Why was he feeling this way?

Because he was faced with the reality that his sales team was incapable of responding to internet leads.

I know what you are thinking. Incapable?

Equally as painstaking is watching people who simply do not use a computer for their personal lives let alone work. Just locating an area to type a document or retrieving an email or even making changes to an existing email template, was hard to wait for and watch.

Believe me, I was wondering the same thing you probably are…what world are these guys living in?

Salespeople that work internet leads today must be capable and willing to send over 25 emails and place over 25 calls per day in order to get the minimum amount of sales from the lead pool. But what would you do if you were in this situation? Fire em’ all?

You see it’s situations like these are reminders that every dealership will not and should not have the same business model at converting internet leads to showroom sales.

Allow me add the icing to the cake in this real story.

Between the two stores, this dealer will make over $3 million dollars selling Kia’s this year. That does not include any internet sales. Most salespeople had never even sent an email to a customer in years of their employment here. With average grosses of $3300 a copy, your eyebrow may have just raised. On average, they see 30-50 people on a Saturday. Ups.

Does this bus still really exist?  Holy S@!*%, right? SO what is a dealer to do in this situation?  The stores aren’t broken.  The lowest paid salesperson makes $60K/year. I saw 40 obvious deals waiting there.  What would 40 more deals a month do to this bottom line?

Does this dealer need them?  ..or does he want them?

I recommended a dealership BDC Department. A BDC with an objective to set appointments. Their role is to respond to internet leads, follow up by phone and email until they buy or die. BDC departments serve a real purpose for many dealerships. Yet I still see plenty of dealerships that have dedicated salespeople handling the internet prospects and converting at a much higher ratio than a BDC department.

It will always be a challenge to find an entire sales team that have the abilities, capabilities, desire and motivation to handle the most challenging prospect around, the internet prospect.

This poses a thereat to 21st century dealerships. Interviewing skills and approaches must change drastically..  The skill sets of today’s salesman must include rockin’ phone and email skills.

If you know this aspect is not your best skill set, I suggest you get out and make it your best skill set!  No one is born with this, remember, it is a learned quality.  You, just like me, can achieve anything with determination and desire.

Do your sales people have the ROCKIN’ skill sets to be effective with today’s consumer – from Internet Lead to Sale?