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Sean V. Bradley is Training a HIGH LEVEL Automotive Internet Sales / BDC Director on "How to Identify LOST Opportunities" and how to EVOLVE her Employees

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

Fire Your Internet Sales Manager

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

I know I am going to get a lot of heat on this article, but it has to be said. I have worked with thousands of dealerships over the years and there have been numerous reasons given for mediocrity, and even failure. In the beginning of automotive Internet sales in the late 1990s, it was a novelty and an incremental business, but most dealerships were not able to truly harness it and make it a major profit center. However, over the years and through evolution of the automotive sales industry, and the country as a whole, there has been a lot of change — change in how people are researching, shopping, making decisions and ultimately buying a vehicle. There has even been change inside our industry by dealer principals, GMs and sales consultants. It seems that dealers are getting it. They understand that Internet sales, business development, digital marketing, and social media are all important.

What I am seeing now is a scary pattern emerging. A lot of dealerships are not maximizing on opportunities right in front of them because they do not have the right person in place. The Internet sales manager or BDC director that they have in place is the wrong person for the position, and they are hurting the dealership! Here are some problems I’ve seen at dealerships:

•  A computer geek in the position who is not an automotive professional. There is nothing wrong with being a geek. I have a problem if they have no idea how to sell a car, and don’t have the respect of their team and employees. They can’t motivate and drive the department to success.

•  An IT professional is the head of an Internet sales department or business development center. Just because they are good at fixing computers or understanding technology does not necessarily make them the best choice to run a million-dollar sales department. “Internet sales” is still sales.

•  Instead of terminating a sales consultant from the showroom floor, they are given a “second chance” running the Internet sales department. I don’t get this one at all. If someone can not be effective on the showroom floor, why would you have that person be the head of a department where 92 percent of Americans go before they ever step foot into your dealership?

•  A sales consultant is promoted from the showroom to running the Internet department. Please understand just because someone can sell a car does not mean they can run a department, let alone an Internet sales or business development department. Just because they can sell cars does not mean they are capable of being a manager or a leader. There are a lot of successful sales consultants who sell 20 or 30 cars per month, but don’t work well with others. They have no concept of interdependence.

•  There is no Internet sales manager/BDC director at all. That is just bad, and again, makes no sense whatsoever. When 92 percent of people are going online, there needs to be major attention to this area.

•  A dealership’s manager also manages the Internet department. I have seen it all, my friends. The dealer principal or general manager takes on the Internet department as an “additional” responsibility instead of having a dedicated manager, or they dump the responsibility of the Internet department onto the GSM or sales manager. This is not a viable solution.

Remember Basic Math

The average dealership in the United States delivers fewer than 100 units per month. But the average dealership has:

•  A GM or GSM

•  One to two sales managers (new car/used car), or “closers”

•  An F&I manager

•  10 Sales Consultants

If you want your Internet or business development department to deliver units, you are going to need the right Internet manager or BDC director.

Yes, you might need to fire your current Internet sales manager or BDC director. You might have been thinking about doing it for months now but weren’t sure. Let me make it easier for you.

Think of your current Internet sales manager or BDC director:

•  Are they a family member or in a relationship with anyone else in the dealership?

•  Do they have any automotive sales or management experience?

•  Do they have an aversion to the phone?

•  Do they have the ability to take a “TO” from their employees, sales consultants, appointment setters, etc?

•  Do they have the ability or desire to proactively “TO”?

•  Do they have the respect of their team (or the dealership for that matter)?

•  Can they, or do they, lead by example?

•  Do they train their team? Do they know how to train their team?

•  Do they have “one on ones” with their team?

•  Do they know how to project and forecast, and not merely guess and hope?

•  Are they rude and or mean to their team or their customers?

•  Do they have Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.P.s), or do they just “wing it”?

•  Can they desk a deal?

If you are reading this and you are a dealer or GM, do this calculation before you open the showroom tomorrow:

Look at your electronic leads, phone leads and walk-in leads. Say your electronic and phone leads are 70 percent or greater of all leads. Now look at your manager running your Internet or business development department. Are you comfortable with them in charge of 70 percent of your opportunities? If not, make the change today. If you can’t promote that person as your nest general sales manager, you have the wrong person in place.

If you would like a free personalized analysis of your Internet Sales Manager, contact me at the email below with “ISM” as the subject line.

Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized training and consulting company in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at 866.648.7400, or by e-mail at

sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

Former National Automotive Sales Trainer & Recruiter for TK Worldwide, Mark Manning a NEW Internet Director shares some of his experience & Wisdom

I remember when it happened:

The Director walked in and said, “Today’s minimum goal is 18 appointments.”

I remember when it happened:

The Coordinators complained, “That’s not really fair, we have to train!”

I remember when it happened:

The Trainers said, “We’ll make sure you all have an opportunity to get on the phones today.”

