Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

It’s Good to Do the “Get Around”

Monday, August 16th, 2010

One reason study abroad programs are so popular for today’s youth is that it opens one’s eyes up to new experiences and cultures.  Very often, some of our fondest memories in life stem from vacations we’ve taken.  Travel we’ve made.  It’s expanded our thinking and changed our beliefs about how we fit into our world.  Very few things can have as profound an impact as going from place to place.  Getting around.

Each one of our dealerships are their own separate little planet.  As you move from department to department, you pick up life experiences.  Each different department has its own language, its own lifestyle, its own pulse, its own personality.  As it is with most successful GM’s and owners, the more understanding they have about the functions and functionality of each department, the more well-rounded they become in their thinking.  However, to get to know the departments, it takes a little travel. 

Since we are always grooming each individual in our store to be better, it is imperative that you give employees the opportunity to experience life in other departments, if only for a day.  Make it a requirement.  All new hire orientation programs, regardless of the department for which you hired, should insist each candidate spends time in the dealership’s other departments.  Allow your employees (new and current) to witness what it takes to perform the daily duties required of their coworkers from other departments. 

Dedicate one spokesperson (Department Liason) from each department (Sales, Service, Body Shop, Aftermarket, Marketing, Internet, Management, Finance, Parts) and create an internal ‘Study Abroad’ programs where they can see what goes on behind the curtain.  And for dedicating some of their valuable time to the greater good, the Department Liaisons that are taking the shadows under their wing can be promised the first look when a promotion/opportunity comes up in their department.

Not only does it help build organizational rapport, but it gives your employees the chance to see all the work that goes into operating the whole rather than just the section.  If you do right, you hire everyone with the hopes of them being the General Manager of the future.  If this is true, then you must let them travel throughout the other departments  even if just for a few hours a month or a day a quarter.  The understanding of the dealership on an organizational level will be a true benefit to every employee.

You don’t have to distract them from their focus… just let them see through someone else’s eyes.  Their area of concentration will always be their own department, but if you are an employee looking to grow, or a dealer looking to have your employees love the dealership as much as they love their team, then it’s good to do the ‘Get Around’.

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DealerKnows Consulting Introduces Automotive eCommerce Expert Bill Playford as Vice President

Thursday, June 24th, 2010
DealerKnows Consulting, an Automotive Internet Sales Training firm, officially announced eCommerce expert, Bill Playford, as their new Vice President today.

Joe Webb, President and Founder of DealerKnows Consulting said “I couldn’t be more pleased to have someone of Bill’s caliber and reputation join my DealerKnows team. He brings a level of in-the-trenches know-how that is often unmatched in most automotive digital marketing professionals and he is one of the few that is as passionate about this industry as I am.” 

Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting

Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting

Playford continues, “Joe Webb and I have known each other for several years and fast became friends. We share a deep-seeded desire to change the way vehicles are bought and sold. We understand that people buy cars from people. We also know that with practice and dedication, the car business cannot only be financially rewarding, but also a way to create friends (and clients) for life. These shared philosophies, coupled with our experience with dealers and vendors, will allow us to continue to offer world-class consulting to our dealer clients.”

Bill brings a decidedly different skill set to the DealerKnows team. While spending the last three years working for Trilogy, Bill played an instrumental role in launching three new retail solutions for the domestic and international market. He adds a depth of knowledge of vendor technology, and its effective implementation at the dealer level. Moreover, he brings the experience of working for one of the most successful privately owned technology companies in the world.

Having recently served as Director of Retail Operations for Trilogy’s SmartLeads program, Bill brings intimate knowledge of lead acquisition, lead quality, lead scoring, and lead segmentation. In the process of adding nearly 150 dealers and over 350 franchises to beta test Trilogy’s lead scoring and lead prioritization software, Bill helped dealers develop successful ways to efficiently acquire and convert third party leads. His efforts were reflected in OEM and dealer group adoption of the SmartLeads lead purchasing program.

As the Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting, Bill will be dedicating his time to the Virtual Dealer Training program recently launched by the company’s founder, Joe Webb. “I couldn’t be more excited to have Bill Playford take the reigns of an already successful program like our Virtual Dealer Training. Clients on our Virtual Dealer Training program have been seeing huge jumps in their online business and Bill’s involvement will only help us grow our virtual offerings and assist more dealerships.” Webb says.

“Throughout my career in the car business, I’ve come to grasp that training (or lack there of) is the root cause of many issues that plague both car dealerships and customers, alike. Many new retail hires lack the perspective and understanding that it takes to experience success. Workload, turnover, management shuffles, and egos tend to impede training from within. Expense, consistency, and timing tend to preclude training from outside. Hiring an “expert” to run the operation is often cost prohibitive, or just not practical. The end result is that training is viewed as a good idea, but too hard to coordinate, and thus put on the shelf. “Playford states.

“Since cloning is not yet a convenient solution,” he continues,” virtual training provides the means to train retail staff conveniently, and cost effectively. A dealer doesn’t know what’s going happen in the eight weeks after they book a consultant, and when the consultant shows up. Incentives change randomly, which can radically affect staff availability. Consultants typically aren’t local, and they surely don’t come for free. Hiring an experienced Internet director can be extremely expensive, and may yield mixed results. Virtual training provides the means to get a dealer’s staff on track, and keep them there- all at an incremental cost. With the DealerKnows training program and client base already in place, this allows us the opportunity as a team to continue carrying the torch toward a more progressive way to virtually educate and consult dealers.”

Prior to joining the SmartLeads team, Playford spent six years developing “click to buy” initiatives, catering to car buyers who are no longer interested in purchasing vehicles the traditional way. Over the course of eighteen months Bill’s team at Trilogy developed and launched a web buying service for the nation’s largest publicly traded auto-group, as well as the developed of a web specific, OEM backed, buying service for the international market.

Like the rest of the DealerKnows team, Bill also brings front line experience to the table. Bill spent four years at one of the first Internet dealers in the country. Building on what he learned from the best, Bill was among the first to launch an analytics program to ensure his dealer was delivering the right message to the right customer. His research directly led to the creation of association-specific buying programs, neighborhood level marketing programs, as well as cost saving lead optimization strategies. His pioneering geographic and demographic specific targeting methodology was also noticed by KBB, where he served on its inaugural Dealer Advisory Panel.

Bill is extremely passionate about automotive ecommerce and says his goal is to share his sales, marketing, and product development skills to help dealers sell more cars, and add customers for life.”I’m truly excited to be joining the DealerKnows team.” Playford states. “Having spent the last few years developing technology, I’ve come to the realization that even the best technology cannot reach its full potential if it is not being used properly. After much careful consideration, I decided I to rededicate myself to helping people sell cars.”

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Response Received

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Article 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.”

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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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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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Digital Dealer Conference Las Vegas General Session

Friday, April 24th, 2009


General session given by myself (Joe Webb), Gilbert Chavez, and Kim Clouse titled “Please, God…What Does It Take to Sell a Car?”. Filmed at the Mirage Hotel and Casino for spring conference – Digital Dealer Conference 6.

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