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As I was talking strategy with a good friend of mine who is a GM of two rooftops we got into a discussion about which strategy is most effective in the automotive internet sales world i.e. coordinators vs. floor sales people making the calls. 

We all know that the hardest part in the Internet Dept. is getting people on the phone.  As you know you have what is called connection percentage or ratios that prove that less that 20% of the calls that are made on a daily basis actually result in getting the customer on the phone.  The day-to-day mission turns into e-mails and phone calls and some really progressive departments have implemented video e-mail. 

As I discussed into detail with the GM it really takes a dedicated person to be on the floor taking ups and having the opportunity to have Internet leads sent to him/her.  What happens unless this person is very dedicated is that he/she makes 10 phone calls in the morning if you're lucky and then an up walks through the door.  Now doing fact finding with the customer, caring the customer up, building value, presentation/demonstration, silent trade appraisal and my favorite working numbers, F&i then a through delivery and hours have passed by.  Equally relevant, while all this is going on Internet leads aren't waiting for him to get finished they're coming in while all this is happening and by the time the sales person gets back in front of the computer after taking lunch when the deal was complete his/her response time is around three hours!!  Now I haven't even mentioned the follow up month to date that should be going on during this time. 

My friend's response was the cost of having coordinators which I understand affects the bottom line.  What is interesting to me is that we'll spend $150K on advertising for the month now when the sales person sells that customer we don't split the deal or put an additional pack on the deal to help recoup the cost of advertising.  And even better yet we all know the customers that we don't sell that most of these customers are never logged into the CRM or they leave without a T.O. and if they are logged the notes read "showroom up" not detailed notes of why we couldn't put the deal together.

Having people who's job is to pound the phones all day with a experienced director there for a T.O. and/or to work numbers for the customer that want's the "best price" is the most effective strategy I have seen unless the sales people that get leads aren't allowed to take ups.  I would rather have 5 coordinators making a total of 500 calls a day versus 5 sales people barely making 100 calls per day.  The numbers don't lie the more calls you make the more people you're going to get on the phone, the more people you get on the phone the more appointments you're going to make, the more appointments you make the more people are going to show, the more people that show the more cars you're going to sell!!  Appointments sell cars....

This is Internet sales 101 however, unless there is leadership in place that understands the dynamics of a E-Commerce Dept. there will be a struggle between the owners and those that understand the basics of Internet Sales.  What's even more funny is when I asked how many appointments his sales people set per day he was angry and tells me that they don't set enough appointments and that's why they aren't selling more cars.  Duh, how can they set more appointments they're selling cars, waiting for an up and making 10-20 calls a day.  Sounds like a oxymoron to me. 

Good luck and good selling!!  

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To Chat, or Not to Chat?

Often I find myself having a recurring conversation with my dealers. The topic? Website Chat. Chat is essential to a dealership if they want to capitalize on all potential leads. Many argue, “It’s a waste of money…it’s a waste of time… and it requires too much attention.” This is where I beg to differ. The average chat provider charges about $250 a month. Even if your dealership only sells three cars in a month directly from chat leads, wouldn’t you say that it’s worth it? As far as managing the chat leads, it’s really not that tasking. Most chat providers allow you to have the leads sent directly to your Droid or iPhone. Let’s be honest, if you work in an automotive dealership, you’re most likely glued to your phone anyway.

Still not sold? Consider the traditional car shopping experience. A consumer visits your brick and mortar store and is immediately greeted by a salesperson to determine their needs and answer any questions they may have- right? So how would you expect a consumer to react if they came to your dealership and there was no one around to assist them? In today’s world, the shopping experience begins online. Your website is a virtual showroom, and live chat serves as your sales person.

With all of the money spent trying to get consumers to your website, what are you doing to engage the prospect once they’ve arrived? Usually they have come looking for information, so give it to them! Over time, shoppers have become increasingly needy and seek instant gratification. Even I want to be able to keep my shopping time to a minimum. I could be shopping for product at 7PM and by 7:15pm, I’m out walking my dog. Although responding to chat leads may take a few minutes, it’s certainly a worthwhile use of time if your goal is to move inventory and appease shoppers.

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Don’t Reinvent Yourself

How Often Should Your Advertising Messages Change?

► How Consistent Is Your Content?
► When Should You Update Website Sliders?
► How Long Should Campaigns Run?
► When Do You Need A New Commercial?

Do you have the type of personality that you feel you must always be changing your marketing strategy for it to work? To build your brand you need to convey a consistent message with content that is recognizable across multiple platforms. That's this week on Think Tank Tuesday.

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First Peek at Advertising on Instagram

On October 24, 2013, Instagram announced that they would become the next social media giant to offer up advertising space on their mobile platform. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s easy to understand the resentment towards the announcement. One of the biggest perks of the platform was that users could actually choose the content they were exposed to. You didn’t have to worry about an overabundance of promoted posts or news stories getting in the way of the information you were truly concerned with ¾ information pertaining to our friends and family.

On the business end, however, Instagram’s announcement provides branding opportunities for companies worldwide. According to Instagram’s website, there are currently 150 million active users with over 60% of that population lying outside of the United States. To date, there has been 16 billion photos shared, 1.2 billion daily likes, and an average of 55 million photos shared per day. There is no arguing that Instagram has become one the most popular social media sites to date, but how will users react when advertisements pop up in their newsfeeds?

Instagram users got their first taste of what can be expected from Instagram advertisements when the platform released its first official ad by Michael Kors. While the ad did receive mixed reviews amongst Instagram’s population, the results were visible within just a few hours. According to Mashable, “as of mid-morning Friday, the ad had more than 65,000 Like and more than 540 comments,” a statistic which speaks for itself. Over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to more businesses adopting advertising on Instagram, as well as how businesses incorporate Instagram into their existing digital marketing strategies. 

