Not that many years ago, owners, managers and other salespeople laughed at the Internet team. Now those Internet folks are running the dealership. What are they doing differently? This is my
perception of how different an Internet Manager is vs a Tradition Manager.
How Do Internet Managers Look At Advertising? These Internet folks are not buying garbage leads and they are not advertising for vehicles they do not have. They are radically reducing the ad budget, because they know how to earn traffic with good content pages, blog posts, social posts, video and reels. This type of traffic is 2x to 3x better than AdWords and works long after the budget for them runs out. They will still use AdWords as needed to generate leads quickly
and when they need them to drive traffic to new pages and posts.
How Do Internet Managers Look At Their Staff? These Internet folks are looking for Worker Bees not Waiter Bees. In the old days, sales staff waited for a customer to come in, managers waited for a deal and finance waited to do the paperwork.
Worker Bees vs Waiter Bees. In the past, sales staff waited for a customer, managers waited for an offer & finance waited for the paperwork.
How Do Internet Managers Take Care Of Customers? Internet Managers want to take the very best care of every customer and give them a wonderful experience that will keep them, their families and their friends coming back over and over.
How Do Internet Managers Hire & Train Sales Staff? The Internet manager wants to train sales staff to constantly sell 20+ a month, hire experienced sales staff that consistently sell 20+ a month
and they want to create an atmosphere where 20+ cars sales staff and their 20 car friends want to work.
How Does Holz Chevrolet in Hales Corner WI Sell 1000+ Cars A Month? Their store is in a small town of 6,000 people. This store would not let me interview for a sales position unless I could prove with vouchers that I had sold 20 cars a month every month for the last year. I was the first hire in 6 years. They had no ad budget and a 96% repeats and referrals close rate. One thing they did have was a huge budget to take care of sales staff and customers.
How Do Internet Managers Handle Follow Up? The Internet folks are follow-up machines, and they teach all the staff to do the same. Once the owner of a Ford dealership asked me why do you follow up after two weeks? I pulled my last 100 sales: First: 33% purchased in 30 days, Second: 33% purchased in 31-90 days and Third: 33% purchased in 91-365 days. Our job is to help
all staff to understand this rule. "We Will Follow Up - Until They Buy or Die."
Our job is to help all staff to understand this rule. "We Will Follow Up - Until They Buy or Die."
How Do Internet Managers Look At Customer Satisfaction? Once they get a person into the store whether they buy or not, they will do everything in their power to make sure that each customers has a great experience. They do this because they know how valuable a customer that has been to the store is. They will get all of their information and follow up with them for as long as they can.
How Do Internet Managers Look At An Unhappy Customer? Internet managers understand how valuable a happy customer is to the repeat and referral side of the business. They also do not want any unhappy customers that might leave a bad review or tell all of their friends and family how bad it was at XYZ dealership.
Why Are The Staff Afraid To Answer The Phone? My first day at a new dealership I realized no one would answer the phone, no service staff, no sales staff, no managers and they did not have a receptionist. As I started answering the phone at this store, I realized there were so many upset customers. I told all the sales staff, if anyone is upset for any reason transfer them to me and I will take care of them. We were missing all kinds of Sales, Service and Parts sales because everyone was afraid of all of the upset customers.
A large company had dropped of their lease end vehicle, unfortunately no one grounded the vehicle, and they called every week for a year. This is not what we are looking for!
How Do Internet Managers Look At Reviews? Internet managers understand you have to look at reviews both good and bad as a way to improve your operation. They also believe that after a sale and after a no sale, follow up is needed, to see what customers liked and did not like. The same is
true of vendors, and employees, we need to get input on what other companies are doing good and bad. We also need to know the real reason a customer did not buy or an employee left.
How Do Internet Managers Look At Response Time? Internet managers understand the best way to catch an Internet customer is when they are still on their phone or computer. Most manager have zero tollerance for not answering a phone call or getting outside to meet a customer on the lot as soon as possible. Yet why do they think it is OK to let an Internet leads sit without a quality response? We Say In The Internet World "He or She That Get There First Wins". You want to impress an Internet customer? Get to them as fast as possible!
We Say In The Internet World "He or She That Get There First Wins"
How Do Internet Managers Feel About Taking A Turn? Almost all managers will require a salesperson that is going no where with a customer to turn them to another sales person and then to a manager before they let the customer leave. Internet managers understand that if a customer does not respond to the sales person, then the Internet manager needs to take a turn and then the BDC needs to take a turn until we get in contact with the customer. Do not be afraid to take a turn on a customer that is not responding.
I have been an Internet Salesperson or Internet Manager for 20+ years and it has been a very interesting journey to see all the changes. What have you seen that has helped you in your automotive sales journey? Vincent Hoss LinkedIn