It’s a Friday evening and a lead comes in from Dealix or AutoUSA at 8:12 pm.
You call the customer right away (cause you know Friday night leads are
Saturday morning appointments), you get them on the phone right away
and schedule the appointment for Saturday morning. The customer arrives
(late of course) and you demo the
car, ask for the sale and close the customer. The end of the month
rolls around and you hand in your MTD Sold sheet to the GM. The General
Manager reviews your sales sheet and says..

"Well, I’m not sure if we should count this customer, they would have bought here anyways since we have sold them a car before."

The blood pressure rises, your face gets beet red and you say..OOkkayy.

You’re thinking to your yourself..You prove to me that they would have bought from our dealer anyways! BUT on the flip side, YOU prove to the GM that they would have NOT bought from the dealer anyways.

So lets look at it
this way..

What if..a customer lives in your hometown and also bought
their last vehicle from you. They’re on edmunds.com shopping for their
next vehicle and narrowing down their choices. They decide to submit for a price quote from your dealer AND the next closest dealer. Your dealer isn’t up on their game (or better yet, your dealer doesn’t
even purchase leads from that 3rd party lead provider and you never
even get the lead), your competitive dealer gets the lead and makes the
phone call right away. The customer answers and the sales person is
GREAT on the phone…building rapport and making great conversation.
Lets say the customer even says…"well, I like to keep my business
local and I have bought my past cars from the local dealer" (yea, I
know I’m digging deep
here). The Internet sales person on the other end says "you know Mrs
Smith, I totally understand and I appreciate the fact that you like to
keep your business local BUT we are having a HUGE sale this weekend and
I know I can save you thousands of dollars that your local dealer can’t.
We are a much larger dealer and are able to give larger discounts..what
time Saturday morning can you come in?"

SO..you tell me, would that customer have bought from your dealer anyways?

Here is another great article from Cliff Banks. “E-Mail or Phone? Don’t Let the Customer Decide”.

Not sure what it is, but Mr. Banks articles always stick out (for me atleast) and this was another one that I felt as it I should post about. I don’t even know Cliff Banks but if you happen to read this, shoot me an email or call me!

This article talks about 2 difference perspectives when using email or the phone for contacting the customer. There is no doubt in my mind, the quicker you can get the customer on the phone the better your chances are making the appointment and getting that consumer in the showroom. I know when I’m on the consumer side, once I set an appointment, my shopping process slows down. I have an appointment and I no longer need to shop as much. That’s just the mental state that my brain goes into.

YES, you will always get that customer that gets offended or just wanted to communicate via email. I think many times (and I’m guilty of this myself at times) we focus too much on the minority rather then the majority. Majority of your customers actually appreciate a phone call.

Take a moment and think about this for a second, if you put your legit phone number in a form, are you not expecting or at least inviting a phone call? If a consumer fills out a form on your website or any other 3rd party site and they include their legit phone number, they don’t mind getting a phone call.

The consumer that wants information or pricing without a phone call will just leave the phone number portion blank or fill it in with a bogus number. It’s that simple!

In all of my years in internet sales I bet I can count on 1 hand the amount of customers that were upset that I called them. And that’s such an easy objective to overcome.
Make those phone calls!

This reminds me of an older posting of mine “My Lending Tree experience”

The Internet Sales Manager at our Toyota dealer had pointed out to me that my Mercedes dealer website was indexing in the top 5 positions on Google for “Hagerstown Toyota Camry”. She was astounded and upset at the same time (I thought it was funny). She kept trying to get out of me how I could get just one of my used Toyota’s to index just as high as her Toyota website, but that’s another posting.

While I was on Google, replicating what the Toyota ISM had seen, I found something interesting. A small 3 form search box showed up with Location, Make and Model. This is the first I had seen this search form. It’s obvious that Google it testing different ways of tying google base into their search. Take a look;

Once you submit your search criteria you are taken a more advance google vehicle search with result listings and a corresponding map for the location of the vehicle.