I remember when it happened:

We had a great training session, everyone was enthusiastic about learning.

I remember when it happened:

We picked up our phones and started dialing.

I remember when it happened:

We left message after message after message…and somehow, before we knew it; we had eleven appointments.

I remember when it happened:

We all were excited, “We’re two thirds of the way to the goal.”

I remember when it happened:

Someone said, “The contact ratio is unusually high today.”

I remember when it happened:

 I took a T/O for a coordinator, hung up and signaled “Thirteen” but was promptly corrected…”Fourteen”…someone else had gotten an appointment while I was on the call…felt great to be wrong!

I remember when it happened:

This was UNBELIEVABLE! …could it really happen? ...only one hour had gone by.

I remember when it happened:

The energy was like a boiler room…you could literally feel it on your skin.

I remember when it happened:

Fifteen! Sixteen, Seventeen?

I remember when it happened:

The fight was on…everyone was dialing the phones.  Assistant Director, Director, trainers, er’body!

I remember when it happened:

Eighteen…nineteen, we cheered; then got real focused.

I remember when it happened:

Someone asked, “What’s the record for appointments in one day here in this department?”

I remember when it happened:

The coordinators and directors answered in unison, “27!”

I remember when it happened:

Someone said “people…we just set twenty appointments in less than two hours; just imagine if we had all day.”

I remember when it happened:

Things slowed down…The trainers said, “I didn’t hear any bells…It’s not over, keep going!!!”

I remember when it happened:

Twenty-one…Twenty-two.

I remember when it happened:

It was time to go.

I remember when it happened:

They turned out all the lights. (as if that mattered to me)

I remember when it happened:

 They were ready to lock the doors.

I remember when it happened:
The last coordinator hung up the phone and announced “We started just two hours ago, and I just set the twenty-third appointment of the day.  Woohoo!”

I remember when it happened:

The owners of the Dealership walked by and said, “Dealer Synergy...WOW!”

http://www.dealersynergy.com

I am telling you all that this dealership... John Hinderer Honda is AMAZING. Look at this dealership!! They have a GREAT team. Lets wish them luck and assist them anyway we can in growing their department.

SVB-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dealersynergy/3420894237/ I wanted to congratulate Rob Fontano on his recent cover story. I have had the opportunity to watch Rob evolve over the years and am excited for all of his success. Rob has been through several Dealer Synergy training workshops over the years. I have attached a Flickr link in the post of Rob Fontano and Football great Keith Byars (Formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins). I had Keith Byars as a guest speaker at one of my "Internet Director Immersion Programs" and as a guest speaker at NADA in 2009.

I think Rob came to my "Director Immersion Program" JUST FOR KEITH BYARS LOL! (It was his second Sean V. Bradley / Dealer Synergy workshop!

For all "Automtoive Internet Sales" members... you should really read his article and maybe even reach out to Rob on AIS... He is an awesome person and a great Internet Sales Professional!

Good memories my friend!! And I see that VSEO is working well for you too :)

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/e8e0b8bc#/e8e0b8bc/1 

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Interview with Whitney Willis Snow - Internet Director of Willis GM & Winner of AIS's "Dealership of the Month" Award December 2010

(READ the FULL Interview UNDER the IMAGE :)

Automotive Internet Sales “Dealership of the Month” goes to…

Willis Automotive of Smyrna Delaware

Willis Automotive of Smyrna Delaware are killing it on the Internet! They literally rose from the ashes and turned their organization around in some dark times. Willis Automotive of Smyrna is part of the Willis Automotive dealer group. They have 3 stores, Willis Automotive of Smyrna, Willis Ford and Willis Automotive of Middletown. They started their Internet initiative about a year and a half ago, right in the middle of the automotive collapse. As a matter of fact, they were one of the GM dealerships to get a letter. They lost their Chevrolet Franchise in Middletown Delaware. But this group did not let the economy beat them. They regrouped and created a NEW strategy and persevered through difficult times and are now set to reap all of the rewards from all of their hard work and tenacity. We are going to interview the Internet Director, Whitney Willis Snow-

AIS- First off, congratulations Whitney to you and your team! You just closed November 2010 with 48 units! That is AMAZING. You went from 5 units on the Internet and losing a franchise to 48 units and almost $100,000 GROSS in 30 days! I am so proud of you and very excited to share in your success.

WWS – Thank you, but it is a huge team effort. I am blessed to work with such an amazing group of people.

AIS – Whitney, your full name is Whitney Willis Snow… So, I am assuming you are an owner…?

WWS – We have a family business for over 60 years now… My mother, father, uncle, brothers etc… This is literally a family business. A small dealer group with 3 stores. I am the Internet Director and the youngest of the family in the business.

