Let's face it, we're all consumers. Even the highest-paid CEOs in the world have to do it: shop and buy. They will engage a brand, a retailer, a transaction with one expectation in mind: satisfaction. Whether a $4 latte or a $4,000,000 property, there is a process we go through to self-determine the investment of time, research and transaction as well as intended outcome. So if your only measurement is analytics or items sold, you're sorely missing a huge part of what is needed.

Go to the majority of automotive websites, mobile sites, social media and advertising. Ask the average consumer, let alone highly-compensated executive, and you are likely to get an answer you don't like. Why is that? For the most part, we've been buying solutions while being complacent in our happy place: doing what we know and not changing that one bit.

The first layer of measurement was the showroom floor and service drive. Sentiment was shared, while not always freely, in a controlled environment where the impact was mitigated to the most part. That gauge has moved, for the most part, into the most transparent of places: the Internet.

And that is a double-dose of pain. So how do we change what is commonly referred to as one of the least-desired activities (going to a car dealership) that is connected with one of the most accessible of engagements (going to the web)? For starters, do it yourself. Go through your website. As a consumer. Hard as it may be, do it. Take off the dealer hat and pretend you actually need to find something you want. Easily. Quickly. The same way you'd buy an airline ticket on www.yourfavoriteairlinewebsite.com.

Then visit your website on your mobile device. If you are one of more than half the car dealerships in the country, you'll likely see a thumb-sized version of your full website. Disappointed yet? Now hop over to your Blog, if you have one of the best places to build your brand and capture eyeballs online. Because based on your website response, you likely don't offer the image, message, layout and experience you'd like yourself.

Have Facebook and Twitter pages? If not, don't necessarily jump in but if you do, look. What are you saying? Are you just displaying inventory, a feed of random content from somewhere else? Is it representative of what you do your store? Is it, like your CRM, automated? Or is it genuine?

And what about reputation management? While some have embraced it for more than a year or two, the neccessary processes and engagement still don't exist for the most part. And don't get disappointed yourself when you don't have a strategy and are ticked off with what gets displayed online.

Some dealers are starting the next generation of their dealership with consumer engagement. And guess what?! That's perfect. What better input than the people dropping thousands of dollars at your business? Customer advisory boards. Meet the dealership events. Club meets and other non-transactional ways to engage and ask your customers.

The disappointment your customers experience comes from within. And if you don't have a plan to assess, measure, change and improve consistently, the numbers that matter most will go in the least desireable direction.

If you are one of the dealers heading to Las Vegas for Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable, take advantage of the wealth of knowledge. But don't do it simply to compare and buy yourself. Stop. Sit down with other dealers, consultants and outsiders. Take a deep look at what consumers see. Ask the tough questions. Then engage the reps and vendors.

Start delivering online what you say you do in your brick and mortar existence. It's your greatest opportunity.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can find more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Let's face it, we're all consumers. Even the highest-paid CEOs in the world have to do it: shop and buy. They will engage a brand, a retailer, a transaction with one expectation in mind: satisfaction. Whether a $4 latte or a $4,000,000 property, there is a process we go through to self-determine the investment of time, research and transaction as well as intended outcome. So if your only measurement is analytics or items sold, you're sorely missing a huge part of what is needed.

Go to the majority of automotive websites, mobile sites, social media and advertising. Ask the average consumer, let alone highly-compensated executive, and you are likely to get an answer you don't like. Why is that? For the most part, we've been buying solutions while being complacent in our happy place: doing what we know and not changing that one bit.

The first layer of measurement was the showroom floor and service drive. Sentiment was shared, while not always freely, in a controlled environment where the impact was mitigated to the most part. That gauge has moved, for the most part, into the most transparent of places: the Internet.

And that is a double-dose of pain. So how do we change what is commonly referred to as one of the least-desired activities (going to a car dealership) that is connected with one of the most accessible of engagements (going to the web)? For starters, do it yourself. Go through your website. As a consumer. Hard as it may be, do it. Take off the dealer hat and pretend you actually need to find something you want. Easily. Quickly. The same way you'd buy an airline ticket on www.yourfavoriteairlinewebsite.com.