Getting your vehicle inventory into Google base is something you should seriously look into if you’re not already doing so. Cars.com, Automotive.com, ebizauto.com and a few others out there have some direct feeds to google base. If you have the knowledge, you could set up your own feed as well..it’s free! Consumers can also subscribe to the RSS feed, letting know when new listings appear!

The NADA dealer 2007 convention will be held in Las Vegas on February 2007 – 3rd
through the 7th.

If you are an exhibitor that offers products for “Internet Sales, Internet Marketing, CRM / ILM, Websites etc for dealers, post your Business Name, Products and Services here if you will be attending NADA 2007!
- Consider it free advertising and a link to your website!

Advance registration is open
for NADA’s 90th annual Convention and Exposition on their website.

To quote the NADA page..”Your competition will be there. More than 25,000 industry professionals count
on the NADA Convention for the full spectrum of innovations in education,
equipment and emerging technologies. With 600+ leading product and service
providers spanning more space than at any other automobile dealer trade show in
the world in 2007. NADA offers the ultimate in comparison shopping and
face-to-face meetings with suppliers.”

Are you attending?
If so, let my readers know!

Last year Search Engine Optimization (SEO or SEM) was the HUGE
craze. What will this years NADA Convention for dealers in 2007 bring?

Again; If you are an exhibitor that offers products for “Internet Sales, Internet Marketing, CRM / ILM, Websites etc for dealers, post your Business Name, Products and Services here if you will be attending NADA 2007!

I just bought the new
BlackBerry Pearl phone and was surfing the internet on it’s browser. The phone came pre-linked to Mobileplay.com. I was impressed with all the features the site had to offer for mobile browsers but what caught my eye the most was the small banner ad at the top of the Mobileplay.com home page.

Before I go any further, I have to say..if you are in the market for a new phone and you are an Internet Sales Manager, you have to seriously check out this phone. Ten email accounts plus business email!!

Anyways…at the top of the Mobileplay homepage was an Acura ad for the new MDX. When you click on the ad, it takes you to a mini landing page where you can enter your email address for more information and to keep updated via email.

Props to Acura for some truly forward thinking in the advertising arena. Here are some screen shots of the ad…

I thought this was a great idea! What are your thoughts?

If paid ads in the search engines were not enough to deal with, now you have
Google sending your ads to mobiles phones.

"The Internet giant quietly launched the offering that allows AdWords
customers to place marketing messages-including clickable links-in listings
retrieved through Google’s mobile search service.

AdWords customers can develop their own mobile advertisements and marketing
campaigns, and can set daily budgets, establish scheduled marketing messages and
pay only when consumers click the ad or call the business."

I wonder how many consumers use their phones to search for cars or dealerships? I
highly doubt many..right now.

Read

"Google Dials AdWords Onto Mobiles"

6 months ago, Jake Wirth was just settling into the position of
Internet Sales Manager at a Suzuki dealer in Elkhart, IN. At that time, he
shared with us his thoughts and ideas in getting the Internet department
started. I thought I would drop in on him to see how things have been going.

He again shares with all of us where he is, how he has progressed and what he is
doing to get there.

Enjoy..

Wow! In this Industry it is amazing how much you can learn in 6
Months! You may have read my article “Starting an Internet Sales
Department from Scratch!!” a couple months back. If so, this is my 6
Month Checkup; if not, this is a rundown of my last 6 months developing
and directing the Internet department I created from scratch in February
of this year. I work for a rapidly growing single-franchise Import store
in the midwest and the influence of the Internet in consumer shopping
has just recently (within the last year) become obvious on a day-to-day
basis in my local marketplace! It is now finally commonplace for about
50% of our walk-in traffic to make reference to some form of an online
automotive reference source (Edmunds.com, Cars.com, AutoTrader, Kelley
Blue Book, CARFAX and etc).

