We have been making some changes to our internet process lately. We are evaluating our closing percentages to make sure we are capturing enough deals during each phase of the buying cycle. We do a really good job tracking accurate data, so I feel like our closing percentages are close to accurate.

     The problem that we are having is that it has been 5 years since we have done a complete overhaul of our internet process. We feel like the data for national averages that we collected back in 2006 is potentially less accurate than it once was.  Here are the #'s that we have according to Polk reports:

• 56% of new vehicle leads will purchase a new vehicle
• 42% will purchase a vehicle in less than 30 days
• 16% will buy between 31-60 days
• 10% will buy between 61-90 days
• 32 % will buy in 91 days or more

     I was hoping you guys could clarify to see if those closing percentages are still accurate.  Also, I had a few more questions:

    At what point in the buying cycle to they eventually switch interest to a used vehicle?

    What % of the leads actually buy the same make/model that they inquired about?

    Do you guys offer any giveaways at any point of the internet process to entice them to make a decision sooner?

     I have never been a huge believer in negative reinforcement. The tough thing as a manager is to figure out what actions to take when you have repeatedly told your guys what to do and they fail to listen.  So what is the best way to handle a situation like that?

     We have been trying for years to fix an ongoing problem we have had at the dealership. We ask our sales consultants to turn in a "guest trek card" every time they talk to a guest. It is a very easy thing to do, but they still struggle to stay on top of it and get all their cards turned in. There is always a million excuses as to why they weren't turned in (none of which I buy). I have tried to help them see the big picture and to understand the importance of tracking all of our customers, but they don't seem to care. I have taken half deals, but they don't seem to care. My final attempt was to put together a negative spiff program associated with turning cards in every day. As you may guess, it went over like a ton of bricks when I threatened their money.

     Unfortunately for them, I'm at the point where I don't care anymore and I don't see any other solution to the problem. I thought about a positive spiff program but I feel like I shouldn't have to pay them to do their job. But maybe there is another solution and I'm failing to come up with it.... Any thoughts?

We just got another price bump from our vendor that we pull credit through. We have been pretty happy with them, but we feel like they are starting to get a little bit on the expensive side.

We are considering switching to another company if the cost is lower. I'm not really sure if there are that many companies available. I thought I would throw a quick post to see what other companies you guys use and what kind of fees they charge you. Let me know please...

     I have been hearing quite a bit lately about a website called truecar.com. I know enough about the company because of the information that I have read on their website.

     One of the features that they offer is to show an average of the previous transactions on the same unit that you are considering buying. I really like the sound of a tool like that and I am starting to think that it could have a few similarities to Vauto.  We would like to see if that data of previous transactions is accurate and how they get the information. I would also like to know where they are getting the information from. Does anybody know anything about this company above and beyond what you can read on their website?

     Also, they have a feature where dealers can sign up with them and the dealer will receive leads that will send the people to their store. Next question: Does that work? Is it worth the money for how many leads they send you? Let me know if you can shed any light on the subject please!

     We have always had etch (ATP, VTR, etc) as a pre-loaded back-end product the entire 10 years that I have worked at this store.  We haven't really had any issues selling the product and usually have around an 80% penetration between new and used.

     You would think with the success that we continue to have with etch, we wouldn't consider making a change. We are though! We are having more and more customers question what it is lately and they seem to be way more educated about it.  We figured we could get ahead of the curve a little bit and replace our etch with something a little less common.

     After looking in to it for a while, we have decided that pre-paid key replacement program would be our best bet. We aren't willing to drop the etch yet though. It is still really profitable and it is too risky to give up that guaranteed back-end money. So, we have decided to test the waters for a while to see if our customers respond positively toward it.

     I decided to throw this post out there to see what other people's opinions are regarding etch. I assume most dealerships either currently offer the product or have offered it in the past. Have you guys had much success with etch? Do you still use it? If you don't use etch, what is a viable alternative? Let me know your thoughts...

     We are considering make a couple of changes to the way we handle our internet leads. First I will explain a little bit about what we have done with our leads in the past vs. now and explain our logic.

     When we got a lead in the past, we would make an attempt to call the customer and set an appointment first. If we failed to make contact over the phone with the customer, we would then send out a price quote with 2 quotes on a new vehicle and 1 quote on a used vehicle the same day we got the lead.