Then visit your website on your mobile device. If you are one of more than half the car dealerships in the country, you'll likely see a thumb-sized version of your full website. Disappointed yet? Now hop over to your Blog, if you have one of the best places to build your brand and capture eyeballs online. Because based on your website response, you likely don't offer the image, message, layout and experience you'd like yourself.

Have Facebook and Twitter pages? If not, don't necessarily jump in but if you do, look. What are you saying? Are you just displaying inventory, a feed of random content from somewhere else? Is it representative of what you do your store? Is it, like your CRM, automated? Or is it genuine?

And what about reputation management? While some have embraced it for more than a year or two, the neccessary processes and engagement still don't exist for the most part. And don't get disappointed yourself when you don't have a strategy and are ticked off with what gets displayed online.

Some dealers are starting the next generation of their dealership with consumer engagement. And guess what?! That's perfect. What better input than the people dropping thousands of dollars at your business? Customer advisory boards. Meet the dealership events. Club meets and other non-transactional ways to engage and ask your customers.

The disappointment your customers experience comes from within. And if you don't have a plan to assess, measure, change and improve consistently, the numbers that matter most will go in the least desireable direction.

If you are one of the dealers heading to Las Vegas for Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable, take advantage of the wealth of knowledge. But don't do it simply to compare and buy yourself. Stop. Sit down with other dealers, consultants and outsiders. Take a deep look at what consumers see. Ask the tough questions. Then engage the reps and vendors.

Start delivering online what you say you do in your brick and mortar existence. It's your greatest opportunity.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can find more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

So, what's your newest carrot? What new shiny object has you mesmerized? Which vendor's widget has you seeing extra dollar signs? What in the heck are you thinking?!?! Two things are working against you: automotive industry digital/online marketing conferences and the deluge of pitches as the "health" of the automotive industry continues its slow creep upwards.
 

So how do you separate the good stuff from the garbage? How do you know who's selling vaporware and who's selling the goods? The first part is understanding. Simply put, if your house is in enough order to be genuinely looking at next-step solutions, congratulations and happy hunting. You are in the position of actually (keeping in mind these are the basics or minimums):

• Tackling your leads
• • no more than 2 hours to respond to new leads (not an auto-responder)
  • at least 30% email response rate (if you can't, don't buy anything at all)
  • utilization of rich media
• Building your brand
• • updating your website at least once a month (not specials)
  • posting real content to social media, press releases, etc (not inventory)
  • hosting events at or being involved around your dealership
  • customization of content from your database/CRM
  • reputation management is fully integrated
• Evaluating and improving process
• • regular personnel- and data-driven reviews of performance
  • in-house and hired training/improvement process
  • stop-gap/fail-safe measures to ensure process failures are caught

Simply put, dealers in this position are prime to head into "gotta have the next thing" land when it comes to the vendor demos at Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit, NADA and more. Moreover, if you can't do all or nearly all of the above, stop before you spend another penny and get real. Spending good money after bad (money or process) is a guarantee for failure, even though most will blame the vendors (and we've been there).

And because you can outsource a bunch of the things that need to be done well, don't think that stroking a check and having it handled is a license to do so. Again, if you can't answer your leads, generate ups, retain your customers and have your client base as part of your marketing, no amount of dollars will ever have you called successful. There is more and more evidence of this but dealers continue to act like it's 1983: spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.

By the same token, if you have a good process but things aren't continuing to build, look at your vendors, evaluate them without bias and excuse those that need to be. If you've not seen your CRM trainer for 9 months and the increased digital integration package for your templates hasn't been delivered, stop writing a check for $2,500-$10,000 a month. Don't know what's happened to the request for website updates from six weeks ago, why your 301 redirect hasn't been handled from four months ago and have a 10% increase in your page and link counts from a year ago? Fire your website company.

No, don't think about the last two items, just do it. Don't get re-sold by your reps. FIRE THEM! You just lost months of productive, profitable business! It's not OK to see a sheet of excuses. It is OK to get an apology letter from the CEO and let him buy you drinks at the next event when your store is on their competitor's product.

