New Ideas

[tbrowder]

Well, it looks like to me that everyone's got this Internet car selling deal figured out. There hasn't been a new post in two weeks! Come on, somebody has to have a problem or an idea.

Tom.com

[sallen1]

Tom,

Kinda shows that the internet staff takes the summer off!

All kidding aside, here's a question: With the washout of most e-commerce companies: etoys, webvan, pets.com, priceline (to some extent) and the fact that 'buying services' like Autobytel and Autoweb can't earn a profit, has the 'net novelty worn out?

What I mean is: people have all but stopped knocking on my door trying to sell the latest web-based way to sell a car. Not to say I'm ignored completely: other media is all over the dealership trying to get our money. How much have we dealers spent trying to promote the 'internet sales force' under the direction of our MFG or from "consultants"? At some point, we'll realize that maybe 4% of sales will come from the 'net and the rest will be at our stores. Will the 'net be used for research? Of course, it's an easy way to hit the books in your skivies and cuts the research time. Customers will always research.

I'm glad I stayed conservative with our internet strategy. We still sell every car, one at a time

scott

[tbrowder]

Scott,

Glad to see somebody's still out there in cyber-space!

My take on the internet car selling deal is I think most dealers were dragged against their will into putting in Internet Depts. because their 20 Group thought they should. They under-staffed and under-paid and then when it didn't work they said "see, I told you so". Now they've either closed their Depts. or just give it lip service. They don't want to hear about how they should do it to make it successful. Believe me, there are some dealers out there that do get it and sell alot of cars via the web!

I guess in total dealers accross the country will sell 4 or 5% of their volumn via the web but I think if done right they can increase their volumn 10 to 20%, instead. I do about 10 to 15% of my stores total volumn and it's all found business!

Well, keep up the battle! It's like everything else, 10% of the dealers will reap 90% of the benefits of the web!

Tom

[robert]

I agree with you Tom. My personal experience has been that our GM's felt they were dragged into it and have subsequently starved it of resources and talent and now sit back and say "see, the internet isn't doing much because..." If we can provide a prompt, interactive experience that connects a skilled Internet salesperson with a prospective customer the potential to do significant volume is there. The consumers perception is that most sites are static dealer ads that do nothing to meet their needs as automotive consumers. Just as a talented and enthusiastic salesperson on the lot can overcome a customers preconceived notions and natural sales resistance, a well thought out Internet presence with a talented professional at the helm can work magic on a "researcher" <read=prospect> who is "just looking".

[Tom Browder]

Robert,

Of course, you're right! 99% of the dealers and managers just don't get it! They'll buy every off-site scam or mailer that comes along but they don't want to hear about "the internet". It's "just a fad, you know".

The bottom line is, it's a control deal. They can't control what they don't understand!

I've fought this battle for 3 years now and I don't know how long I can keep it up. I was recruited by a major player in the internet consulting business last year to start up the internet dept. for a major dealer in my area. These brain surgeons had me "menu pricing" my cars $500.00 to $1,000.00 over my competion! Guess where I got with that!

I guess the bottom line is that you have to be lucky enough to hook up with a dealer that is committed to the internet to give you the resourcses you need to succeed. Other than that, you need to be real lucky or real good!

Oh well, keep on pluggin'.

Tom.com

[warr_wiz]

As a service director I don't spend a lot of time with customers looking to purchase a vehicle until after the sale is done. But I have seen a couple dealer sites that are just a little, actually a lot, above the rest. One such site is fairly close and I happen to know someone in the dealership. They tell me they do very well with internet sales using a full time internet consultant. They also use live web-cams in the showroom that can zoom inside to see vehicle interiors, outside from all angles, and all models available. They are also using live chat so customers can actually "deal with a live person." They are obviously professionally designed/maintained sites that surely cost a pretty penny. But as the old saying goes...you get what you pay for. And this includes websites. I guess my point here after all the rambling is that if done right, internet sales is 1 more way to attract customers and makes sales. It took me a while but I think I got my point accross. Good luck ISC's. (internet sales consultants)

[Results]

