OK, the title of this story is intentionally cheesy, but rest of it is real.  I mystery shopped some Dallas Region Ford-Lincoln eCommerce Elite (Top 100 stores in USA for new Ford-Lincoln Internet sales) stores recently and was surprised to discover that their response processes are similar.  This piqued my curiosity, so I called my DMC teammate in southern California to ask him how the  #1 new Ford Internet sales store in the country does things.  Turns out they work much the same as the top Dallas Region stores do.  So what is the #1 Internet new car sales secret of the eCommerce elite 100 stores that I shopped?  They call.  And call.  And call.  And call.  That’s pretty much it.  I must admit, by the time a pleasant, friendly salesperson leaves four voice messages for my mystery shopper I have to answer or return the call, if for no other reason than I feel guilty ignoring them.  You can’t shut four phone messages out of your mind and pretend they never happened.  (Especially if they are compressed into a 4 or 5 day period).  I also now understand something a presenter said at a recent DDC: “Internet shoppers want to be courted.”  He was right.  When a salesperson is tenacious in his/her attempts to get through to my mystery shopper it earns my respect.  When I was an Internet salesman I hated leaving repeated voice messages.  One, maybe two calls and I was done.  I see now that I was also wrong.  Will blowing up a customer’s phone still be in style ten years from now?  It’s hard to say; though I doubt it.  But for today, while we are in the transition phase, it appears we have to cover our bases and employ all mediums, new and traditional.  Just the other day our program head in Dearborn told me recent studies say it takes four phone calls to get through to most prospects.  So there ya go.  The simple secret to Internet new car sales success: email + call + email + call + email + call.  (Let's save text messaging for another day).

This is a true story told to me in 1996 BC (Before Computers) by sales trainer extraordinaire Diana Ball Cooksey. (www.dbcooksey.com)

Diana was a busy working professional and single parent with little time for projects outside her day to day work and home responsibilities. But she needed to buy some health insurance. So she left voice messages after hours (this is the days before PCs, remember) with three agencies, requesting an estimate/quote and providing her name, the ages of family members she wanted to insure, her insurance purchase goals and explaining that she had little or no time to devote to insurance shopping during the work day.

Agent 1 called the next day during business hours with a message to call him back during business hours.

Agent 2 called the next day during business hours with a message to call him back anytime.

Agent 3 called the next day during business hours and in his message gave her some estimates and a deadline after which these numbers would have to be re-figured.

Diana was busy and did not return the agents calls.

Agent 1 never called again.

Agent 2 called back a few days later during business hours with a message to call him back anytime.

Agent 3 called twice that week with messages offering to meet Diana after hours and/or at her home, if necessary, so she could purchase before the rates deadline.

Diana was busy and did not return the agents calls.

Agent 2 did not call again.

Agent 3 faxed a proposal plus an application and a note offering three times he was available to meet (during or after business hours) with Diana to close the deal before the rates deadline.

Now armed with a proposal/quote from Agent 3 Diana called Agent 2 and asked for a quote for the same type policy. Agent 2 replied the next day that he would need to go over the numbers with her in person in his office and when would she like to come in?

Can you figure out the rest? A few days later Agent 3 was sitting in Diana’s office, after 5pm, selling her the policy.

Oh, and a couple weeks later Agent 2 called to ask if she was still in the market.
###

Are we doing everything possible to make it easy for people to buy from us? Or are we Agent 1 and Agent 2?

(http://ordiway.com/BestPracticesBlog.html)