If you want to get moving forward, know what you're getting into. So many dealers we talk with today just don't understand or have been sold a set of receivables that won't make it into that company's deliverables. Your house must, must, must, must, must be in order. Band-Aids are a way for your competition to see the dam about to break. Don't advertise your weaknesses anymore.

And don't compromise by settling for being #4 in the region when you were #7 last year. Three others (and your out-of-brand competitors) are eating your lunch and you think a mondo-widget-erator will do it? Lead estimators and lead scoring....you heard a lot about those in the past three years. Why did they, for the most part, go away? Because they cover up glaring deficiencies instead of remove them.

How did you learn when you were a kid...? Stop, drop, roll. Stop, look, listen. Don't get the wrong message by just stopping and sitting there. But don't grab the new toy because you can. We know better because we've been there. right?

Know what you're getting into...

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side"
-James Baldwin

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can view more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

So, what's your newest carrot? What new shiny object has you mesmerized? Which vendor's widget has you seeing extra dollar signs? What in the heck are you thinking?!?! Two things are working against you: automotive industry digital/online marketing conferences and the deluge of pitches as the "health" of the automotive industry continues its slow creep upwards.
 

So how do you separate the good stuff from the garbage? How do you know who's selling vaporware and who's selling the goods? The first part is understanding. Simply put, if your house is in enough order to be genuinely looking at next-step solutions, congratulations and happy hunting. You are in the position of actually (keeping in mind these are the basics or minimums):

• Tackling your leads
• • no more than 2 hours to respond to new leads (not an auto-responder)
  • at least 30% email response rate (if you can't, don't buy anything at all)
  • utilization of rich media
• Building your brand
• • updating your website at least once a month (not specials)
  • posting real content to social media, press releases, etc (not inventory)
  • hosting events at or being involved around your dealership
  • customization of content from your database/CRM
  • reputation management is fully integrated
• Evaluating and improving process
• • regular personnel- and data-driven reviews of performance
  • in-house and hired training/improvement process
  • stop-gap/fail-safe measures to ensure process failures are caught

Simply put, dealers in this position are prime to head into "gotta have the next thing" land when it comes to the vendor demos at Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit, NADA and more. Moreover, if you can't do all or nearly all of the above, stop before you spend another penny and get real. Spending good money after bad (money or process) is a guarantee for failure, even though most will blame the vendors (and we've been there).

And because you can outsource a bunch of the things that need to be done well, don't think that stroking a check and having it handled is a license to do so. Again, if you can't answer your leads, generate ups, retain your customers and have your client base as part of your marketing, no amount of dollars will ever have you called successful. There is more and more evidence of this but dealers continue to act like it's 1983: spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.

By the same token, if you have a good process but things aren't continuing to build, look at your vendors, evaluate them without bias and excuse those that need to be. If you've not seen your CRM trainer for 9 months and the increased digital integration package for your templates hasn't been delivered, stop writing a check for $2,500-$10,000 a month. Don't know what's happened to the request for website updates from six weeks ago, why your 301 redirect hasn't been handled from four months ago and have a 10% increase in your page and link counts from a year ago? Fire your website company.

No, don't think about the last two items, just do it. Don't get re-sold by your reps. FIRE THEM! You just lost months of productive, profitable business! It's not OK to see a sheet of excuses. It is OK to get an apology letter from the CEO and let him buy you drinks at the next event when your store is on their competitor's product.

If you want to get moving forward, know what you're getting into. So many dealers we talk with today just don't understand or have been sold a set of receivables that won't make it into that company's deliverables. Your house must, must, must, must, must be in order. Band-Aids are a way for your competition to see the dam about to break. Don't advertise your weaknesses anymore.

And don't compromise by settling for being #4 in the region when you were #7 last year. Three others (and your out-of-brand competitors) are eating your lunch and you think a mondo-widget-erator will do it? Lead estimators and lead scoring....you heard a lot about those in the past three years. Why did they, for the most part, go away? Because they cover up glaring deficiencies instead of remove them.

How did you learn when you were a kid...? Stop, drop, roll. Stop, look, listen. Don't get the wrong message by just stopping and sitting there. But don't grab the new toy because you can. We know better because we've been there. right?