The Importance of an Internet Department (for those who don’t
already know) – Prior to our Internet department’s creation our store
averaged between 20-25 Sales a month, both new & pre-owned. March was
the first sales month for my fledgling Internet department managed to
sell 5 vehicles, Hello 25% overall store sales increase!! Each month
since, the Internet department has brought an average of 8 Sales a month
to the bottom line, that’s 25%-32% of every month’s total sales Mr.
General Manager! Not to mention that on average, 45% of shoppers that
view a classified vehicle listing (AutoTrader, Cars.com, VEHIX) come in
to the dealership without first contacting the Dealership or Internet
department directly! That’s an additional increase in floor traffic for
the dealership, talk about a Spillover Benefit!

Taking the Next Step – Due to this Spillover Benefit, six months
later (with solid performance on paper) everyone is paying attention to
the Internet department! It was time to take the next step. Here was my
setup: AutoTrader, Cars.com, VEHIX for pre-owned vehicles –
DEALIX new leads for new vehicles – DealerOn for dealership
rooftop website. Something was missing, can you spot it? An
Internet Lead Management program (ILM / CRM)! I had been managing all of
my leads on paper like the great used car salesmen of the 1970’s. Why
pay $22 per lead for new leads or $900-2,500 a month for AutoTrader and
or Cars.com if you CANNOT POSSIBLY get the FULL VALUE of the leads your
Internet advertising produces? I needed an Internet Lead Management
Tool (ILM) or Customer Relationship Management Program (CRM)
terribly, and I got it when I could show my General manager how the
performance and overall efficiency of the Internet department could be
improved with this one single tool. After months of shopping, I chose
the ILM Product offered by iCarMagic. In addition to providing the most
affordable, simple, and easy to use interface, iCarMagic did not require
me to sign a long term contract! This tool not only allows me to ensure
the most professional and effective incoming lead response, but also
provides reporting that tracks Sales, gross profit, prospecting
performance, closing ratio, appointment ratio, response time, ROI for
each lead provider and more!

Re-thinking the Process – For me, adding an ILM to the arsenal of
tools available to the Internet Dept. was a HUGE stepping stone. After
months of Internet marketing and sales experience I was ready to
implement the process in which all incoming leads to the dealership and
Internet department were handled. In order to plan an effective process
I needed to establish the key elements I wanted to integrate:

Speed of Response – I recently learned in a Cars.com training
session that your chance of closing an Internet lead decreases by 70%
after the first hour!

Accurate, Relevant Data – I believe that following the “GEICO”
approach to contacting leads is very SUCCESSFUL. This approach
emphasizes the importance of getting our leads/prospects the information
they ask for in a timely manner. Now the “information they need” may not
be obvious, often I get new vehicle leads with no comments from the
shopper however, that same shopper submitted a lead on a ‘2007 Jeep
Grand Cherokee Overland 4X4 Automatic.’ So I would surely play on the
UNIQUE features of the ‘Overland’ trim level in ALL the emails and
eBrochures I send that specific shopper. After All, ‘If I’m this helpful
while you are shopping for your next Vehicle, imagine how helpful I’ll
be once you’re a customer!!’

A Well Defined Response Schedule – I know from studying sources
like DealerRefresh that a consistent and well-defined email Marketing or
phone call schedule will result in a better appointment and ultimately
closing ratio!

In order to incorporate all of these key objectives I also picked up
another cool product, Call Prospector. This product help me turn every
single Internet lead I receive into an INSTANT phone up call! Within
seconds of receiving a new or pre-owned Lead from any source my phone is
ringing to tell me the name and vehicle interest of my newest lead!
Since implementing Call Prospector I have seen a measurable increase in
my lead closing ratio across the board! I often contact shoppers while
they are still viewing the vehicle that they just submitted a lead on,
now that’s GOOD FOLLOW-UP!!

I look forward to integrating these revolutionary products into my
Internet sales processes and seeing positive results! Feel free to
contact me about my experience and for any advice about Internet Sales
Management. I have been following DealerRefresh since my first week as
an Internet Manager and I look forward to hearing the innovative ideas
from other Internet managers as well!

Please Contact me with any questions/comments:

Jake Wirth
(574)606-8925
jakewirth@gmail.com