Please God, What Does it Take to Sell a Car?
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Joe Webb, Kim Clouse, and Gilbert Chavez teamed up to deliver the seminar "Please God, What Does it Take to Sell a Car?" at the Digital Dealer Conference. During this session, they talk of the plight of the automotive industry and how dealers must make digital footprints in their market to reach the online customer base.
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Please God, What Does it Take to Sell a Car?
- 1. Please, God… What Does It Take To Sell A Car?
- 2. When is my next sale? Where have the customers gone? Why can’t I get more leads? Can anyone out there hear me?
- 3. Joe Webb
- 4. Kim Clouse
- 6. What on Earth is going on?
- 7. Where is it predicted to go?
- 10. YOU! You must be God-like Omniscient Omnipotent Omnipresent
- 11. To Survive and Thrive in Tumultuous Times You must carry your customers to the sale You must carry your ownership and management You must carry your vendors You Must Make Your Own Footprints
- 13. How Do I Bring More Customers Into My Store? Find their digital footprints
- 14. Deconstruct the Lead Determine their gender What time did they send the lead? Where do they live? What website/source did they submit from? Does their email address give anything away? Bearsfan77@yahoo.com
- 15. Follow their Digital Footprints Online Google Linked In Facebook Myspace Twitter Switchboard
- 16. For Example
- 17. And Last but not Least
- 18. Omniscience – All-Knowing Use every bit of information gathered to personalize a response by email and phone
- 19. Email(Incentives) Phone(Inventory and Special Discounts) Chat(Immediate questions answered) Video Chat(Skype or ooVoo) Carry them to the Showroom
- 20. Use Their Chosen Method
- 21. Omnipotent Dealers are doing one of three things Reverting back to the old-school media that they employed in the past Dedicating every dollar to internet initiatives Trying to save their way to a profit
- 22. How do you carry your owner? Dedicate yourself to creating the necessary reports What Your owner/management should care about:ROI, Cost per Sale, Closing Ratios, Front and Back Gross Profits (all by source) What You should care about:Click-Thrus, Impressions, Conversion Rates, Lead-to-Appt Ratio, Appt-to-Sale Ratio, Average Response Times, and Quality of Response
- 23. Earn Your Place Beside the Throne If you make a promise to deliver reports at certain times of the month and you make the dates…If you are consistent…If you show proven results… you’ll be handed the keys to the digital advertising kingdom.
- 24. Save Your Dealer’s Reputation Google Alerts(DBA, other dealer names, your location) Reputation Management sites(Dealerrater, CarFolks) Employee Internet Evaluations(“Trade appraisal” evaluations of the staff that handles leads and the staff that handles customers) Customer Testimonials(On the websites, in your e-newsletters, onto your networking pages) Survey Your Customers before the OEM(From your CRM or Survey Monkey – free)
- 25. Omnipresent It is impossible to saturate the online market, but it is very easy to be several places at once.
- 26. How to Carry Your Vendors Focus on your utilization reports Ask for regular training and refresher courses on their products Keep your own sales staff trained on the vendors Listen to every vendor offering to learn of new market trends
- 27. Where is Everywhere? Inventory Sites-Cars.com-AutoTrader-Websites of local newspaper/radio/TV stations’ auto programs-Ebay/Craigslist-UsedCarsof(YourTown)-Everycarlisted SEO/SEM Campaigns for the search engines Third party lead site aggregators Digital display ads (banner, skyscraper, box ads) Social Networking Sites
- 28. Free Digital Footprints Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Ning
- 29. Put your Digital Footprint throughout your house Digital Signage Interactive Kiosks Vikuiti
- 30. Is Selling Cars Rocket Science? OR OR YES NO
- 31. Please, God…What Does It Take To Sell A Car?!
- 32. WWJD GoPaperless
- 33. This is your Backyard
- 34. Stop Praying! It is time we get religious about selling cars.
- 35. Please, God… What Does It Take To Sell A Car? By Joe Webb Gilbert A. Chavez and Kim Clouse
Notas del editor
- Please, God…What Does It Take To Sell A Car?