Know what you're getting into...

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side"
-James Baldwin

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can view more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Another day has gone by in our industry and where are we? Did we break a record? Did we start a trend? Did we figure something out? Chances are we're in the same place we were 48 hours ago. While we'll leave the guessing how much other businesses out there have changed to the "experts" (yeah, we've got more of those today than we had yesterday!) but know for the most part we didn't blaze any new paths.
 

Another month has gone by and another interesting declination from a dealer that needs help (no, not the same one as one of our last posts):

"It's (so and so) from (such and such), is this a good time for you?"

"Uh, no. I'm working on ads for this weekend and Ive got a lot of other stuff to get done. You're either buying something from me or trying to sell me something. If you're trying to sell me something, it's the wrong time."

"That's completely understood."

"You'll have to call me back."

"Considering how busy you are, will you take my name and number?"

"No"

"OK, good bye"

While the distance continues to grow between the dealers that are moving forward and those that aren't grows, it's important to remind ourselves of where we're heading. You know, the road map. Goals set at the beginning of the year rather than two weeks ago. We all have them memorized now:

• Regular review of website performance, stats, leads, etc
• Weekly lead status and management
• Complete (aka 100%) CRM use/integration for all departments
• Updating of templates and scripts for all customer communication
• Social media game plan
• Reputation management
• Vendor accountability
• Read and participate more at events and online communities
• Getting outside help occasionally because you can't staff for everything

It's not easy to look at all of the things thought or talked about considering everything that has to be done just to sell and service cars. Right?!?! Let alone add them to the heaping pile of responsibility that everyone has in automotive retail. Right?!?! Besides, it's hard selling cars today. Right?!?!

Wrong!!!! As Andy Dufresne put so well in Shawshank Redemption: Get busy living or get busy dying. Sure, you can bury your head deeper in the sand St. Diggerstein, or you can get real and get in business.

The shortest distance between two lines is a straight point. In other words one line is where you're at, the other is where you want to be. And the point is...go get after it. Quit stalling!! Besides, you said you're not going to fall for the banana-in-the-tailpipe.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


You can find more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Another day has gone by in our industry and where are we? Did we break a record? Did we start a trend? Did we figure something out? Chances are we're in the same place we were 48 hours ago. While we'll leave the guessing how much other businesses out there have changed to the "experts" (yeah, we've got more of those today than we had yesterday!) but know for the most part we didn't blaze any new paths.
 

Another month has gone by and another interesting declination from a dealer that needs help (no, not the same one as one of our last posts):

"It's (so and so) from (such and such), is this a good time for you?"

"Uh, no. I'm working on ads for this weekend and Ive got a lot of other stuff to get done. You're either buying something from me or trying to sell me something. If you're trying to sell me something, it's the wrong time."

"That's completely understood."

"You'll have to call me back."

"Considering how busy you are, will you take my name and number?"

"No"

"OK, good bye"

While the distance continues to grow between the dealers that are moving forward and those that aren't grows, it's important to remind ourselves of where we're heading. You know, the road map. Goals set at the beginning of the year rather than two weeks ago. We all have them memorized now:

• Regular review of website performance, stats, leads, etc
• Weekly lead status and management
• Complete (aka 100%) CRM use/integration for all departments
• Updating of templates and scripts for all customer communication
• Social media game plan
• Reputation management
• Vendor accountability
• Read and participate more at events and online communities
• Getting outside help occasionally because you can't staff for everything

It's not easy to look at all of the things thought or talked about considering everything that has to be done just to sell and service cars. Right?!?! Let alone add them to the heaping pile of responsibility that everyone has in automotive retail. Right?!?! Besides, it's hard selling cars today. Right?!?!

Wrong!!!! As Andy Dufresne put so well in Shawshank Redemption: Get busy living or get busy dying. Sure, you can bury your head deeper in the sand St. Diggerstein, or you can get real and get in business.

