuals in our dealership, the immediate rapport building available through this was significant. You’d often hear a customer walk in and ask for someone they had never met or talked to by name simply because they shared a mutual hobby learned from this portion of the website.

When customers find they share common interests with their salesperson or dealership, just like inside the showroom, it leads to a more personal relationship. The very same goes for customers that choose dealers through word of mouth. If a dealer is spoken highly of by someone’s peer, they feel much more open to approach the dealership. Dealers can make themselves more approachable online through the use of customer testimonials (video or written) by having a page dedicated to it on their own website as well as contributing and monitoring these reputation management sites such as DealerRater, CarFolks, Yelp, or Judy’s Book.

Much like these sites above, there are a plethora of social media sites available to dealers that allow them to leave their own site and travel out into the world wide web, approaching customers on their own turf. Dealership competition is taking advanced steps to reaching potential customers (and previously sold clientele) in different networking arenas such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Blog Forums, etc. Consumers feel fairly protected in these social networking platforms so it is rare for them to feel as if they are being “sold to” in this virtual world (above and beyond the never-ending pleas to join Mafia Wars or the like :) . To approach these customers in these landscapes allows you to become a part of their trusted online community and develop a relationship based on the use of the very sites.

As you can see, there are many avenues that customers drive down when looking for a dealership. A dealership can represent themselves as approachable by building virtual roads on these platforms. This allows the customer to find the information they desire at their own convenience, on their own terms, in the security of their own homes, and choose the dealer that has positioned themselves as the most “Open For Business”.

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How to Choose the Best Vendor for You

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Here is my most recent Tip of the Week for AutoDealersBiz.com. These are some industry-best questions to ask when interviewing vendor candidates.

The “best vendor” phrase is completely subjective because every dealer has different needs. The best vendor, if there is such a thing, may not be the right vendor for your dealership.

However, interviewing and selecting the vendor that will help you achieve your goals is a science that dealers must master. At my former dealership, every single vendor with something to sell would have to go through me first.  I know that once the vendors met me, they weren’t happy with that structure because I understood how to properly interrogate them. Here is a li
 
 

 

 

st of some of the most important questions a dealer can ask to ensure they are dealing with a reputable company willing to meet the dealership’s needs more than their own.• How many dealers do you have nationwide?
• What local dealers use your solution?
• Do you feel another local dealer using you would have an adverse affect on the success (or effectiveness) of your solution/leads?
• Do you sell leads to my competition? (lead provider only)
• Where do you receive your leads from? In-house or external? Sites? (lead provider only)
• What are your terms? (Never agree to an auto-renew)
• Will you accept a month-to-month with 30 day notice of cancellation windows
• Will you promise in writing a “Guaranteed low price for market”? If another dealer signs with them at a lower price, they must adjust your monthly cost to match.
• What is the pricing? Look at hard cost (monthly fee x length of service + set up fees + training and support = $XXX product)
• Will you show a screenshot of your product? (Do not accept a power point or walk-through).
• Can I go see it live at another dealer?
• What are the set-up fees and support hours?
• How easy is it to change in the back-end? (Imperative for websites and online inventory management tools).
• Can I see a copy of the contract ahead of time and review it with our legal team? (Even if you don’t have a legal team).
• What type of initial and on-going training do you offer to ensure the success of your solution in my store?

Joe’s Favorite questions and talking points
• Tell me three things you wish your solution (lead provider/CRM/website/tool) offered.
• Which of your competitors’ solutions would you most like to sell? Why? – This is always hard for them to answer.
• Who’s considered the best in the industry? 99 out of 100 times, they will tell you they are. Bite your lip when you can’t believe the gall of them because your next question is…
• Who’s second best? –(my favorite question) I found my CRM by asking 10 other CRM companies this question. Eight said the same name. That’s who I went with.
• Tell me three things you like about your main competitor.
• Other than dealers that go out of business, why are you most commonly dropped as a solution?
By asking the right questions, you are preparing yourself for a long relationship with this vendor. I have several more, but these are the basics. Start out on the right foot by understanding their operations and knowing their faults. You will have to work just as hard as they are to improve your performance, regardless of the solution. It takes two to tango. A little interrogation from the outset goes a long way to making the choice of “best vendor”.

 

 

 
This weeks Tip is from Joe Webb of DealerKnows
 

 

 

 

This weeks Tip is from Joe Webb of DealerKnows
 
 

 

 

 

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How to Retain Customers by Creating Your Own Social Network

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Every 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.)

8) 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.