Hey Everybody,
I think there are a lot of new ideas and still a lot of excitement going on in our cyber world. I have to agree with most of you that most of the GM's are sitting back and waiting to see what will happen next.
The biggest thing that I am seeing is the ISM turnover. The guys that we all have seen here in this forum are no longer in the picture. I don't mean all of them but quite a few. I send out a monthly a monthly newsletter to over 2,500 Internet departments. The last two months I have had over a 15% return ratio of bad addresses. That tells me the GM's are not all sitting back but they are saying "sho me da money"
Let's face it a lot of our comrades were not producing the results that a store needed to justify the Internet Department existence. Could they have? I think they could have if they could have had more support in making their departments work. Here is a good example and I hope he doesn't get to mad at me for mentioning his name but here goes.
Greg Machado of Auto Inc. You all may remember his question last month on looking for ideas on revamping his BDC. HE IS GONE. No he didn't die! This is a guy (that according to his numbers that he has been posting to all of us) that would spend $30K to net $100K and was moving volume.
Greg was not only a total asset to his dealerships but he has always worked very hard in all of our causes.
This tells me that all of us need to stay on the tech edge like Greg but that we all need to be producing the results that everybody wants.
Here is a site to check out. www.dmsez.com. These people may end up helping all of us through this Supranet era we are entering. They provide free membership to the dealers and charge the vendors to become certified. Then they post to the dealers who is certified and at what level. Check it out.


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Results
Mike Stinson
results@rintuit.com
www.rintuit.com

[Balelo]

I have build several Internet Dept's for dealerships across the nation. Many private dealerships and dealer groups are now trying to build successfull Internet Dept's. They have consulted me to make miracles based on my tracking record and experience. However, many dealers that did not buy into the Internet program in the past are now facing some of the hurdles. Building a website and conduct training and hiring of Internet Personnel and lead providers is one of the main priorities of any of my clients. One of the biggest problems that I am faced with is the lack of chosen lead providers and exclusive territories. The reason behind is because many dealers are trying to "catch up" to what they once did not believed in. While many dealers and dealer principles did not give a damn to the Internet in the past, companies like Autonation, United, AIG were investing to what it is now a very profitable and equally important department as any other department in a dealership. So for my reply is that many of the old strategies have changed and eventually all dealers will understand the concept and adapt to the changes of our industry.

Sincerely,

Mark Balelo
_____________________________________________

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Mark Balelo
E-Commerce Director
(602) 214-6632 cell

[doc]

Mark,

I hope that you are right. I have been trying to develop Internet Strategies, Departments, and sites for my three dealerships within my group. Everytime I find a great piece of Technology to consider, an advertising venture to look into, or suggest hiring better qualified staff (or for one store, any staff would be good! : ), etc.. I run myself into a brick wall. I have spoke with over 100 Internet Managers within the last 3 years and most say that my story is about the same as theirs.

I found convincing my GM's on ideas and strategies isn't always that difficult (OF course I have met some that want but into ANY Internet ideas), but getting them to do anything about it is. I see my stores spending thousands annually so that they, get a 1 - 2% return on their advertising, and claim it as a success.

Mean while I spend less than $100 dollars, and get 10 times the amount of customers looking at our website. Out of those, I get about a 1-2% who acutally visit the dealership, or request further information. Unfortunately my results and that of my departments get sorely overlooked and there is always someone trying to discredit them.

I mean most Internet Departments are run for less money annually than that of any advertising budget of any deparment within a dealership. That's with paying lead providers. I'll admit that I am looking forward to either
1. Having the old school GM's & DP's move out of the way for us new blood
OR
2. Watching them go out of buisness

Either way works for me.

My feelings are growing more and more to that of Tom's. I've been fighting the battle for a few years now, have proven every marketing and/or sales strategy that I've imployed without the support of my dealership staff/Management, and still as a department, manager, and professional, do not get the courtesy and respect that a selling dealership department/manager should. I don't think I can fight much longer. And I will agree with everyone here, IT's all about CONTROL!

Unfortunately your Internet Departments drive revenue to ALL departments, and drive traffic to ALL departments. Yet most Internet Departments are still being run buy the Sales side, and judged by the amount of units that show on their report. Nevermind the 15 units that did not show on the report because those 15 consumers took the information from their websites, and strolled their happy selves in to the showroom floor instead of going through the Internet Department. Nevermind the referrals received from people that visited your website. I have got more visiotrs coming on to my site monthly than that of the ENTIRE dealership and their respective departments. Until dealers start treating the Internet as an expansion of there marketing, then they will never "GET IT!".

