Since the late 90’s our use of internet grew by leaps and bounds. Car Dealers response to growing use of the internet as a shopping and communication medium varied and changed quite a bit from the early days. You may be working at a dealership w/ separate internet and showroom sales departments. You may be working at a dealership that distributes internet leads to all the sales people. Regardless of what kind of setup your dealership has it is crucial to your long term success that you learn and understand as much as you can about internet sales.
Nowadays almost all of us are on the internet. We can access internet using not only our computers but our tablets and phones. Many of your customers are on their phones checking on the information you are giving them or shopping other stores while they are sitting in your office or walking the lot with you.
You are accessing this training program online. So internet is a big part of our lives now.
Opening a browser and searching online is the first thing many of your customers do when they need and want a new car. They can do all their research, get specifications of the models, watch videos, search inventory and contact with you online right on their phone. Internet saves your customers time. That’s why the average number of dealerships visited by a car shopper is about two. Most of the time, customers find their cars online, confirm availability and pricing before they visit a dealership. Many of them complete the credit applications and financing arrangements online so they an minimize the time they spent in the dealership. Some ask for home or office delivery.
Just like your walk-in customers, your customers who contact you using the internet are not all the same. There is a certain percentage who know what they want, how much they want to pay and ready to complete a deal. These are the customer who use internet to bypass you the car salesperson. They want to deal with someone with authority. You give them what they want at the price they want and you get a deal. There is a much bigger percentage of customers who use internet but they still need your services in picking out a right car and getting the right deal.
The internet is a resource customers to use to research, search, browse and shop. It also is a medium customer use to contact us. Just as the way you handle incoming phone calls how you handle email inquiries is very important.
The bottom line to keep in mind that you need bring these customers into your sales process by properly handling their email/phone inquiries using the same principles discussed.
Is there a separate internet sales process? No. The Sales Process outlined here starts w/ the step 1: Find new customers which includes responding to internet inquiries. There is an internet lead management process which outlines how to respond, communicate and follow up with internet leads. Your main goal with most internet leads is to build a rapport on the phone and by email to earn their trust, get them in to your store and bring them in to your sales process. Many salespeople who happened to believe price is the most important thing to internet customers, want to skip some parts of the sales process and go straight into the finance office. There will always be exceptions but they should be rare and they should not be prompted by you.
Customers who contact us online want the same things as the walk-in customers. A dealership and a salesperson who they can trust. You must earn their trust to earn their business. It all boils down to the relationship. Even a demanding internet customer who has been shopping 10 different dealerships will end up going to the dealership he or she trusts more even if that dealership’s price was not the lowest. The deal involves more than just the Price. Many car salespeople get the wrong idea when they are dealing with internet customers. They start thinking it is all about the Price, Price and Price for the internet customers. This is is absolutely wrong and it is costing them deals and gross.
Understand your customers’ online journey:
What happens when a customer decides that he wants and needs a new car and turns on his computer, tablet or starts checking on his smartphone? Why don’t you do it yourself now?
Search for a new and a used car using a variety of search terms that include year make model and phrases like “for sale,” “specials,” “deals,” “lease,” “price.” Include your location in some of these searches and pay attention to the search results. First 3-4 results will be search ads and they should be marked so. See who is spending money to get your customers to their website. Many times these will be dealerships but you will also see lead generation services who are working to get your customers contact info so they can sell it as a lead to the dealerships. Some other ones may be the major car listing services like Cars.com and Autotrader.com. Pay attention to their ad copy and note what they are promising.
Try several searches and click a few links. Avoid clicking on your own dealership’s ads though so you don’t cost any ad dollars to your dealership. Most people stay on the first page. What did you do? Which sites you ended up on and what did you think? Depending on what stage you are in your buying process, you may choose to spend more time on different sites. If you are still researching and gathering information you may check out the manufacturer’s website, youtube or other sites like Edmunds, Cars.com that include a lot of information. If you are getting closer to visiting a dealer, you will start searching for local dealers. Notice that the reviews for the dealers are displayed prominently. Do you think your customers are paying attention to those reviews? Absolutely! Many customers will eliminate a dealership just because of the overall review ratings or things mentioned in some of the reviews. How can you make this work for you? Ask all your customers to give you a review online. Ask them to mention your name. Make sure that they do this on their phones or at home not using your computer at the dealership.
What else would you do when it is time find a car with the options and color you are looking for? You will start looking at the online listings. You may also be tempted by the promises of great price and experience to click on some of those lead generator sites like Truecar. Check them out and see what they are offering to the customers. As you may have noticed all this information gets a little confusing and overwhelming for many people.
What if you have a car you want to trade? How do you go about getting a sense of how much you should be getting for it? Use the internet and figure this out on your own just as your customers are doing. When you land on sites offering online trade values, read their disclosures. The information you will find there will help you overcome objections that may come up about how much you are paying for your trade.
At some point they want to speak to a real live human being about their purchase. Some will call, some will email, some will fill out an online contact form and other will just drive in.
It is important to know where your customers coming from and what they see or experience online. If they called or walked in ask them how they found you, and if they reply internet get them to be a little more specific and tell you the web site(s) they have been to. If you are handling an email lead, always pay attention to the lead source.
IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT PEOPLE, PRODUCT, PRICE
Regardless of the way customers find your dealership ad the way they contacted you the basics are the same. You need to sell yourself, your dealership, your car, anything and everything that has a value before you sell the price and terms.
Well, that does not sound possible with the internet customers, does it? They are on the internet and every online car website including yours is about pricing and they want a price or they won’t talk to you. Is that right? If you really think so ask your dealer principal to turn your website into an automated price quote system and see how it works out. Hint: You will sell fewer cars and make a lot less money.
Does that mean, you don’t provide internet customers with price quotes? Again in overwhelming majority of internet customer are looking for a place and a person they can trust to give their business. That’s why many of them end up contacting you through sites like Truecar and Costco that promise to refer them to pre-screened, certified dealers offering guaranteed pricing along with a hassle-free experience. Basically they earn the customers trust first and then they transfer it to you. Go back and do a few searches online and read their online ads. Click to their websites and see what they say and promise. Can you make that kind of claim to customers who contact you from your own website?
So how do you handle pricing with internet customers? We will have more specific information applying to different circumstances. For the time being, since every store may have a different policy about how to put together an internet price quote, check with your managers.
Important thing is that on every interaction, by phone or email, you have with internet customers you must focus on establishing rapport, making a good impression, putting them at ease, earning their trust and getting them to visit your store. We will have more posts about how to do this when you are communicating by email.
Keep in mind that not every internet customers is the same. One may know everything about the car you have including incentives and pricing. He may want to know the total cost with complete breakdown before he visits your store. One may have a general idea but no specifics. He may need financing. Another one may have a trade she wants out. It is up to you to find out who you are dealing with. How do you do that? By asking questions.