I was cleaning out my old word docs and ran across this old plan. I turn these in all the time but I don’t see them make much of a difference. I wonder what I can do differently? Any ideas?

Internet Department Business Plan for the Month of August 2006

The month of August will require laser like focus to maintain a growth increase for the store but very possible; we have sales that are already in the pipeline that would have made July look better unit wise. Lessons learned from July will be applied to this month’s business plan to increase R.O.I. and unit count for the month.

Buy in from Management through all departments is once again crucial. Service and Parts need to become more involved in their respective departments to extract every possible dollar marketing wise from the website. What they are advertising in print needs to be forwarded to the internet department so we know the direction they are going marketing wise. The store is up and running for the parts department but slight tweaks need to be made and pricing information need to be corrected and the store needs promotion. I have made changes to the location of the store and have installed a hyper link to the store under the Parts specials page on the site.

I have attached statistics from website visits; 872 unique visitors for the month of July. I scaled down the radius to 25 miles for our Dealix leads trying to increase lead to appointment ratio vs working deals over the phone. This I feel is the reason for the slip in traffic from June. I will also try to pinpoint some areas in our market such as Ft. Knox. I am concerned about the Ft. Knox area because the area is split between us and Toyota of Louisville. I have been told that we are going to be using the dominator program from dealer.com so I would suggest that we use that to reach our Military clients. Keyword searches that have been used in the past by visitors are located on page 5 of the attached 6 page statistics report.

I have also attached an example of a sell your car sheet in rough draft that I would like to include in the current floor sales process that would help us build a story for our used online inventory. The folks that I talk to and read about stress the importance of used vehicles for bigger profit potential because it is harder to compare and shop used car prices increasing used car exposure will be a main focus in the coming months. I am also working on contacting all leads the moment the leads hit my Cell Phone and take the lead out of the market as soon as possible.

The challenges I faced last month that I tried to overcome was the availability of inventory. I changed our status with Dealix to remove leads on vehicles that we did not have access to such as Camry and Yaris. We are still averaging about 100 leads from all sources with half of that coming from Dealix. If I close 15% from all leads that will give me 15 sales for the month. The focus will be a 30% appointment ratio which will give me 30 prospects in front of me to close. If I close 50% of my appointments that will give me the 15 units. The closing rate on appointments have been in this range but I need to focus on the appointment and avoid price on the phone if possible to up the unit gross and if price becomes a issue try to set them up for back end profit.

By Mark Dubis

Over the last few years I have been fortunate to meet and speak with hundreds of Internet sales managers from new car dealerships all over the country. Without exception they all loved what they were doing and were overly optimistic about the future of the Internet and how it could better serve their customers.

Many of these managers would also share their frustrations with me. “Mark, when you call me next week, I will be at a new dealership and here is my new phone number and e-mail address,” they would say. My reply, “What’s going on, you’ve been there two years? I thought you were happy there?”

Then they would open up with all the things that were gnawing at them and keeping them up at night. I sincerely started to feel their pain, so I started to keep notes from these conversations and saw a pattern develop. At the base level it always came down to new school versus old school. The people in control at the dealership were used to doing things a certain way and they were stubbornly holding on to those practices. The folks in the Internet department were the new school devotees but didn’t have the authority to buck the system. If you are an owner or general manager and you aren’t seeing top-tier results from your Internet department, take a look at this list and see how many of these points are ‘in play’ at your dealership.

Internet departments fail because:

1. The dealership set up a hierarchy so the Internet sales manager (ISM) has to answer to a multiplicity of persons (e.g., GM, GSM, on-duty desk manager, F&I manager).

2. The Internet manager has lots of responsibility, but no authority. Other managers make decisions regarding web sites, lead providers, and lead management tools without consulting the ISM.

3. The dealership expects unrealistic results and does not provide the tools to do the job. A CRM software solution is a must to track leads and manage the dept progress and follow-up schedule.

4. The dealership implements ridiculous packs over $1,000

5. The dealership exhibits a lack of respect at some levels of management and a general indifference to the department or staff in the Internet department. This displays a clear attitude at different levels that; “you’re just another salesman.”

6. The dealership forces Internet transactions to reduce front-end grosses on purpose to make the dealership and F&I more money on the back end. (I have also heard of GSMs putting low gross deals into the Internet sales bucket, and that throws off the numbers of the department.)

7. General or sales managers make the Internet department feel fortunate to get 100 leads per month, and those can be taken away, if upper management feels like it.

8. There is an unwillingness to invest in the department in order to make money. Most often the Internet sales manager is not in the loop for setting marketing budgets, thus the minimal amounts allocated to the department do not provide the resources to obtain the targeted results.