The Internet is the only way to a run a 24 hour/7-day interactive commercial for each department, show all of your Inventory, get any new messages to current/future customers, accept/decline/ or schedule sales and meeting requests, and to reach a target audience that makes traditional advertising look like childs play! Not only can dealers benefit from this, they can do it at a fraction of the cost of ANY advertising to date. Yet dealers ignore this fact.

I see everyone making reference to dealers being "dragged" into this. I think that to be very sad, even though I agree that was most dealers perception of the Internet. What were dealers really "Dragged" into?

Dealers were "dragged" into cheap advertising. Dealers were "dragged" into increased DMA's (District Market Areas).

Dealers were "dragged" into being able to build a new store for less than $25,000. A store that can be re-built, or given a facelift in a day and for little cost.

Dealers were "dragged" into having the potential of reaching more than 5,000 visitors a month. *More if you are an import store

Gee, there sure are alot of reasons why dealers should think that they were "dragged" into this? LOL.........

Lets face it, dealers are mad because they can't pull the wool over the eyes of consumers as easy as they could before. The Internet has made competition more fierce, and made gross harder to retain. What I think is more sad than enything else, is that consumers are still being "Dragged" into dealerships promising the world and not delivering. Mean while your Autonations, and CARMax's are turning this Industry into outlet stores and chains like, well, Walmart. And guess what, they are also focusing on Customer Satisfaction instead of gross. Resulting in , guess what, more gross. Isn't that funny?

I think the next couple of years the Auto Industry will see even more changes, and the longer ANY dealer waits and drags butt to take advantage of this opportunity the more it will cost to get involved later.

Just my opinion anyway!

[machado]

Hey guys,

Things are not that bad

I just was canned from my gig in the Texas Panhandle because they did not feel my services were worth their $10,500.00/mo investment. After a year, that small group was selling over 50 cars a month on the Internet and that was with three of the stores not ever showing up to the dance. I could never convince a few of the GMs to participate in their investment.

It seems as if all they wanted was for someone else to do the work and hand them the money???

This just does not seem to make sense, GMs and Dealers control every detail of the selling process they all seem to know who, what, when, where and why unless, there is a www. or an http:// in front of the sentence. Then they dummy up and say things like Dont tell me about the labor pains just show me the baby What sort of attitude is that???

The truth of the mater is still the same as I have contended publicly In the past: The Internet will never sell a car on its own it still takes skilled, quality trained people to make it happen. The Internet is still growing and so are the opportunities to do well and it shows up in waves every day. The problem with opportunity is that when it shows up knocking on your door it will be wearing coveralls and look a lot like work!

Like developing any selling skill, it takes knowledge understanding and practice. My little group in the Texas Panhandle was selling 50+ cars and banking well over $130,000.00 every month and they were still in their infancy. With a little hard work and key management members taking ownership of the I-net selling process it could blossom into much more than a mere 2-3% of your overall business. I do not think we had even begun to scratch the surface and we were at 8+% and on a $30,000.00 monthly investment they were walking to the bank to make a 100K deposit every month. This is what I would consider an Okay ROI, how about you?

The Internet is not dead and only the dealerships that treat this opportunity as a legitimate business department will do well I think stores that participate fully will prosper and begin to capture market share. A dealership with their head screwed on straight could expect the Internet to become 20-25% of their business revenue model. However, it will not happen over night and it is all about doing the work.

Now Im off to my next projectThis time Im going to prove that Im not full of hot air Ill pull myself up by my boot straps and sell a few cars using the techniques that I wave been teaching for the last few years. I have found a New Stand Alone Jeep store in Texas that will let me build their I-net program, from the ground up. Yeah that is right I am going to put my money where my mouth is and sell the I-net cars myself.

Wish me luck!!!


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Greg Machado
E-Commerce Director &
Independant Consultant
http://www.gMACgroup.com
machado@gmacgroup.com
210.710.8456