AIS – Tell us about the organization…

WWS – Simple, we are a family owned dealership with a ton of integrity. As I mentioned we have been in business for 6 decades and are very active in our community. Our reputation is everything to our family. How we treat our people… not just or prospects or clients, but how we treat our employees and each other. We strive to do the absolute best we can possibly do each and every day.

AIS – How were you engaging the Internet?

WWS – Not very much at all… We didn’t really have a strategy, no real dedication or commitment to the Internet as a “department”. As a matter of fact, when I first started working the Internet at our dealership I would simply email the prospect back once and then “hand over the lead to a salesman”.

AIS – Ok, what changed and why…?

WWS -We decided to actually build a “real” department with a strategy, focus and put resources behind it.We hired Dealer Synergy to assist us in creating the Internet Sales strategy and Standard Operating Procedures. We hired a new web design company to re-design our dealership website. We then focused on driving a lot more traffic to the dealership organically with SEO, VSEO and Social Media as well as buying leads from 3^rd party providers.

AIS- What was the most challenging thing for you and the fledgling department?

WWS – That is easy… “Teaching an old dog new tricks” LOL! No, seriously… getting this accepted by the showroom floor and the sales managers. It was VERY difficult in the beginning. We had so many people that were pessimistic, resistant, non-cooperative even to the point where we felt like people were purposely trying to sabotage the department. It was crazy! I felt like, here we were, dumping a ton of resources trying to grow the business and help everyone… from salesmen to managers, but there were people that felt like we were taking away from them, or that they knew how to do things better.

AIS – How is that possible?

WWS – As I mentioned, this is a family owned dealership. Our staff has been here for a very long time. We don’t have a lot of turn over. Everyone just needs to realize to get a bigger “piece of the pie”, the “whole pie” needs to grow! We are all working towards the same goal!

AIS –What happened with the Middletown store?

WWS – Bottom line is during the whole automotive economic collapse GM sent us a letter and we lost one of our Chevrolet points. It was very hard because we have been in business for such a long time. But we decided not to shut down the dealership, we turned it into a Pre-Owned and NAPA Car Care Dealership.

AIS – How has the Internet affected your dealership business?

WWS – Point Blank… the new Internet Department SAVED us from losing our business. NO Exaggeration… The units we have been selling out of the Internet Department kept the doors open.I don’t think we could have survived the automotive economic situation without our Internet Department. We have increased internet volume and gross each month. As a matter of fact we have also increased the dealership’s total volume of sales as well as the dealership’s total gross profit.

AIS- How is everyone at the store now a days with the department…?

WWS- MUCH BETTER… there is a lot of more communication, a lot more appreciation for the department and a lot more respect for not only the department but for all of the team members in our department.

AIS- How many people are in your department?

WWS –There are 4 Internet Sales Coordinators (Phone Ninjas / Appointment Setters), my Assistant Director, and myself for a total of 6 people in the department.

AIS – What are the biggest challenges for your team?

WWS – The same, I’m sure, as all internet departments… handling people J dealing with price, objections in general, attitudes, etc…

AIS – Any advice?

WWS- Absolutely… be prepared. We have a plan of action for EVERYTHING. Phone Process, Email process… objections and rebuttals and of course “What If” process… What if this happens, what if that happens… what if, what if, what if… you have to be prepared for everything and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Sharpen the saw. That is why we are part of the Internet Sales 20 Group (www.internetsales20group.com) and very active on www.automotiveinternetsales.com

AIS – Yes, you are! Congrats on winning the Dealership Video Testimonial!! That was AWESOME!!

Anything else you would like to add to the readers?

WWS- Yes… Don’t let ANYONE tell you that you can’t do something! Don’t let ANYONE discourage you from your goal/mission. You can do anything you put your mind too!

** Also, if anyone wants to call me directly for any advice or questions, it would be my pleasure. I believe in Synergy and in the whole Internet Sales 20 group concept. With that being said, if you HAVE any IDEAS or resources that you think are worthwhile that can help me to continue growing my department…PLEASE feel free to contact me and let me know!

Hey, If anyone knows of a QUALITY Internet Director for the Chicago area.... one of my CLOSEST clients just lost theirs with NO NOTICE... Argh!!!!

This is for a BEAUTIFUL, HUGE and Brand New Honda Dealership!!!!!

Contact me for more details

I just wanted to thank everyone for helping us put this site together :)

I am amazed by how much we got accomplished in only a couple of days. The site is going to be completed by the November Internet Sales 20 Group in Philadelphia.

PLEASE remember to add your profile picture... It would be nice for everyone to get an idea of who they are communicating with. Remember this isn't Match.com, its not that deep lol!

Continue to add articles, blog posts, pictures and of course video... anything that you feel is relevant and or important to you that you think other people in the community would see value in.

Thanks again for being part of AIS!

SVB-