The shortest distance between two lines is a straight point. In other words one line is where you're at, the other is where you want to be. And the point is...go get after it. Quit stalling!! Besides, you said you're not going to fall for the banana-in-the-tailpipe.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


You can find more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Reading a number of great posts recently (while trying to ignore the blatant self-promotion via a popularity contest glorified by a number of industry members last week), all focused on getting dealers to make the shift to digital or social media, it hit me once again what we're all trying to do: get people in the door.

While a number of dealers (maybe 5% in the country) are seeing growth many are seeing flat or declining numbers. Others are experiencing unit lifts while dealing with large drop in gross or back end. And everyone is dealing with selling fewer vehicles in the past 18 months than in the previous 4-6 years.
 

So in this online world, what aside from actually selling a vehicle to a customer or servicing their car drives traffic? One thing that can be looked at, especially in a world of smaller budgets, staffs and sales is events. With rare exception over the past two years, the factories (and therefore the dealers) have spent less and less on driving valuable traffic via new-owner events, clinics, ride-and-drives, sponsorships, meet-and-greets and the like. While the quantity of tire kickers may be down, real purchase intention is down significantly less (we'll leave the statistics and "pent up demand" gibberish talk to others).

Fewer and fewer dealers are doing what it takes to being people in: WIIFM. Yes, the most popular radio station in the world. What's In It For Me! More and more consumers are out there, looking for answers on how to program their seat memory, sync their bluetooth, update their navigation system, find out the difference in maintaining their car at the dealership versus aftermarket besides price and a whole lot more. So...they're left with going to a discussion group/blog/forum/portal, relying on word of mouth or not knowing at all. And you believe you 'had them at hello' when you sold the car.

So no new owner clinics. No barbecues. No comparison drives. No meet the staff days. No fundraisers (let alone getting a link from the event website to your website with all of the traffic they're receiving. What's that? What's a link? What does that do?). Boy, that will work! Then tell yourself that the drop in floor traffic is fine since 70-90% of the same-brand stores in your PMA are also down rather than kicking ass. Forget about building a brand, or answering the questions that many customers won't ask you over the phone, or stopping that brand new owner from driving into (fill-in-the-blank)-Lube, let alone even retaining the customers you have and that WANT to come back for a good reason or two.

No. Maybe this whole thing is wrong. The factory is supposed to do and promote events. The factory is supposed to drive floor traffic. The factory is supposed to give you all of the handraisers in the area. The factory has to do all of the advertising so you can copy the ad and put it on your (mediocre) website. The factory is supposed to give you all of the pitter-patter of footsteps so you can just kick back, put your feet up (or in the golf cart), make money and retire in 20 years.

DING, DING, DING. Wake Up!!! (that was your floor traffic meter just hitting zero)

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can find more IM@CS articles here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Reading a number of great posts recently (while trying to ignore the blatant self-promotion via a popularity contest glorified by a number of industry members last week), all focused on getting dealers to make the shift to digital or social media, it hit me once again what we're all trying to do: get people in the door.

While a number of dealers (maybe 5% in the country) are seeing growth many are seeing flat or declining numbers. Others are experiencing unit lifts while dealing with large drop in gross or back end. And everyone is dealing with selling fewer vehicles in the past 18 months than in the previous 4-6 years.
 

So in this online world, what aside from actually selling a vehicle to a customer or servicing their car drives traffic? One thing that can be looked at, especially in a world of smaller budgets, staffs and sales is events. With rare exception over the past two years, the factories (and therefore the dealers) have spent less and less on driving valuable traffic via new-owner events, clinics, ride-and-drives, sponsorships, meet-and-greets and the like. While the quantity of tire kickers may be down, real purchase intention is down significantly less (we'll leave the statistics and "pent up demand" gibberish talk to others).

Fewer and fewer dealers are doing what it takes to being people in: WIIFM. Yes, the most popular radio station in the world. What's In It For Me! More and more consumers are out there, looking for answers on how to program their seat memory, sync their bluetooth, update their navigation system, find out the difference in maintaining their car at the dealership versus aftermarket besides price and a whole lot more. So...they're left with going to a discussion group/blog/forum/portal, relying on word of mouth or not knowing at all. And you believe you 'had them at hello' when you sold the car.