9. The high-level dealership management doesn’t listen to recommendations from the Internet manager and just bellow back, “That’s just how it is!”

10. The dealership doesn’t provide a positive workplace culture where everyone works as a team. Cutthroat environments where departments and salespeople have to watch their backs and cover their behinds all the time do not make for a good work environment.

Do you see any familiar items above? If you do, it means your good employees will probably be leaving you soon for your competitors. If you want to get serious about the Internet it’s time to put some quality work practices into effect at your dealership, and maybe fire the old school managers who refuse to change with the times.

I sincerely wish you all the best.

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 This article originally appeared in World of Special Finance Magazine. You can visit their website at www.wosfmagazine.com

Written by Scott Tyner - 9/9/2007

• Do you know the best “trick” or “sales tactic” or whatever you want to call it, that is guaranteed to help you sell more cars online?
• Are your tracking metrics better than national averages? Would you like them to be?
• Are you looking for the “all in one”, “Magic Bullet” to build a successful Internet Department in your dealership?

What would you say if I told you I believe I have this “Magic Bullet”?

Okay, I know there is really no magic bullet. But I do know about a principle that will definitely help you sell more cars. In fact, I believe it will help you in all of life. This principle is discussed in a place you would probably never suspect (okay, a few of you will).

Believe it or not, I found a few places in my Bible, which have helped me over the years to sell more cars (I didn’t even realize it - that’s the beauty of it). Wouldn’t you love to just have something on the inside of you that helped you succeed without any extra effort on your part? By that last statement, I am not suggesting there is no effort. All I am suggesting is that when you get a principle engrained inside you, you just end up doing things that way.

Disclaimer: For those of you who do not believe in Christianity; there is no offence intended. Disbelief does not necessarily make something untrue. Look at “Love”. I know we all believe in that, but we can’t see it at all. We only see the effects of it. Am I right? Also, I am not claiming to be “Holier than Thou”, because this message is for me as well as anyone else. Besides, if you are at a point where you are thinking you have tried everything in your department with only mediocre (or worse) results, then why not at least read this article? It can’t hurt.

Before I get into this principle, I would like to prove a point (the point being, that scripture does have information we can take away and use in everyday life) by showing you a scripture verse.

Proverbs chapter 20 verse 14 (King James 1611 Version) says;

“It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.”

The word, “naught” simply means, “of little value”. And we all know what “boast” means. So basically, we are being told something that at one point or other should be known by instinct by most people. I believe the Bible mentions it just so we know it is a normal thing (kind of like saying, “hang in there man, everyone has this problem, and they learn to handle it too”).

 This verse is telling us that people, by nature, when spending their money, will make the “salesperson” think they do not think as highly of their product as they really do. This gives them confidence of not being overcharged.

So what is the “take away”, from this verse? You guessed it! We’ve all heard it a hundred times. “People will buy from you, the minute that their perceived value is higher than the price you are asking”.

Another “take away”, you may not have heard, is the fact that your customer will always (most of the time), conceal their true level of “perceived value” until they are “closed”. Wouldn’t you?

Remember this! Their perceived value is always higher than you may think, especially the majority of internet customer’s, because by the time they get to you, they have built most of their own value into your product, by researching first. They are just trying to make sure they get a good deal. (I do not intend for this to mean that you can go around “fooling” people because you know this.)

Now for the principle. In showing you this principle, I will quote another verse.

Luke chapter 6 verse 38 (King James 1611 Version) says;

“Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

“Give and it shall be given unto you…” This is where my immediate competitors keep losing deals to me (I know I do not get them all, I am speaking only of the ones I DO get). My customer’s tell me all the time that they can’t get any information from these bigger dealers. All they get is a “pushy” salesperson telling them (by phone and email) that if they will just “come on in”, they promise to give them the best deal. You see, there is a law, if you will (like the law of gravity), found here in this verse. You can’t get out of order. You must first, give, in order to receive.

**Hang in there with me and keep reading and I promise you will get very excited as I expound the end of this verse**

Well, some of you may want to know what it is that I am “giving” these customers. Other’s of you are just assuming what you’ve all read and been taught, is what I am giving them. You know, the generic pricing on a couple different vehicles that match their criteria, the information from NADA proving that a Chevrolet Silverado will hold it’s value better than a Ford F150 (sorry Ford ISM’s), Consumer Report’s information on what they think you should buy and so on.

So, what do I give these customers, already?!?! Let me tell you something first and it will explain things better. The most important thing to note at this moment is that you MUST “give” first. The principle (or law - like the law of gravity), is not in effect if you do not give first.

