Instead of being an 11- or 12-part, 3+ hour ordeal where your salespeople treat the prospects like suspects, the best road-to-the sale is actually controlled buying process: Controlled, in that your salespeople must remain fully in control throughout; Buying, in that the customer must feel like they’re buying, not being sold; and Process, in […]
BREAKING: Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 19, 2017 – Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) jolted the automotive retail industry this morning when it announced plans to buy giant AutoNation (NYSE: AN); introducing more uncertainty into a sector already faced with massive disruption on the horizon ranging from online car sales to autonomous vehicles. The $5.33 billion deal, a […]
Did you know that some of the nation’s best dealers have been closing their appointments that show at better than 80% for years? It’s true. Moreover, it’s actually not that hard to do – provided those at the top of your organization are truly committed to implementing a simple, repeatable process that works. The […]
There’s a strangely popular and wholly inaccurate post going around LinkedIn and other social media that generates tons of likes and shares – this, despite the post’s complete break from reality. I suppose it’s liked so much because it attempts to equate the demise of every industry to bad customer service and not technology; even when […]
When it comes to online vehicle specials, I’m flat out embarrassed for more than half of the dealerships I work with. There are even times that I actually want to ask: Why do you even have links to your specials pages on your website? If you’re a typical dealer, your specials pages can be […]
The good news about trying to create a great car buying experience is that there are similarities among all great dealership experiences that can be studied and adopted. Understanding what these are and why they make for a great buying experience allows you to easily include them in all of your store’s sales processes. […]
Tablets, as I wrote in the previous post in this series, can help your sales team stay on track with a great process – one that also happens to provide a great buying experience for the customer. The right tablet (or kiosk) software, configured correctly, simply won’t allow your team to merely “check boxes” […]
Post our selling price online? Never! We’re not a one-price store!!! Posting a competitive price online – at or very near the price you ultimately expect to sell a vehicle for – doesn’t make you a one-price store; although it does make you more desirable and trustworthy in the eyes of today’s connected customers. […]
How to be the Best DMV Clerk Ever! Looking for advice on how to be a good person – one that others will want to do business with – despite dealing with the dumbest people on the planet all day? Hoping to garner some knowledge about treating others with dignity even when you hold […]
If you’re indeed ready to create a great buying experience in your dealership, you’re probably wondering what steps you need to take to make this happen. That’s understandable, because although you agree change is necessary, we all know that change (especially in automotive retail) can be disruptive. Therefore, your goal should be to figure […]
In the evolution of car dealer websites and what these should include, we’ve gone from arguing over whether a dealer should include more than a single used car photo (when I was with Dealer Specialties in 2003) to ditching configurators in favor of actual new car inventory (when I ran Reynolds Web Solutions in […]
Today’s old car dogs will surely react with utter disdain and perhaps even great vengeance and furious anger when they read that I not only believe Do-It-Yourself F&I is the future, but that dealers who fail to embrace this trend will find themselves struggling to create a buying experience that customers love (and are […]
It’s not enough to have a website that you like, or that you think “looks cool;” your website is not a brochure, nor is it merely an inventory listing service. Your website, when created and managed properly, should be the Number One lead and traffic source for your dealership. To ensure that you’re truly […]
Newsflash: Regardless of what you and your team believe, customers perceive multiple points of friction in the car buying process. Friction, by the way, that has today’s buyer seeking ways to avoid the dealership experience while working overtime to ensure you make no money on their deal. Given this, how your customers view your […]
Before we look at an efficient road-to-the-sale (RTTS), let’s talk about what’s wrong with the traditional variety: It takes too long. It repeats steps. It lacks transparency. Your Road-to-the-Sale Takes Too Long Even dealers who feel like they’ve squeezed out all of the unnecessary steps in their RTTS, still spend more than three hours […]
The good news about website lead generation is that there really are just a few basic rules of conversion that you need to remember when you evaluate your website’s ability to maximize sellable leads from your existing website traffic. Rule #1: Stay Above The Fold This rule originates from the concept that visitors cannot […]
For dealers who’ve successfully conducted business the same way for decades, I can understand that (A) Some of you still don’t buy in to the whole “better customer experience” thing; or (B) Those who do buy in may have no idea how or where to start creating this better experience. If you still don’t […]
(Yes, I could’ve come up with a catchier title for this post, but this series is so damn long already, that I really felt being descriptive was the best way to get my point across on this one.) Do you want more leads and calls from your existing website traffic? Then ensure that you […]
Quick… make a list of the top five issues that are negatively impacting your dealership’s profitability that also have little to do with sales team turnover. If you’re like many of the dealers I’ve spoken with over the last year, your list probably contains items like these: Mediocre Online Reputation/CSI Higher Discounting/Lower Grosses Flattening […]
The buyer we’re most familiar with is often called the “Traditional” Up. I put “Traditional” in quotes because today’s Up is anything but traditional. As we see in the data, today’s Up (unlike the Up from just a few years ago) absolutely knows what they and they have a really good idea what they’re […]