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.