I learned something at the first Dealer Synergy Internet Boot camp. Or should I say that this is where I learned to put this in words. You see, I was instinctively already doing allot of this. The most important thing I learned was the “Five Reason’s People Shop Online for a Car”. They are these, (not in any certain order), #1. Availability #2. Research #3. Convenience #4. Price and #5. They hate car salespeople, and want to buy a car differently.

Most Internet Manager Training Seminars, articles and trainers, teach some good techniques for handling, #1. Availability and #4. Price. A few touch on #3. Convenience. Don’t get me wrong, these training companies will touch on all these in their own way. And I think they (at least the 2 that I have been involved with - Dealer Synergy being the most impressive to me), do a good job.

However, when you leave the seminar, or come to a forum or blog, you always see a few certain questions from ISM’s across the country. No offence, but a tremendous amount of these questions are simply “self centered” with no regard to the customer at all. You’ve all heard them…”How do I prevent skating?”, “How do I get my manager to buy in to this Internet thing?”, “What should my pay be?”, “Can you give me a copy of your email templates?”, “Do you give pricing up front?” etc.

By now you may have figured out what it is that I “give” first, to my customers. Absolutely, without a doubt, #5. They hate car salespeople, and want to buy a car differently. I give them a salesman that is not concerned about commission until the deal is done (trusting this, “Give, and it shall be given unto you…” principle).

I try to give them a salesman who will be with them throughout their entire ownership of the vehicle. I definitely give them direct, straight forward answers to their question’s (I am a professional salesman, so I still use discretion and tact, with honesty). In fact one of my main sayings is this; “You may not like everything I have to tell you, but you can be sure it is all the truth”.

I have to be honest. I am not the most organized, best appointment setter, best process follower, etc. In fact I am very weak in many areas. I often end my day without doing SOMETHING I needed to or should have done. I am a little lazy. I could go on and on with weaknesses I have.

With all those weaknesses, I managed to win “Salesman of the Month” for the month of August. I am at a 30 car a month store (we did close to 50 in August), with three salespeople. I do our website, including photos of inventory for Autotrader etc. I also do Finance (we are working on getting to a 100% Warranty Menu process), which means I have several hats. I tied in units at 13 with the dealers’ top salesperson. I won due to gross.

I am not trying to brag (although I am proud of last month). I just want you to know what I accomplished with this principle and an attitude that some day I will be known all over this country as truly one of the best at what I do. And I am talking more about being known by car buyers as one of the best, not dealers and such. Dealer’s and other ISM’s etc. will naturally know this if I concentrate on customer’s.

So, in a nutshell, what is this “Magic Bullet”? I believe if you have a servant attitude toward your customer’s, and focus on #5. They hate car salespeople, and want to buy a car differently, then you may well just stumble onto doing most things that you are not that good at, in a way that win’s the customer.

Having a “Give and it shall be given unto you…” attitude toward your dealership management, will also help you keep the car deals fair to the dealer as well as the customer, hence a better gross for me in August. I hate it when salespeople talk about “tearing their head off”, or whatever they say where you are from to let you know they made a big gross.

Now for the Bonus!!!! The end of the verse.

“…good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again”.

Imagine a time where you put your laundry in the basket. What did you do to get more into the basket? You pressed down and wiggled them around and pressed down again to get more into the basket, right? Well it worked didn’t it? You got more in there. Now imagine that you kept putting laundry in there until you saw them running over and touching the floor.

Just so you’ll know (those who don’t already), the “running over” part is so that you can give again. See, you give. Then you get back more than you need. The reason for this is so you can continue giving. When you don’t give, it is like a water pipe that is clogged.

The very last sentence of this verse, “For with the same measure ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again”, simply means that you will get out of this, exactly what you put into this, or anything else in life.

In Conclusion

I have sold cars for the last 8 years. Three of those years were working with internet customers in one way or another. Ever since I got into this business, I wanted to make a change to the industry as a whole, because I always thought that it was not very customer friendly.

We, as Internet Sales Managers have a perfect opportunity to prove to people that there are really and truly “car people” out there who do care about them and want them to get a fair deal. If we continue to be selfish, thinking of only what we can get in return for our efforts, then we will end up staying “Old School”, and doing it online as well.

While I’m at it I may as well throw a plug in for vendors as well. This principle will work for sincere people in any area of life. The reason I mentioned this is because I have had two vendors approach me for sponsorship on this site. Their only concern was what they can get from sponsoring us. I am very tempted to mention their names. But they know who they are.