So no new owner clinics. No barbecues. No comparison drives. No meet the staff days. No fundraisers (let alone getting a link from the event website to your website with all of the traffic they're receiving. What's that? What's a link? What does that do?). Boy, that will work! Then tell yourself that the drop in floor traffic is fine since 70-90% of the same-brand stores in your PMA are also down rather than kicking ass. Forget about building a brand, or answering the questions that many customers won't ask you over the phone, or stopping that brand new owner from driving into (fill-in-the-blank)-Lube, let alone even retaining the customers you have and that WANT to come back for a good reason or two.

No. Maybe this whole thing is wrong. The factory is supposed to do and promote events. The factory is supposed to drive floor traffic. The factory is supposed to give you all of the handraisers in the area. The factory has to do all of the advertising so you can copy the ad and put it on your (mediocre) website. The factory is supposed to give you all of the pitter-patter of footsteps so you can just kick back, put your feet up (or in the golf cart), make money and retire in 20 years.

DING, DING, DING. Wake Up!!! (that was your floor traffic meter just hitting zero)

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can find more IM@CS articles here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Let's take a moment to ignore the store front, avoid the showroom, shed technology and just get back to being human. Do you know how to talk and carry a conversation? Well, if you judge that by much of the email and phone communication going on at automotive retail, you'd be left with more questions than answers.

Face it, we have a lot of room to grow when it comes to 'inviting' the public to car dealerships. Oh sure, they'll continue to come when they have to buy. They will find somewhere and someone to buy from. But the fact that most of you had an easier time asking your first date out, shows we still have issues when it comes to how to engage a person that wants to buy!

Many people shrug off their verbal and written skills when they can deliver a fair amount of cars each month. When lean times come, they'll blame everything but the water cooler (maybe some will actually blame the Sparkletts man) rather than look at their own communication.

So here's a 4-step recovery program that should help you (who needs 12 steps anyway?):
 

1. Know what you want to say before you touch the phone or start typing

At least with an email you can proof it before sending but most salespeople aren't in the habit of doing that. The biggest hint that a salesperson isn't ready for the call? Uh, um, er, ah, eh, well, gee, ayyyyyyye (the long 'I' as they reach for something to say) and other stalling tactics tell the customer on the other end of the phone clearly that there might be a more professional person in the building.

2. It's about the customer, silly

I did this. I did that. I'll talk with my manager, I usually tell people that ask me that. I, I, I, I, I. Stop it! It's about them, always has been, always will be. Go to a nice restaurant for dinner, the waiter or waitress doesn't say "I have some specials tonight"...do they?!?!?! No!! What you'll usually hear is something like "would you like to hear what your choices are for specials tonight?" or "Would you like to start with a drink or appetizer?". Go to fast food and they say "can I take your order?". Are you selling a hamburger value meal or a choice steak? (or Gorgonzola salad for our vegetarian readers!). Change your focus to the customer and you'll be amazed at how different your interaction goes.

3. Questions are like water. Go without and you die.

You've get them qualified. You walk them. You drive them. You sit them down. You pencil them. You close them. If you stop asking questions, you likely lose somewhere along the process. When the questions end, the conversation ends. Sure, they can pick it up again. Our job? Keep them talking. About the car, themselves, their family, their likes, anything. Stop asking, you're on your own because you've lost control. Questions (as well as answering theirs) are the lifeline of communication along with emotion and everything else the expensive consultants and sales coaches tell you is important (that you already knew).

4. Validation and excitement. Oh, and courtesy!

Who can be excited about calling you back if your message sounds like it was made in a monotone machine? Ten messages down and ready for call 11? Get pumped up again! Nobody wants to call a boring sales person back about what is exciting for then. And how about validation? Can you relate to your customers, even the ones with challenged credit? Don't kid yourself because people can see through fake. And remember, especially in today's social age (sorry, had to go there for a moment), their experience with the 'less than exciting, not quite interested in me buying a car from him/her' now translates to dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, more people who may not shop at your store now.

And with regard to courtesy, if you're not asking if the person you are calling is available for you in a way that doesn't completely let them off the hook from talking with you (because they must, must, must buy the perfect car for them from you), you don't deserve to be selling cars. Don't ask, don't tell. If you don't ask if they're available, they'll likely never tell you they're buying from you.