- Every owner, Internet Manager, and sales person are praying – asking the same questions. They want to be saved. When is my next sale? Where have the customers gone? Why can’t I get more leads? What solution am I missing? How long can this dry spell last? What tie should I wear?Well, brothers and sisters, we are here to SAVE YOU! 15% or more on your car insurance. Amen, Hallelujah – oh wait.
- Introductions
- In 2008, average vehicle sales was down 33%. So far, this year, not getting any better. The only expected improvement from last year, so says the industry experts, is a brief reprieve of used car sales. Still, since the majority of us represent new car brands, it is imperative we slow this descent.
- J.D. Power & Associates predicts 2009 sales of 11.4 million, which would be a crushing 30 percent fall from the peak. Other forecasters think sales could be even lower. Edmunds is saying the first half of the year will be the worst. They say that rebates and other incentives currently average nearly $3,000 per car, the highest level they’ve ever measured. On some trucks, SUVs and other slow sellers, totals giveaways approach $10,000. Loans will continue to be scarce, dealers will disappear, and by this time next year, there may even be fewer automakers.
- The average owner looks like this now. Pretty soon, they’ll look like this. And remember, they will be the last to leave the dealership. When asked to give the general session, we aimed high. We want to make sure you take something away that you can immediately utilize to change the effectiveness of yourself within your dealership. How to survive and thrive in tumultuous times? The real question I asked myself is how can a dealer, NAY, how can an ISM have a dramatic impact on the entire showroom’s sales. So I sought guidance.
- Has anyone seen this before? No, it is not about an owner walking along the beach during another OEM-sponsored “trip” that you were once again denied though you contributed to the success of the store more than they ever have. Without getting to specific, it is about a person – let’s say an owner – that believes they are alone, without any help, during these trying times when they are actually carried through the most difficult times of their store’s life by a higher power. Who is the higher power in this poor metaphor?
- You. Only you can help overcome this epidemic. You are the higher power. You must be God-like. Take control. Take ownership of your department and your entire store’s efforts online. You must become the “God” of your store. You must be holier than though. Stick to your conviction. Hold onto your beliefs. Don’t let the non-believers, NAY, the naysayers steer you from the truth.
- We are going to show you the way to survive and thrive in tumultuous times. We’ll show you how to carry your customers to the sale, carry your management and ownership through the economic crunch and carry the relationships with vendors by utilizing their services to the fullest. But, much like the Footprints photo, you must make your own footprints.
- You must make digital footprints. We are going to tell you how do accomplish your store’s goals, make them your own, and make your impact in your store bigger. This can be done by making digital footprints outside of your stores and inside your stores.
- Follow their digital footprints. Everyone leaves them. How thoroughly are you deconstructing your leads? If your dealership is your temple, than internet leads are like the pews. There is no rest without them.
- First you must deconstruct the lead. Determine their gender. Know that their gender may play a role in their sensitivity to how you approach them. But don’t assume solely based on a name – see Kim.What time did they send the lead? Are they nite owls? If it was submitted at 3am, may not want to wake them at 9:15. Depending on when the sent in the inquiry, I always had one of my many follow up emails and calls scheduled based on that time. I’d send an automated email about 23 hours after the lead was sent in (and several future contacts about the same time) because it is likely if they are on their computer at 10am one day, they’ll be on around the same time. And I would call almost 24 hours later exactly hoping to catch them at their desk.Does where they live tell you anything about them? Have you sold someone from their neighborhood or familiar with their area?What was their source – or what provider sent you the email? We all know the variances in closing ratios based on the source, but take into consideration if it helps you know more about their habits.And does their email address give anything away? A company name, for instance, that you may have a corporate pricing agreement with, or Bearsfan77@yahoo.com which means they were likely born in 77 or graduated then and that they have excellent taste in football teams.All of this was my own personal lead scoring. But then you must take it further.
- What can you learn about where they work from Linked In? Try to relate. What can you find out on Facebook or Myspace (some have open pages opposed to private). What are they thinking about on twitter? And if you know nothing about them – go to switchboard.com and try to get an address, phone number, anything they haven’t provided.
- For example, let’s assume some people that are attending this conference were real customers and submitted a lead to your store. Stan “the Man” Sher – everyone knows this guy. He’s on social networking sites like warts on a witch. But looking at his site, what can you glean from it? What could you talk to him about by email or phone – lying or not?