Written by Scott Tyner
Internet Sales & Finance Manager
Woody Butts Chevrolet
Owner of
DealerISM

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The definition of “Synergy” is “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects” Nowhere is this more evident than in our people. Dealer Synergy is a collection of the industries best people, each an expert in their field. Some are employees, other are consulting partners, together they from the most progressive and complete consulting, training and management solution for dealerships on a national and international level.

I went to Dealer Synergys’ very first Internet Sales BootCamp in Atlanta. In fact this site is a result of that week I spent getting “PUMPED”. If you want to go get some training where you can “take away” something to actually use, then you have got to go to this training.

I am sure Sean and his team (hello Karen) will go over the absolutely neccessary 4 P’s.

• Products
• People
• Process
• Promotion

Not only that, but they also role play to make sure you retain more of what they are saying. This is the best training I have ever attended in 7 years of auto sales.

 
Sean V. Bradley is, without a doubt,
THE Grant Cardone of cyberspace!!!!

I will try anything tasteful to get a response from people I can’t reach on the phone. But I never get as many responses as I would like of course.

I was looking over some information I aquired from a Dealix rep about emails and responses.  This information was provided by Cobalt and was given out at the “Breakfast of Champions” meeting they had in Atlanta last year.

Anyway, they have a piece about “Buyer Types” in a folder on the disc with some responses from “customers”. I want to show you an example of a “Convenience Seeker“. This is supposed to be an email you would get from a “Convenience Seeker“. Remember, this is Dealix / Cobalt information, so they get the credit (that’s my legal disclaimer).

A friend told me that this was the greatest way to shop for a new car, so here I am!  I am anxious to test out your 1 hour delivery time - that sounds refreshing.

I have made up my mind on the RX 350 (prefer black) and prefer to buy it locally so that I can service it close to home. Let me know your price and what colors you have available.

I would also like some information on your financing options. I will tell you up front that I am not comfortable sending any credit information over the Internet - I would feel more comfortable if there were a form that I could download, fill out, and fax back to you?

Now I have done this in the trenches for over 3 years now and have sold cars for almost eight years. I never get this sort of response. I may get something like this from one in 5,000 leads. I am now wandering if I may be doing something wrong or if I can do better somehow (I know we can all do better).

This reminds me of the training classes we had at the dealership I just left (only these two instances are complete opposite of each other). See, in the training classes at this dealership we would role play the “write up” which is a good thing. However, we would roleplay the toughest situations possible. I am not a trainer by no means, but even I know that you should practice to win.

What I mean is that when you role play, it is best to “complete the swing” so to speak. You should role play common situations where you actually close the deal. If you role play those toughest situations (which are not the norm - they are just what we fear most), then you practice for something that is likely NOT to come up. In this training we never “close” the deal, because the salesman (who is role playing the customer), wants to show the rest of the class that the salesman (who is role playing the salesman) can’t close him.

Role playing like this should be done, and a “close” should be completed, even if you have to start out with “easy” situations. You would never practice your golf swing up until you actually hit the ball, would you? NO! You “complete the swing” so the rest of your body gets used to a successful finish.  Role playing is no different.

I said that to say this: These sample emails from these companies are totally the opposite. I mean, I hardly ever get someone to tell me this type of information in an email. With these sample emails I get to “finish the swing” in my head only.

Can someone enlighten me as to what they have done to get this sort of response from people? And when you do, tell me the percentage of your leads respond in this fashion.

I will list a few more of these samples below.

I.
Thanks for all the information on your Internet process at Excellence motors.  It sounds much more convenient than the last vehicle I purchased nearly 5 years ago!  To answer your questions I am looking for an automatic 4 cylinder Accord EX with cloth interior.  I am less concerned with color as long as it is not too dark (I don’t want to have to wash it all the time).

I am also interested in getting more information about your delivery process.  Am I right to understand that I do not even have to go to the dealership to buy the car from you?  Will I still get the same opportunities to get extended factory warranties if you deliver it?

II. 
I must say that I was delighted to see your dealership’s billboard displaying your new Web site.  It is good to know there is a dealer in this community that is anxious to listen to the customers needs and move forward with all this new technology we now have.

First let me start by saying that I believe that I want the Automatic Accord EX with the V6 Engine.  The only hesitation that I have with this vehicle is the V6 engine - I have always known that Honda was great at producing a reliable 4 cylinder engine, and I just worry that with the relatively short track record this new V6 may be less trustworthy.

One thing that caught my eye with your e-mail was the trade-in help you provide.  My brother-in-law is interested in buying my 1996 Ford Explorer - can you give me a ball park idea on what it’s worth without me bringing it down there?

Am I being too negative? I hope not, I just want to do the best things for success.