I certainly apologize if you feel I have ignored you. This is not my intention as I do not hide from anyone.

I sincerely appreciate every customer’s business as if it were our only customer and will always pick up the phone whether you have 1 location or 30 locations.

I have no idea how this has happened. I just tried to contact you at the store but you but you were gone. I left my cell phone number with Osiris and you can call me any time this weekend.

Richard

I am glad you have so much time to post since you will not return my calls. I have numerous problems with my website that has been live for 9 months now. I have had customer complaints that they could not find what they want in the inventory (your sort by price feature did not work), my traffic to the site is almost all derived from SEM because you are way behind the curve in SEO even after 9 months and numerous calls with Jim Rucker, and most recently, I had a customer blow up in the box about their 0% financing that is shown on my incentives page that you created and framed in and I have no access to change. We haven’t had this offer in months. The list goes on, but I’ll keep it short.

You think you would get it right after it took you 6 months to create my website to begin with. I want you to give me a call because I am a very dissatisfied customer. And to handle me, you put me off to your dedicated “Customer Retention Officer” who had been there for less than a month. Why do you need someone dedicated to “retention”? You have my number or you can get it from Chelsea.

Here is a snapshot of our webstats and SEM efforts:
http://www.southfloridadodge.com/webstatsUD.pdf
http://www.southfloridadodge.com/DominatorUD.pdf

Ali Ahmed
Vice President
University Dodge

What I do offer is experience from both sides of the fence. Everything I posted is true. My point was, it is more likely that the the customer who walks on your lot is probably from the internet. Imagine if your dealer who spends let’s say $40,000 in print, allocated that money to sem, seo, online classifieds, etc. Your floor traffic would be much greater than it already is.

The car business has and always will be a people business. I disagree with the previous post stating that this is not what customers want. All I’m saying is, your calls and emails will continue to diminsh. Customers use the internet to research and find specific inventory.

Yes, I work for Autotrader.com. They are the company that recruited me when they heard I was looking for a change. I’m not experiencing any of the things people have been complaining about (including yourself). I’ve chosen not to get in a debate regarding ATC or cars.com.

So Alex, obviously you are an e-commerce manager…. I just hope you have the dealer’s best interest in mind and trying to drive “floor traffic”. I hope you’re not chasing the worst possible lead a dealer can have. Especially with a 5% national closing rate on email leads. This is why ATC and Cars.com have come out with enhancements to brand your dealership. We realize customers need to get in your door rather than your in-box.

You say you’re a tracking monster, but did you know you can take tracking even further? When someone does something on the Internet an IP address is attached to that thing they left behind. Even if you’re just browsing a website, your IP address can be found.

I did a little tracking of you because of your statement that dealers don’t need “Internet Departments” anymore, newspapers raping us, and watching the map views…..plus a couple of other things. It just all sounded so suspicious.

So “Former Dealer” whose name I will leave out….I know you work for AUTOTRADER.com…..I don’t think I need to say anymore.

My dealership was a relatively small import store. The last month I was there, we sold 62 vehicles. I was a tracking fool! If it happened in my store, I wanted to track it. My ISM, Sales people, and Sales manager told me that we had 6 “internet deals” for the month. What I didn’t tell them was that my Finance Manager was interviewing the customer also. Her findings were that 29 vehicles were sold because of the internet!!! (21 from AutoTrader.com, 6 from Cars.com, 2 from Dealix). 2 Years ago when I took over that store I cancelled all print and radio, signed with ATC and Cars.com, and increased sales 42%!

My point is this…EVERY CUSTOMER IS AN INTERNET CUSTOMER! I have felt for the last 2 years that this was the case. E-mails and phone calls were down! Using the internet for consumers is just second nature. They don’t need to call if they work or live within a reasonable distance of your store. I always felt the most important statistic you could get from ATC or Cars.com, were how many maps were viewed, or how many ads were printed.

Dealerships don’t need “Internet Departments” any more. Dealers and GM’s need to know that half of their sales are probably internet driven. ISM’s, E-Commerce managers, and BDC directors, are constantly trying to justify their jobs by measuring e-mails and calls. If you are still measuring your internet success on those 2 factors…WAKE UP!!!

I certainly hope I haven’t offended anyone! If I have I apologize. I really enjoy these posts and will keep reading. I do feel that on other threads there is a lot of bashing of 3rd party vendors. Some are warranted and others are not. However, the newspapers are the ones who have been raping us for years!