     For the last 2 years or so, we have done the exact same process with the exception that we switched to sending the 3 price quotes after 5 days. The reason why we made the switch is because we partnered with a company called Travor and they recommended doing the quotes after 5 days to give us some time to build rapport with the customer and identify what they were actually looking for.

     We have averaged an 11% closing percentage on our internet leads this year but we have a goal at 15%. We feel like we are losing some deals by not doing a price quote up front but that is purely speculation. Also, we haven't closed our leads from Ford at a very high % lately. We feel like if we make the switch back to sending the quote the first day, that we will be able to push that percentage closer to where we want to be. Any thoughts???

     As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we are in the process of making some changes to our new car pricing strategy. Thanks to a lot of feedback, it looks like we are going to move forward with implementing a completely different strategy for pricing cars online.

     As we have been ironing out the details with these changes, we have questioned whether or not it is a good idea to keep our prices for our new inventory on the dealership's website. Being a bottom-line-price store, it has always seemed like the logical thing to post your best price on our website along with photos and info on the car. We now feel like our competition is using our prices from our website to determine where we have certain lines priced and they are using those prices in order to one-up us with their internet pricing. We are pretty sure we want to take our pricing off our website so we can keep them guessing but we are reluctant because we know having that information posted is a big deal to most consumers. Another reason why we think it is the best route to go, is because one of the biggest online dealerships in the state ( different manufacturer ) don't price their cars on their website either. But who's to say we will see the same success.

     So.... What is the best solution? I know that most local dealers keep their prices posted but I would be curious to hear about any success stories on the contrary. Let me know what you guys think.

     We have had an eternal struggle at our dealership with getting sales guys to attend the BDC on a regular basis. I'm sure most dealers have had similar difficulties convincing their salespeople to leave the floor for an hour every day and go to the BDC. We have a few guys that see the vision and have bought in to the benefits of their efforts in the BDC. The problem is trying to get all of our salespeople to buy in so we don't feel like we are forcing them to go up.

    I feel like we have tried just about everything to get them to cooperate. We have tried: letting them make their own schedule, trying to show them success stories because of hard work in the BDC, reminding them constantly, negative reinforcement if they fail to go up at least 75% of the time, and positive reinforcement by spiffing them for just showing up. Nothing has seemed to work over the long term. It sucks that you have to spiff them to do their job, that doesn't seem right to me!

     Anyway, I know there are many dealers out there that have very successful BDC departments and I want to know what the secret is. I know how important it is to have a scheduled time dedicated to both sold and unsold follow up. Are my guys just lazy? Should I give them the boot and start with a clean slate? Let me know what you guys have done that works.

     Our store has always been a bottom line price store. It has worked out very well for us in the past and continues to work well with the exception of one thing, internet pricing. 

     We have always used the exact same price when we do price quotes for internet leads as we have our bottom line price for a walk-in customer. Our strategy has always worked on used cars because we price our cars so aggressively. Our strategy should work on new cars because we also price everything aggressively but it seems like we are losing the pricing war online.  We are still pretty competitive on most cars, but we seem to be getting killed on pricing when it comes to the expensive stuff ( F-150's, Superduty's, etc ).

     We are considering of implementing a totally different pricing strategy and starting an internet pricing matrix aside from our current pricing matrix. We are nervous to do it because this is definitely unchartered waters for us, but at the same time realize it is the only way we can keep our competitive edge. I was just wondering if most dealers have special internet pricing like we are considering doing? If so, what is your internet pricing like relative to invoice on the more expensive vehicles? 

     We are currently doing some mystery shopping to compare several things at our dealership to other dealerships. The main intent of the mystery shopping is to compare processes, level of training in sales people, and pricing. As we have done this we have found that, although we are really aggressive on pricing and trade allowances, we are definitely on the high side when it comes to fees.

     The 2 fees I'm referring to are probably standard fees at the majority of dealerships. We charge a documentation fee and an additional fee for vehicle theft registration (VTR) or "etching". I'm not going to tell you what we charge for those for the fact that I want to see where everyone else comes in at and I don't want anyone judging us :). We are a large Ford franchise, so I want to make sure we are comparing apples to apples. If you respond back to my post, let me know what you charge for both fees or if you even have both fees. Also, if you don't have VTR or etching, what do you charge and what is the product? It would be great if you mention the size of the store that you work at and whether or not it is a new franchise. Hope to hear some good feedback.......