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Engaging Mobile Shoppers

Engaging Your Mobile Shoppers


► Keep Customers In The Store
► Share The Mobile Experience
► Eliminate "Be Back" Mentality
► Use Competition To Your Advantage

You learned last week in part one how to use mobile marketing to keep your customers on your website. This week I'll share how you keep those customers around once they are in your showroom. That's this week on Hard Facts.

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'Tis the Season for Service?

This year’s Black Friday chaos and record-breaking Cyber Monday sales created quite the stir around the Potratz lunch table. Sharing pictures of our weekend steals and comparing our shopping lists, my co-workers and I discussed 2013’s hottest items over our cups of soup and sandwiches. Remembering the Tickle Me Elmo craze and iPod madness of holiday’s past, we each pointed out our favorite “must haves,” but were sure to mention that the best gifts were the ones we didn’t even think to ask for. There will always be big-ticket items to market each holiday season, but retailers and dealers need to remember that those forgotten wants will also sell.  For dealers, this means promoting service.

When creating incentives for this upcoming holiday season, it’s important to focus both on sales and service. You might not find a mother looking to buy three new vehicles for her sons, but she could go home with Oil Change certificates as stocking stuffers. Promoting both vehicle specials and service specials provides gift options for all price-points. This season, take the time to create a menu of services that your dealership would be willing to offer for gift-hungry customers, bonus points go for creativity. Bundle together a fuel injection and throttle service for the ultimate Gas Saver or “Holiday Brake” Special for college students home on break. From snow tire deals to a detailing package, busy holiday shoppers will understand the value of these needed gifts, especially if they are being offered at a discounted rate. 

When it comes to planning these specials, be sure to keep your customer’s schedule in mind. For example, the day after Christmas finds many scheduling the “to do” items that they never have time for. Why not offer a free state inspection for those who need to get their vehicles renewed? Doing a little extra work in tailoring your specials will stand out in a sea of flashy “hot item” advertisements and it adds value to your dealership. As we’ve discussed in past blogs, service is what builds customer loyalty. Maybe when that lucky gift recipient brings in her oil change coupon, she realizes she’d like to browse the New Year models or get her tires rotated.  Service allows customers to interact directly with your sales team and technicians and opens up opportunities for future sales or services. Like a perfectly knotted bow, those small service specials can create lifelong customers and make the holidays merrier for dealers and customers alike.

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Our customers in this business today can smell insincerity like a shark senses blood. From the moment that they first meet you, and all through our sales process, they are looking for any hint of insincerity that may have seeped from you. This creates both the challenge for us, and the opportunity.

I like to think of sales as nothing more than the transfer of emotions. I also like to think of closing as making simple sense - basically justifying the emotions logically in the form of a car deal.

The reason that people are so sensitive to insincerity from car sales people is because of the high number of average and insincere sales people that are out there. Many of our customers have dealt with one of these annoying sales people at one time or another. These are the sales people that seem more interested in making their commission than anything else. These are the sales people that tend not to follow up with their customers, and keep in touch with them over the long term. Even though their customers trusted them to guide them though spending 20-30-or 80 thousand dollars, they neglect to continue serving that customer. This only reinforces the mentality that people tend to have about car sales people - because there are so many of us out there that are proving their preconceived notions to be correct.

Ask any person you know what they think in general of lawyers, and more often then not you will get some sort of negative explanation about their line of work in general - and the same goes for lots of other sales people out there in other industries. But not their lawyer. This is what creates the opportunity.

People want to deal with people that believe in the value of the services they provide. They want people that don't just believe at a general level, but at a level that is so great that this emotion is transferred to them. They want to feel your passion come through. Anything less than that is perceived by many people as insincerity - and rightly so.

People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

What we need to do is make sure we are not only keeping our attitude in check each and every day, but that we feel great about our line of work. We need to feel deep down that we are not only offering the very best quality of service, but also that if we allow that customer to leave and purchase from an average salesperson down the street - we are then doing them a great disservice.

If we are able to transfer our emotion and passion for what we do to our customer during our process, more often then not we will not only gain a customer and a commission, but also a friend and long term business relationship.

 

Remember, people don't buy what we do, they buy why we do it.

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Two Tactics To Increase Conversions

Use These Two Tactics To Increase Conversions
► You Won't See This In Brick-and-Mortar
► Create A Hard-To-Ignore Call To Action
► Get Customers Taking Action Sooner
► Attract Those Looking To Buy Right Now

Today, I have two proven tactics for you to increase your conversions. One tactic appeals to those shopping to buy now and the other will bring in those with selective interests. That's this week on Think Tank Tuesday.

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How-To Reach Mobile Shoppers

Attracting Mobile Shoppers
► Over 80% Shop For Vehicles Online
► Numbers Are Decreasing For Desktop Users
► More Customers Are Turning To Mobile
► Tune Your Message To These Customers

Automotive shopping habits have evolved rapidly over the past 18 years. Customers quickly adapted to shopping on the internet and now those habits are changing again. Are you prepared to keep up? That's this week on Hard Facts.

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Increase Leads By Marketing To A Lifestyle

Don't Sell A Price, Sell A Lifestyle
► Target Marketing To Life Events
► Market To Many Stages Of Life
► Stop Selling By Price Alone
► Create Your Marketing Plan Today!

Different stages of life require unique marketing messages and  campaigns. With digital marketing, you can advertise to prospects with content that will increase your conversions. That's this week on Think Tank Tuesday.

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Do The Right Marketing For The Inventory You Have

You know there are cars on your lot that are going to sell faster than others. Take those that sit for long periods of time and market them directly to customers that want them. That's this week on Hard Facts.

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