- Our very own Kim Clouse. This is what happens when you don’t check the powerpoint the day of the presentation. Let’s see – as it stands real time – online – Kim’s interests include pink vehicles. He likes listening to the Jonas Brothers. His favorite movies you ask? (read). He’s probably most upset that I listed him at 62 years of age. But this is just one last example of the wealth of information available online by just looking. It takes five minutes to search and is worth the time to learn information that leads to building rapport. I wanted to show every consultants page as an example, but I was surprised that so many of these “Internet Experts” are not yet in tune with the power of social networking. They don’t have pages. (I bet you they will now that we called them out though.)
- That is the first step in becoming God-like. Omniscience. You learned it through their footprints. If they like sports, drop in the phone conversation about a team or game. If they work close, offer to bring a vehicle to them. And put in something personal about yourself. Not your dealership yet. Yourself.
- After utilizing the information in your communication with the customer, go above and beyond. Think outside the earthly limitations set upon your internet department. Ask them how they’d like to be contacted. Sure – you always ask email or phone. For email, ask them if you can continue to send them updates on incentives as they change – this allows you to follow up long-term. And send them video messages. A webcam costs $30 and it takes 30 seconds to send a personal video message – if your CRM can’t support video, either drop them for being behind the times or use a free site that does it for you. For phone, tell them that sometimes time is of the essence and, in rare occassions, you get in the perfect vehicle for them. Ask if it would be okay to call them about inventory changes and special discounts available to them. Ask them if they want to chat. Sir, Miss, Madam, Angelina, if you are like many of my customers, you want your information fast – if you ever have a question, know that you can simply IM me and we can chat at anytime – (even if you don’t employ a chat software – you can use free ones.) And offer to video chat. Sir, Madam, Miss, Angelina, I know that often it is important that you feel comfortable with the person you are dealing with, especially for something as important as a new car – I can gladly communicate with you through video chat at your discretion – We use skype or oovoo. Both are free to your dealer and you cannot understand the power of video chatting a prospect until you do it. Closing ratio is better than anything I’ve ever tried.
- Use their chosen method. Whatever they answer to the previous question, stick by it. However, you shouldn’t contact them with various methods if you haven’t asked. For instance, check out this stat. Ask them if they want mobile updates. Look into programs that focus on mobile or text alerts – whether it be transferring your inventory to their handheld device or simply texting them when their vehicle is done for service, there are great mobile tools out there. You show your customers respect when you take their desired method of communication into consideration. Start with the basics – if they send you an email lead, it is okay to call, but only after you’ve sent an email first (unless they put in the comment section – call me). That’s the basics. Mobile alerts, video chat, those are going above and beyond.
- Omni-present – all-powerful and all-seeing. Even if you’ve never been given the power – ask for it. Sit down and write down a detailed marketing plan and present it to ownership. Show initiative and make sure it is backed with factual content. With knowledge, clarity, and commitment – you can show why you are willing to assume control of the digital marketing decisions. Without an internet-savvy professional assisting an owner (except for the rare cases where the owner is the internet-savvy professional), dealers are doing one of three things – Reverting back to the old-school media that they employed in the past – newspapers, tv, radio, billboards. Don’t get us wrong – even we believe there is a time for everything. Anyone ever heard of the Rocky Mountain News, though? 150 year old paper – just went out of business. Here is the direction of newspaper sales – so don’t tell me readership is up. Unfortunately, these dealers say ‘Hey, when we were doing well in the late 90’s, we were in the paper everyday. And on the radio. If it worked then, it can still work now, right?’ Wrong.Or, dealers are dedicating every dollar to online advertising. Better than the option above, but still, you cannot reach everyone online. And lastly, and this one really upsets me, dealers are trying to save their way to a profit. They are cutting their budgets in half or more thinking they can turn a profit in their departments. But much like dating, you have to give a little to get a little. Same holds true for this. You must spend to win. If you spend smart.
