RE: Test Drives preventing online sales
We're at the beginning of all sorts of new realizations. To believe people are going to stick to anything anymore is a quick way to long term failure. Things have changed so fast.
As far as test drives go I used to believe people wouldn't buy a car without a test drive. My road to a sale training proved it! And then I started selling Hondas in 2001. People were lining up to wait months for a Honda Odyssey. No test drives; just a $500 deposit. It is a friggin' minivan!
This was recently reiterated when I went car shopping with my girlfriend as she didn't want to test drive a car. All she cared about was how it looked, what color, would the interior handle all she wanted to put in it and was it affordable. It reminded me of a lot of all the customers I forced around the block pointing out ride qualities they would never notice.
And then you've got someone like me on the opposite end of the spectrum. I'm going to test drive the wheels off that thing. I'm going to find my own route and probably break some laws. And there is no way in hell I'm going to buy a car without test driving it. F that!
But car enthusiasts, like myself, are not the majority. There are entire brands of A to B cars that appeal to the people who know how to
pilot a car, but don't know how to
drive a car. I hate to point a finger at these guys because they've given us so much, but do you really need to test drive a Toyota?
And speaking of Toyota, they're one of the reasons we have such amazing cars today. When was the last time you saw a car broken down on the side of the road? How often are customers walking into the service department with a broken transmission or blown motor? Cars just aren't breaking like they used to. And the heavy competition within each segment is making the car choice mostly about looks, availability, and incentives. All cars are good and most segments drive very similar. Features are nearly 1:1 identical with differences just being in the user experience of control systems and interior ergonomics. None of this requires a test drive.
Yeah, things are changing. It is about the evolution of the products we sell and the evolution in the way customers want to shop that are caused by many external influencers outside our control. The future is realized by the people who recognize this. And we say thanks to the laggards who make us look good