It sounds like you’re trying to sell me something. As for your question of “So what do we think can be done about it?” your solution certainly falls in one part of the equation: newer technologies. Other factors apply as well, such as the age old one: customer service. The only thing a dealer can do is differentiate himself from his competitors. If perception is king, then the first two factors crown the best perceived dealer (as always). Of course marketing and processes also play in, but the exact formula is too elusive to put on paper right now. Technologies are constantly changing and, in my opinion, we are still in what I like to call the “CSI Revolution”. This is changing processes for the better.

The “CSI Revolution”, as I define it, is the manufacturers’ decision to have customers rate their purchase experiences and base incentives off of those responses. It is driving the industry to raise the bar on customer service, and may one day rate us higher than lawyers in public perception.

I come from a family of car people. My grandfather started Checkered Flag in 1964, and my uncle is next in line to take over the business. Over lunch the other day, my uncle told me when he first got into the business it was “like riding a slow bike: it was easy to keep a constant pace and if something broke it was easy to fix yourself. Today is like driving a car. You have to drive defensively and when (not if) something breaks you need help to fix it.” His analogy speaks to the pace of the industry right now and sheds some light as to why some dealers are having difficulties embracing the technological changes amidst a “CSI Revolution”.

In a nutshell, your question cannot be answered specifically. I believe it will come down to a combination of technology and customer service with a good marketing campaign to reel them in. However, I can’t say whether this is a short term or long term solution. All we can do is stay on our toes and remain cognisant of the continuing changes.

Several others have touched upon it… Internet shoppers are just that… they are shopping on the Internet… then they hit dealer’s websites and are instructed to call or email.

When they get responses, then they encounter various processes designed to get them in to the showroom.

“Is this as good as vehicle shopping on the Internet is going to get?”

“Are 3rd party services like CarsDirect and ZAG going to disintermediate car dealers?”

As you observe, consumers are realizing that the bloom is off the rose of Internet lead submissions in terms of receiving a better buying experience.

So if the Internet lead submission strategy with exceptional followup efforts, processes and Internet Managers will not be long term solution, what is?

The owner of this blog suggested my company’s service may be one answer. We have a hybrid approach. We have a consumer-facing Desking + F+I system for a dealer to add on to their website. It is a hybrid approach since consumers have to verify their email address in order to get in (so you get the selling opportunity regardless as to whether they buy direct or not).

It hasn’t disrupted website lead volume one iota, so it is therefore capturing the consumers who weren’t submitting leads before. Dealer experience is also that the unsold consumers respond better to dealership follow up efforts. Lift comes from unsolds who buy + those who buy direct (and yes, some have).

But this isn’t an infomercial. My company’s hybrid eCommerce solution for a dealer is only one idea. If the lead model is declining in its effectiveness, what else will be effective? What is it that the consumers really want?

Build your car, name your price?
Trade appraisals?
eBay listings?
Live Chat?

I believe that today’s Internet sites are little more than advertising billboards since all “selling” occurs in the dealership… which is NOT what consumers want. I think that is your “WHY” Alex.

So what do we think can be done about it?

Of course, you are correct. What if you are a dealer who seems to be doing things right? Internet sales are way above the national average (statistically speaking) and your business is growing. However, you are seeing lead traffic drop, while site traffic is up, on the more Internet-savvy brands? Is this a reflection on yourself? Mr. Verde is correct on many levels, but there are realistic factors that even Joe cannot account for; nor Ziggler or any of the others.

I’m proposing the idea that we, as an industry, have turned the more tenured Internet shoppers off. The things we were practicing two, three, four years ago may or may not be practiced today. You’re absolutely correct; the customer has a long memory.

I think you and I are on the same page, but you’re hitting home harder. I’m not going to say that we are perfect, and I don’t think I am alone in this statement. Our customers have been expecting perfection forever, and we have not been able to deliver on that day in and day out since the inception of the “consumer Internet.” We have evolved, but did we lose the original Internet shoppers in our toddler days? Or have the more Internet savvy shoppers found other ways to get the information they need without contacting the dealer?

Thanks for the kind words, and yes, I am constantly thinking about what is next. When I get a better idea of how to handle this one, which I don’t think can be done by remanufacturing something on just a website, I’ll post it here.