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ECommerce Uses for Old School Tactics

Friday, May 15th, 2009

I 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.

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Digital Dealer 6 Conference – Las Vegas – general session

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Video excerpt of general session during sixth Digital Dealer conference in Las Vegas. Presented by Joe Webb, Kim Clouse, and Gilbert A Chavez at the Mirage Hotel and Casino for spring conference.

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Location, Location, Location

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Location is considered king in the world of real estate. If you feel the auto industry is tough, try real estate. My wife is a realtor, but unlike others, she is thriving because she understands the need to market homes digitally and through several online portals. (You wonder who gave her those ideas?) In the dealership realm, surprisingly, location is also key. However, It is not where your dealership is located that matters most, but the location of your digital advertising.

Those of you reading Digital Dealer magazine are already on the path of online profitability. Those of you taking workshops, seminars, webinars, and attending conferences are achieving significant Internet sales. Those of you staying abreast of market trends, new technological solutions, and your own internal metrics are taking the right steps. All dealers have web sites. They have their inventory listed online. Most are dedicating budgets to third-party leads, SEO, SEM, and other digital marketing tactics. These dealers have taken the next step in becoming more than a dealership with an Internet department, but an Internet dealer. The problem arises when dealers are dedicating their budgets to online initiatives everywhere. Vendors can provide one good reason to be advertising on their site, but online saturation in this market is an impossibility.

Digital display ads are the most common form of online advertising. You find these as banner ads, skyscraper ads, leaderboards, and those aggravating pop-up boxes. These can contain text, graphic images, interactive material, or multi-media rich content. These online ads are very similar to any other newspaper or billboard ad, except a digital ad’s effectiveness can be tracked. You cannot click on a billboard. That form of advertising is simply for brand/dealer recognition. However, dealers don’t need location/brand recognition unless they are a new dealership or have recently relocated. If you’ve been in the same location for 25 years, you don’t need dealer awareness. In today’s market, you need to be present and available to shoppers while they are on the Internet researching, regardless of their place in the sales funnel. The primary goal of a digital ad, as we know, is to get the attention of online visitors and have them click onto your ad thereby linking them to your web site. Obviously, these online ads can deliver traffic to your site. Much like a realtor placing an “Open House” sign at an intersection, pointing you in the direction of the home, the digital ad offers the “driver” the same opportunity. Those who are prompted by the sign to visit the open house/web site would be considered a “click-through.” There is no use for a realtor, or for a dealer owner, to post a sign advertising a location unless the end result drives someone to see you.

Dealers must tighten the notches on their budgetary belts and realize they cannot be everywhere. Take a close look at your digital ads and determine if they are getting the impressions and the click-throughs for the money. It takes a little, simple math.

For example, at my former dealership, we briefly ran skyscraper ads running on the web site of a local radio station. Impressions were enormous, but the click rate was minimal. Considering it was not an industry-related site, I shouldn’t have expectations that the web visitors clicking to the web site were very far down the sales funnel. If you receive 100 clicks on your ad and your web site converts, say, 5 percent of every visitor to a lead, you can expect to receive five leads. If your dealership has a good closing ratio of your own web site leads, call it 20 percent, anticipate to realistically sell one car. Continue to drill. Does your average gross profit from one Internet sale equal the cost of your digital ad on a site? If you aren’t seeing the return on investment, rethink the need to be on the site. Is it a good location? “Breaking even” doesn’t pay the bills. You may want to pack up and set up your digital shop elsewhere.

Many use their gut instincts when determining where to have the ads placed online, while others use logic. I contacted my ad exec-extraordinaire for my former dealer and asked her the first step in deciding where to place a dealership’s digital advertising. Beth Hoover, account manager for Pinnacle Advertising and Marketing, said, “Advertising web banners on specific sites, based on behavioral targeting or something as broad as visitor demographics is our first recommendation. During and at the close of each campaign, reviewing click throughs and impressions can help determine the ROI. Is it really worth it? I believe the success of any campaign requires many components, including the creative, the idea behind the creative, banner placement (leaderboard, skyscrapers, etc.), number of visitors clicking on the site, time spent on the site, the question “are you there when the customer is looking?” and lastly, common sense. In other words, if you own a Lexus dealership, posting web banners on the local watering hole might not be the best way to spend your dough.”

Beth touched on behavioral targeting and visitor demographics that are becoming more of a focus now more than ever. An ad’s location is becoming a science. The top Internet marketers and advertising agencies are taking their responsibilities seriously by geo-targeting (delivering different digital content based on the geographical location/cultural market) the dealer’s potential customer base. It is essentially niche-marketing based on specific geo-locations of your anticipated customer base. The understanding of that location, not just of the digital advertising campaigns, but of the online shoppers as well, is imperative.