- You can be a savior to your dealership by protecting its reputation. Stand at the pearly gates of online activity and monitor the action, controlling what you can. Google alerts – easy, simple. Everyone knows how to google? Then googlegoogle alerts. Type in your DBA and maybe auto dealer and your location. See what is being written about you. In addition to this, if your name pops up or if a certain topic is being discussed in a forum, take the initiative and respond. Drop in a link you your store and say “here at ABC Motors, abcmotors.com, we help people find great deals every day. Also helps SEO.) Reputation Management – Dealerrater, Carfolks. Keep an eye on what is written about you in these sites. Or be more involved and sign up with them. This is a good way of being proactive opposed to simply reactive.Execute employee evaluations of your staff and the sales staff helping your internet leads and in-house internet customers. Make it easy. Employee evals are rarely done because so few managers know how to perform them. Set it up like a trade appraisal for them. Each “option” is something they feel they are great at. If they leave it blank, it means it needs some work. Leave a section for note. Put how many miles the sales person has on them – you know, time with the company. Ask the employees to fill them out and ask the managers to fill out one for their take on the same employee. Then get together and share what they excel in and what they don’t. You’d be surprised how many conflicting “specialties” some people believe they have. But this is a good basis to determine if this person should really be handling leads or internet customers – and what they need to work on to improve – or to get back in the good graces of the house.Customer testimonials – on your website, in your e-newsletters, on the networking sites – which we will talk more of shortly.And survey your customers before the OEM. Sir, Madam, Miss, Angelina, you will be receiving a survey online about your experience. It is our report card. Please fill it out as promptly and honestly as possible. We’d really appreciate it. If an OEM’s survey reaches a customer 10 days later, your survey is sent out at 5 days after the purchase. The customer may submit it back assuming it was the OEM one which is a good thing. If they sang your praises, ask if you can use it as a customer testimonial and alert them that that survey they just completed was from a third-party, but the important one from the OEM is still coming. If they crucified you, try to correct it. Change their beliefs about you. Work to make them happy, but don’t tell them it wasn’t the OEM survey. When the other one comes, they’ll usually say – ‘I’m not filling out another one of these things’ and trash the survey instead of you. Some CRMs have these automated surveys as an application – or go to Survey Monkey where you can build your own surveys online for free.
- Being everywhere at once. We are talking about your online advertising. Your digital footprint. It is virtually impossible to be everywhere at once. Or rather it is impossible to be everywhere at once virtually. That is, without a significant budget. However, vendors are bending over backward to be a part of your store’s success, but dealership personnel rarely bend over backward to ensure the solution’s success.
- I can walk into the exhibitor’s hall right now and get behind the table of every vendor here and tell you one good reason why you should have their product in your store. There are great offerings that your dealership could benefit from here. However, with the current budget crunch, one good reason is not good enough to bring aboard a new product. So maximize what you have. Read the slide.
- The more you can get your inventory seen, the better. Cars.com, AutoTrader, Some of your local media types have their own auto classified programs online. Ebay/Craigslist – usually it is just an added cost for your inventory management tool to push it there. Otherwise, several vendors offer the same ability. In many metropolitan areas, there is UsedCarsof(yourtown) available that pushes your inventory to the public. Or check out a free site, Everycarlisted.com. Talk to Meg Strout who is probably walking around here. EverycarListed allows dealers to put up ALL of their inventory totally free because it shares the same business model as a yellow pages for instance. Free? How are you not doing that yet? By the way, if you are not doing video, but you have pics of your cars online, then it is only because you are unwilling to pay. Usually your inventory management tool will convert your pictures to narrated video for an added cost. If you want to “get into” video – this is the easiest and most basic way. All it costs is a little cash.Since your website is your most important tool, try to get it seen by everyone you can. To help you with that, you must be high on the search engines – SEO/SEM campaigns. Make sure you can be easily found on your third party lead aggregator’s site. You can also have banner ads, skyscrapers and the like on sites, but keep an eye on click-thrus. Non-industry related sites don’t always show the ROI you hope to achieve. And lastly, unlike many internet consultants, make sure you are on the social networking sites. All of this equals what it takes to make a digital footprint outside of your store.
