I posted this picture a while ago because I think its funny. One sign says "No Loitering" which means no hanging around right? Then not 2 feet in front of it is another sign telling me That I have to wait here in this line for 20 minutes. Which one am I supposed to listen too? Then it got me thinking. Uh oh right?
If a simple sign at a gas station carwash can trip me up; what do my customers think? I mean a car purchase is the second largest purchase maybe even largest purchase some people make. What am I doing to confuse things? Well in the car business we doALOT of things to make it harder on ourselves. We advertise payments with "No MoneyDown" and then in the small print we put something like does not include taxes and tags or destination or some BS like that. All in an effort to beat our competitors and still hold gross. Now I am not saying holding gross is bad. I will never say that,as a commission paid manager I need gross. (5% of nothing pays nothing) All I am saying is that we need to be a little more clearer in the way we do things.
I have been a manager at my store for a little over a year and have never used those tactics. The first time I went out to buy a car the car dealership did that to me and it pissed me off. All I remember saying is why cant you give me what you said you would? Ihad no idea that 15 years later I would be a sales manager at a car dealership, at that time was delivering furniture for a living.
With social media we can not afford to practice these ways of doing business. They will and do call us on every deceptive practice we use. This is a great time to be in car sales. I really believe (and if you have read any of my previous blogs you will agree) that social media will help the honest dealer and punish the bad ones. A dealership cannot control what other people broadcast about them. You need to take this very seriously. This is not all bad news though. I have personally changed an angry customer into an advocate just by tweeting them! You can use it to help your image too.
It all goes back to the golden rule. Any time I think of a way to sell a car, I ask myself if Iwould do this to/for my little sister. If the answer is yes I know I have something if not it gets scrapped. I am fortunate to work at a dealership with a great owner who shares those same principles.
Mixed signals? If you have them get rid of them. Be clear, Be consistant, and Be confident that if you dont someone else will.
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