When it is time to review your ad budgets and allocate new or existing dollars to different opportunities, realize that the location of your digital ads will predicate the success of the ad dollars. Simple math determines the ROI. If a site wants your advertisements, but the ad’s success on the site cannot be tracked, only justified, don’t move into their neighborhood. You won’t be happy living there. Instead, do some research on that area that is best for you. Make sure you are going to like your neighbors and the home will fit your financial needs. Unlike most real estate ventures of late, buying land on a web site should show dealers a quick profit. So focus your efforts on the three most important aspects to your digital advertising. Location, location, location.

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Who is Selling Whom?

Friday, March 6th, 2009

We 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.

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On a Test Drive – “For the wife”

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Several 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

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Snake Oil Online?

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

With so many vendors available to your dealership, it becomes difficult separating the worthy from the not-so-worthy.What vendor is right for you during these trying times is one of the more difficult questions to ask. Some dealerships are even creating Vendor Relations Manager positions just to have one person dedicated to fielding endless calls, sitting through sales pitches and managing the plethora of companies pounding on your dealer door.Someone must determine what, actually, is worth your time?

For those of you who know me or have read my columns, you know that in my articles I share my own experiences, opinions, musings and struggles.What I write is never meant to be an indictment on any one individual or service, just my own perspective.(With a preface like this to an article, I know many of you are saying “Uh-oh…who is he going to tick off?”That’s not the case.)I just want people to remain focused on their own interests and not let the interests of others affect their own judgment.This is near an impossible feat in the world of vehicle sales, but I’ll type on.

Many of us are attending NADA in New Orleans this month. We’ve visited the recent Digital Dealer Conferences and walked through the vast exhibit halls.The NADA Convention, much like the DD conference, is filled to the brim with worthy programs, services, and products trying to earn your business.All of these vendors can add one new dimension, for the most part, to your sales or fixed ops needs.However, I ask again, what is worth your time?

At my previous dealer, I fielded the incoming calls from all new sales vendors looking to promote their wares.I’d sit through countless presentations of their services and create my own analyses that I’d share with the owner and general management.Over the past few years, the amount of internet-focused programs seems to have tripled, as have the calls and showroom visits from their representatives.With the internet-based programs, though, many seem to be targeting such a small segment of your business that, while the service may yield more sales, the overall impact is minimal.

When I would meet with a vendor representative, I would always ask how many sales they would expect us to generate from adding their service.On several occasions, the reps’ answers to this question were “Even if you sell three cars, the program pays for itself.”I despise this answer.I believe every vendor’s program is, at the very least, valuable enough to sell three cars.Selling three more cars, though, is not a dealer’s goal.Three more cars sold in this economic climate will not make or break a dealer.Dealerships should focus on forming partnerships with vendors that will sell them thirty (not three) additional vehicles.I equate those representatives whose intent is to sell in their product for the promise of three sales to new-age snake oil salesmen. (Pardon the gender-specific title).

There are programs out there that can help your dealership move 30 or more vehicles a month.

  • Forward-thinking website providers
  • Proven SEO/SEM companies
  • State-of-the-art CRM solutions
  • Customer retention programs
  • Inventory listing sites
  • Big-name lead providers
  • And lead scoring companies (to name a few).

These types of online services can play a significant role in your store’s survival.The other online vendors offer amazing tools that will help you shift your dealership’s culture online as well, but likely wouldn’t have the same influence on sales as the others.Let’s face it.Dealers are cutting back their spending.Even the dealerships leading the game know they cannot be involved with every opportunity.We must evaluate what vendors we will succeed with and are whether we are willing to back the vendors we choose with our own optimal effort.(It is a two-way street).As a dealer, you must work for your vendor as much as they work for you.As a vendor, you must ensure your product is capable of delivering great successes consistently for clients.If your product, program, or service is hit or miss in its success rate, it may be time to go back to the drawing board and develop an initiative that all dealers covet.Easier said than done, I’m sure, but belief in your product is not always enough.

So when walking through the exhibit halls at the NADA Convention (or any other conference for that matter), keep in mind that your goal should be to find a vendor willing to help you grow your business by leaps and bounds – not baby steps.Don’t be marveled by the miracle medicine being pitched.Be pragmatic.While online initiatives remain the way to go in today’s marketplace, realize they don’t all cure what ails you.

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