Choosing a lead provider

Choosing a lead provider

Postby doc » Thu Sep 21, 2000 5:46 pm

I am in agreement with Andone. "B" line dealers do have a problem no matter what they are doing. That is primarily a maufacturer problem for not boosting Internet Marketing ventures for their own product. So in the case of 3rd party lead generating sources, they do provide some leads, but without the excitement it is often at a negative loss financially.

Search Engines are the best way to generate traffic. Not only are you building value in to your brand, but unlike most 3rd party sources, you are building value into your dealership. I have found that by focusing on marketing of my own sites within my Auto Group we have effectively driven more traffic that is better quailifed and easier to close as well.

Although this isn't to say that you should not use these services. As Andone stated, these services are generally more market specific driven and have an advertising budget that far exceeds that of most local dealerships. They will always have to be an intrigal part of the Internet Sales in dealerships, but I believe that more dealers should start looking at self promotion as well. That also ususally means hiring an IT individual or organization to accoplish this as most dealership personel (In my experience) are not qualified enough or knowledgeable enough to accomplish this. And there are few training services or schools that focus on Internet marketing so it is hard to even train someone.

Experience is what pays here. And experienced internet marketing reps are seldom found that actually know what they are doing.
doc
 

Choosing a lead provider

Postby machado » Thu Sep 21, 2000 8:15 pm

Bravo:

I agree almost entirely. Personally, it has been my experience that most dealers need to have a balance of both lead aggregators and exposure of their own URL. The goal of the dealership should be to some day wean themselves off lead sources that do not offer a significant ROI. But, if theyre making you money keep them, If you blow them off their going down the street and now your competitor gets those leads. Ideally you would want all of your dot-com biz coming from www.hometownmotors.com (not an easy task).
There is no magic formula but there is hope, simply apply a few good business practices:

 Find the Right People & Train them:
The right people need not be PC gurus just people who understand the selling process and are willing to make the shift to non-confrontational sales. A willingness to learn is a must. Then teach them email techniques, factory training (for product & process). Also make sure that your management is behind the I-net initiative or you will have sabotage within your own sales force.

 Bring in a consultant who has a track record selling cars on the Internet its like hiring a personal trainer it works. Last week a dealer told me he needs me (Im a corporate e-commerce director with 12 years of automotive sales experience and 2 1/2 years of private e-commerce consulting experience). He admitted he knows how to sell cars and how to make money but, he wears blinders because his focus is 8 cars a day and $3000/copy. He does not have the time or the inclination to teach this himself he is better off letting someone else worrying about the I-net stuff. His parting words to me were Make it work

 Give them the tools they need to succeed: a good PC, digital camera, Office 97 or 2000 and dont skimp on the ISP and connectivity DSL or ISDN if you can get it.

 Take care of them, because once your ISMs have success your staff will become a hot commodity and you are likely to lose them to the competition if you dont take steps to keep them home. Id always have at least two people and one of your managers trained in the basics of net selling as a back up.

 Empower them to make a decision and give them the information they need to make educated choices not Gut Guesses

 Track each and every lead and make your people accountable ( I like Web Control )

 Keep your page fresh and innovative If your not happy with your host because of cookie cutter sitesCreate your own content and tell them to put it on you site. If they dontfind someone who will, your page is your property and you have a right to make it you own.

 HERE ARE A FEW KEY TIPS:
 Immediate Response I like auto responders that reply within 6 minuets I train all my clients to use Eudora 4.2. It works and it is extremely stable.

 Contact every lead a minimum of 5 times, 3 by email and twice by phone within the first 30 hours. Then add them to your email database for continued prospecting.

 Dont jack the prospect around if they ask a question answer it truthfully and respectfully.

 Have pictures of your used car on your site. Bring this in house you will be much better off in the long run. If you have time you can also photograph your new car inventory too much better than stock photos.

 Study your competitions pricing and be prepared to combat it and not necessarily by being lower!!!

 Write pre-scripted templates that answer common questions it will save you time in the long run.

 Maintain a database of all you email addresses for every lead and stay in contact with prospects and customers every 45 days.

 Remember that the S in ISM stands for sales that means you still have to sell. If you dont A.S.K. you dont G.E.T. the difference is that you go from forcing and tricking people to, skillfully guiding them through the sales process. Think about the last great buying experience you had. No doubt you were dazzled, your clients want the same experience.

 TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THEY WANT TO BE TREATED


------------------
Greg Machado
E-Commerce Director and
Independant Consultant www.gMACgroup.com

[This message has been edited by machado (edited 09-21-2000).]

machado
 

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