- Now, if we’ve already established the need to track your customers online, why wouldn’t you want to be on there with them anyway? Where they can find you ? Try to make friends online. Being in their favorite sites will endear yourself to them. It helps build trust. And go to ning. I know many of you are on Ralph Paglia’s Automotive Digital Marketing site – a great resource – but you should make your own ning site for your dealer. Every customer that is sold should be sent an invite to join and have your sales staff tell them by signing up, they will learn of special discounts for service and parts. Incentify them to be a part of it. Wendell Dossett, an ISM speaking at this conference, created one for his dealership, Beck Toyota. Does it catch right way? No…but Wendell will tell you that is can help.
- Now once you’ve made an impression online, it is time you make a digital footprint in your store. You have televisions that your customers watch in the service waiting room, maybe a finance waiting room. How is it possible that you allow regular television programming to reach them while they are in your house? They are watching your competitors’ ads and other manufacturers’ commercials yet they are in your house. Your own loyal customer base is your most important. Consider converting those television monitors to digital signage displays. If you are spending money on television commercials, you shouldn’t just have to pay to run them on the tv and be done with it. Get those videos and have them running in your showroom and throughout your dealership. Your customers should be immersed in your dealership’s message – no one else’s. And all these upcoming technologies can allow you to do this. It just comes down to how forward thinking your dealership really is. But your own loyal customers are your most important commodity. You’ve already got a relationship with them and that is the most important thing because sales will still always come down to relationships. It isn’t rocket science.
- Ding DingDing! Kim’s favorite line, folks. It’s not rocket science. Today’s battle – current title-holder, Kim Clouse vs. Joe Webb. As always, loser buys the beer tonight. Kim, you have thirty seconds to convince the audience that selling cars online is, indeed, NOT rocket science. Go…Well, Gilbert, it’s like I always say. If you make a friend, you have a customer for life. People trying to reinvent the wheel are going to fail because relationships and a good handshake is what puts rubber on the road. Get back to the basics, sell some value, sell yourself, sell your dealership, and smile. The rest takes car of itself. That’s all your time.Joe – 30 seconds to you. You may not think it is rocket science, but it is mighty close. Just look at the digital signage and vikuiti products we just mentioned, RSS feeds, reciprocal links, impression to click-thru monitoring, calculating ROI and cost per sale, geo-targeting and geo-locating of banner ads, keyword-specific customer email campaigns, site maps, search spiders, html code, and lead scoring. One of the top lead scoring companies, Trilogy Smart Leads, has an almost mathematic/scientific equation when scoring their leads. They Kim – 15 seconds to counter. (Kim stands mouth open).It looks like we have a new winner!
- Please, God, what does it take to sell a car?RP – Somebody called?I – Hey, God. Thanks for answering.RP – No biggie.I – You do come in many shapes and sizes. Looks like you chose the Ralph Paglia costume today.RP – Yeah. Trying to keep a low profile.I – You’re not too busy are you?RP – No. Don’t have a lot going on. Catching up on watching Lost – got it Tivo’d. Still have no idea what is going on with this show. So what’s up?I – It’s about the automotive industry.RP – Welp, (looks at watch) I’ll talk to you later then.I – You’re not getting away that easy. (RP clicks fingers, “Damn”)RP – How can I help?I – I understand you own some car dealerships in heaven.RP – Yeah. A chain of domestics and one import. Not the easiest gig.I – It’s heaven…what could be wrong?RP – It’s these me-forsaken internet customers. They’re just so picky that they end up driving my sale‘s staff, you know, my “angels”, crazy. It’s hard to find good staff nowadays. Even if they are angels.I – Can you give me an example?RP – I’ll show you.