In today's age with complete transparency on the web, don't kid yourself into doing a less than a complete, exciting job with your customers will work. We're not saying to be something your not, but if you're in automotive sales and expect to do well, just do it. It may not be fair that a book is still judged by its cover but don't treat anyone trying to do business with your store any differently than what you expect when you go into someone else's.

Welcome back to the business about people. You can now return to your technology-laden existence.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


You can read more IM@CS posts her eon DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Let's take a moment to ignore the store front, avoid the showroom, shed technology and just get back to being human. Do you know how to talk and carry a conversation? Well, if you judge that by much of the email and phone communication going on at automotive retail, you'd be left with more questions than answers.

Face it, we have a lot of room to grow when it comes to 'inviting' the public to car dealerships. Oh sure, they'll continue to come when they have to buy. They will find somewhere and someone to buy from. But the fact that most of you had an easier time asking your first date out, shows we still have issues when it comes to how to engage a person that wants to buy!

Many people shrug off their verbal and written skills when they can deliver a fair amount of cars each month. When lean times come, they'll blame everything but the water cooler (maybe some will actually blame the Sparkletts man) rather than look at their own communication.

So here's a 4-step recovery program that should help you (who needs 12 steps anyway?):
 

1. Know what you want to say before you touch the phone or start typing

At least with an email you can proof it before sending but most salespeople aren't in the habit of doing that. The biggest hint that a salesperson isn't ready for the call? Uh, um, er, ah, eh, well, gee, ayyyyyyye (the long 'I' as they reach for something to say) and other stalling tactics tell the customer on the other end of the phone clearly that there might be a more professional person in the building.

2. It's about the customer, silly

I did this. I did that. I'll talk with my manager, I usually tell people that ask me that. I, I, I, I, I. Stop it! It's about them, always has been, always will be. Go to a nice restaurant for dinner, the waiter or waitress doesn't say "I have some specials tonight"...do they?!?!?! No!! What you'll usually hear is something like "would you like to hear what your choices are for specials tonight?" or "Would you like to start with a drink or appetizer?". Go to fast food and they say "can I take your order?". Are you selling a hamburger value meal or a choice steak? (or Gorgonzola salad for our vegetarian readers!). Change your focus to the customer and you'll be amazed at how different your interaction goes.

3. Questions are like water. Go without and you die.

You've get them qualified. You walk them. You drive them. You sit them down. You pencil them. You close them. If you stop asking questions, you likely lose somewhere along the process. When the questions end, the conversation ends. Sure, they can pick it up again. Our job? Keep them talking. About the car, themselves, their family, their likes, anything. Stop asking, you're on your own because you've lost control. Questions (as well as answering theirs) are the lifeline of communication along with emotion and everything else the expensive consultants and sales coaches tell you is important (that you already knew).

4. Validation and excitement. Oh, and courtesy!

Who can be excited about calling you back if your message sounds like it was made in a monotone machine? Ten messages down and ready for call 11? Get pumped up again! Nobody wants to call a boring sales person back about what is exciting for then. And how about validation? Can you relate to your customers, even the ones with challenged credit? Don't kid yourself because people can see through fake. And remember, especially in today's social age (sorry, had to go there for a moment), their experience with the 'less than exciting, not quite interested in me buying a car from him/her' now translates to dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, more people who may not shop at your store now.

And with regard to courtesy, if you're not asking if the person you are calling is available for you in a way that doesn't completely let them off the hook from talking with you (because they must, must, must buy the perfect car for them from you), you don't deserve to be selling cars. Don't ask, don't tell. If you don't ask if they're available, they'll likely never tell you they're buying from you.


In today's age with complete transparency on the web, don't kid yourself into doing a less than a complete, exciting job with your customers will work. We're not saying to be something your not, but if you're in automotive sales and expect to do well, just do it. It may not be fair that a book is still judged by its cover but don't treat anyone trying to do business with your store any differently than what you expect when you go into someone else's.

Welcome back to the business about people. You can now return to your technology-laden existence.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


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