I am looking for ideas...

[machado]

In an effort to streamline our I-net process my group is considering making a change....

What I am looking for is moving the I-net departments to a centralized location in Amarillo TX.

Here is a brief description of what I have in mind:

-We will still have points of contact in each store (salespeople) and we will still update inventory on our sites and handle some email in house. I plan to start by only handling the aggregated leads at the center first. Letting the stores handle the traffic that is generated by the Web Sites.

-We plan to have 1 or 2 sales people in each store that will have almost all of the face to face contact with the prospect.
Our plan is to have all the fresh leads come into a central location where the Auto responder is launched from and where all of the follow up contact will also come from.

-Once we have located the unit that will best suit the customer's needs, we will put them in touch with the designated I-net staff member at the store.

-The people at the center will most likely call themselves "Internet Facilitators"...
Our goal will be to set an appointment at the store for this on-line guest and follow up on missed appointments.

-We plan to use a web base contact manager to keep a record of all the contacts whether they are by email, phone or fax.

-Our goal will be to contact each and every lead a minimum of 6-7 times inside the first 30 hours.

-From this center we also are planing on doing the subsequent 30, 60, 90-day follow up.

-We also are planing on launching and producing all of our mass email projects from this location with the help of our in-house advertising department.

-Ultimately we would like to shorten our second response from nearly 5 hours to about 1/2 an hour or less.

-Eventually, we hope to have this mature into a full-blown BDC/CRM.

-I was wondering if any of you had ever had any dealings with any group that had this sort of architecture?

-I was also wondering if any of you had any advice in the development of this sort of project. Or if any of you could point me to someone who is using this sort of system.

-Can anyone warn me of some of the pitfalls I might encounter?

We currently are selling from 44-55 cars a month on about 650 gross Internet leads.

Our current investment is about $28,000.00/month and our ROI is about $155,000.00/month of verifiable Internet leads that submitted purchase request via the Internet.

I know that this will probably increase my expense to about $33,000.00/month with the extra manpower what I am hoping to do is move to 125+/units per month and a ROI of over $300,000.00. Is this unrealistic?


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

[Tom Browder]

Greg,

I think centralizing your operation has some merit. You say you get 650 gross third party leads. How many people are you going to have handling them?
I think I would want to handle the website leads as well. As you know, some cyber-shoppers use several lead sources and your website, so you want to make sure the info. given them is the same. Your lead mgt. system will be able to check for duplicate leads.
If your stores are like mine, you can't trust the computer to tell you if the unit you're looking at is really an automatic or 5 speed or if it's really on the lot or not. You'd better get your on-site "facilitator" to put their hands on the car before you get yourself in a trick-box. By the way, I'd call them Internet Managers. It makes the customer think he's dealing with someone with authority.
I don't think contacting the customer 6-7 times within 30 hours is the way to go. It's overkill and will turn the customer off. I'd use an auto-response for the first contact, a response with price and availability second, a phone call third and then 3 or 4 follow ups over a period of a week to 10 days.
I like the mass email idea and the shorter second response quickness ideas.
I'm real confused about your return on investment, though. 44-55 cars per month and $155,000.00 ROI? If this is correct, YOU ARE THE MAN!! Please enlighten me.

Tom Browder
Internet Manager
Lakeland Automall
tombrowder@hotmail.com

[machado]

Thank you for the compliment

Our group is real good at squeezing out every penny we do about a 68% F&I penetration which helps the gross a whole bunch. We also do a fairly good job of getting that service contract over the curb. I feel that that comes from getting F&I involved in the process as soon as we start a dialogue with the prospect.

We tend to do from $2650.00/copy up to over $2925/copy on average depending on the month.

The formula that we use to calculate our gross was covered in an earlier Dealers Edge Forum called
Im wondering about money

The funny thing is my group feels that our ROI is weak???

Granted, as a group they do around $2900.00 all the time our best month was back in February when we did over $3300.00/copy on about 35 cars all Internet Sales. That was the first time we cracked $100,000.00.

So in an effort to improve our ROI Im looking to build a better mousetrap I think the only way I can get better is to do a better job of overseeing the process.

Eventually all the leads will come to the central office the only reason I was planning on starting with the aggregated leads was to keep my new facilitators from bring too overwhelmed. Besides it seems to me that the leads that come in from our sites seem to be further along in the buying cycle. I may be all wet but that is why I think our closing ratio is so much higher on those leads???

Thank you for your insight I will take all of that into consideration.


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

[RK]

Greg, there is a wonderful set of articles in the May 21 Automotive news about setting up I-net businesses and standards set by some of the dealers utilizing these services.

Sounds like you have good success so far! Good luck and happy etailing!

Rick

[machado]

Thanks Rick,

Im amazed at how much response I have had emailed back to me directly rather than on the message board. I was also stunned by the 20+ Voicemails I've gotten about this string. It looks as though from most of the feedback that Im getting from other industry experts that this might be the way to go

Ive heard from people that have relationships with stores all over the country that are having some real success using this type model.

One of the problems that I have run across both as a private consultant an in my Real Job is that few people lack my commitment to following all the steps. Sales people and managers seem to backslide into the old selling paradigms that have kept this type of selling from becoming a real force.

There seem to be no substitute for hard work. Weve all heard the old saying The Harder I work the Luckier I get. Nothing could be truer. I think that the general consensus is that dealers and manager expect this type of system to run itself. It does not happenThe Same control measures that we have had in dealerships from the beginning are just as necessary here.

Any Dealer or GM would go nuts if they heard the phone ringing without getting answered, or watching a rookie or seasoned sales person walk a guest without touching the desk first. (RIGHT?)

Why do these people that run the dealerships not want to exercise the same type of control measures with Internet ups? Imagine; a customer that gives you their:
Name
Number
Address
Insight to what they are looking for
Information about their trade
In many cases sensitive financial data
Yet, no one seems to see a value in this guest because they are not physically there??? Something is wrong with this picture.

I had a meeting with the GM of my top-producing store yesterday and I gained some insight that I had never really noticed before. He thinks that the key their success is that when the ISM feels like he has a deal and takes that lead into the sales office form then on that deal is treated like the customer is there. At that point they work that deal like it is the last deal for a bonus at the end of the month. It would seem that that sort of urgency could be a huge key to their success. No doubt all of my stores could improve their follow up processes, but the key is urgency. Get back to your customers like they are the only up your going to see that day and work them.

Can you imagine what would happen if we treated each up I-net up with respect,passion and urgency???
This is where I feel the center could come in handy several people working toward one common goal unencumbered by the day-to-day operation of a dealership. There is no doubt that my focus and persistency can were out any sales manager. After all, every client Ive ever had has always said the same thing to me. I dont want to hear about the labor pains. I just want to see the baby.


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

[This message has been edited by machado (edited 06-01-2001).]

[machado]

Well gang,

After several weeks of exhausting research I think we have just about decided this is the way we want to go.

I have a few more facts and figures to collect to put together my budget proposal.

What I need now are some killer want ads to place in my local paper.

Is there anyone out there who has used an ad that has had real success hiring for any of these positions that you would not mind sharing with me?

 BDC telephone people
 Internet Sales Staff
 Phone Room Staff
 CSI/SSI coordinator
 Any other related topics

I know what type of person normally has success as an ISM but I was wondering if this type of person might have different personality traits. What I think Im looking for is not someone to sell cars but to sell appointments. ANY IDEAS?


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