(Cut to a scene of Angels losing their tempers)I – I guess it is true what they say. “On earth as it is in heaven.”RP – You know, I used to invent most things in the universe. Now, I just find it difficult keeping up with Steve Jobs. It’s like he doesn’t sleep.I – What are you going to do? Thinking about putting your son in charge?RP – Blessed no. He’s not ready for this type of headache.I – As God, what do you find the hardest about running a successful dealership and profitable internet department?RP – Well, nothing is supposed to be “hard” for me. I’m God. However, I would have rethought getting involved in auto sales if I knew how impossible it is to please everyone.I – For instance?RP – Pay plans – I pay my guys too well, my investors complain. Price vehicles too aggressively online, my salespeople complain. Sell too many cars, inventory gets low and customers bitch. It is like I can’t win.I – You’re God. You don’t control your allocation?RP – Not on the import side. You ever work with them? They’re brutal. How am I going to sell all of these 4wd SUVs? It’s 75 and sunny everyday here. Makes no sense.I – As God, assuming you were given total control, what would you do to better the culture of car sales in heaven?RP- personal answerI – Do you think car sales will ever get back to the greatness of yesteryear?RP – Beats the devil out of me. Q&A with the devilJH – Did I hear someone call my name?I – Hello Devil– How are you doing today?JH – Everyone’s miserable which means I’m lovely.I – We are having a hard time up here selling cars. Any advice?JH – Nope. But I have a slew of car salesmen down here I could ask.I – Didn’t you run a dealership in hell?JH – Yes. And I was very successful too. I paid my staff peanuts, literally. Peanuts. I cracked every customer. F&I made a fortune. We did very well for a long time. Hell used to be the perfect place for a dealership.I – What changed? JH - They started measuring CSI scores and the OEMs shut me down. S.O.B.s. Just wait until I get them down here. Their toilet seats are going to be made of pineapple skins.I – Lucifer…JH – Please, call me Lucy.I – Lucy, if you still ran a dealership, what would you do to continue to sell cars online AND be profitable while doing it?JH – personal answerI – One last question… I just spoke to God and he was dressed up like Ralph Paglia. JH – RalphyPags? Know him well. He stole my hat.I – Well, my question is…why are you dressed up like that?JH – What? The mustache? Every evil person has a mustache.I – No. The devil outfit.JH – Oh, yeah. That. Truth is. I have to wear it now. I’m working at Party City.I – Surely you can get a job more suited to you than a costume shop.JH – You’d be surprised how hard it is to find work when you have “Satan” listed on your resume.I – Have you tried the UAW?(JH looks at camera as if he had an epiphany and quickly runs of camera)
- It is time to ask yourself WWJD. What would Joe do? Truth is, everything we strive toward should be leading to one thing. Something I feel strongly about. I want to see a paperless dealership. It is possible. Just look at the sales floor. Virtual brochures opposed to paper brochures. PDA’s for the sales reps opposed to the used car lists they pull out of their back pockets. Don’t have a fax machine, have an e-fax. I mean, how quickly is paperwork misplaced anyway? Not a copy of a driver’s license from a copier, but an image of a driver’s license from a scanner. For that matter, scan, don’t copy. There are already online negotiation tools out there like Widestorm…did you know there are also CRM’s working on online negotiation software between the manager’s desk and the sales desk? Require your vendors to send invoices through email and accept online bill pay. And then there is the finance office – biggest waste of paper in the dealership (next to the service department though these tactics can apply to them to). Average cost of paperwork – sheer paper supplies – used per sold car is $2. So this is what you do. Buy an electronic signature pad for $100. They sign on the pad – opposed to the triplicate forms. Don’t print their paperwork, but send it through a secure email system and drop them a copy on a flash drive. You can get flash drives for under $1 wholesale. They have two records of it then and you have a confirmed receipt they accepted the signed paperwork. Back office can access the same files so no need for paperwork there. And call your state government to make sure they accept digital signatures. It has been a bill in Congress urging states to accept it since 1999 and the new administration is pushing for the same transfer of information. You’d save your dealer a buck or two on every single sale and be saving the environment. This is doable. These are the types of things that I think about. This is what we are striving for. Do your part. Make your footprint on the environment. Leave a digital footprint on the planet, not a paper trail.
- If we agree that the internet age has changed how we do business, then know that your dealer’s backyard is not a 20 mile radius around the store – but this is your backyard.Do your part in taking care of it.
- When asked to give the general session, we didn’t want to sell anything. That’s why you haven’t seen ourlogo in any corner. We are not here to promote ourselves – we are here to change the way dealers do business. We hope you share our dream…share our goals. And we hope you have a great conference.
- I’m Joe Webb. I’m Gilbert Chavez. And I’m Kim Clouse.