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Ford Store, Anyone?

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Andrew Carr

Andrew Carr

Made Draw
Jan 19, 2010
34
2
First Name
Andy
#1
Hey Gang,

Just arrived at a Ford store close to home and we have an internet department that might as well not exist. Starting from ground zero here and new to Ford so I thought I would seek advice from the forum.

I knew all of the Toyota stores to model my setup after, but I am noticing that most ford stores seem to be using the factory site or a very generic site and I would like to do something that stands out a bit and converts well. Can anyone direct me to some Ford stores that are "nailing it" so I can see how it's done?

Thanks!

-Andy Carr
 
#4
Finishline Ford in Peoria, IL knocks it out of the park with their total operation. In a couple of short years Bill Pearson took a 50 Used per month operation to 300+. Finishline has fully embraced the Internet. They really pay attention to how they present the dealership and the individual vehicles online. They do so many things right, it's hard to know where to start: Good photos and lots of them. Very nice videos. Outstanding comments. Competitive pricing. Constantly monitoring their market to stock short supply -- high demand vehicles.

All of this is on a Dealer.com site they obviously pay attention to, with integrated RealDeal price checks to the market. I don't know that you can point to any one thing that makes them special: It's the right philosophy, a tremendous amount of energy, painstaking attention to detail and doing a whole lot more things right than wrong!
 
#5
That real deal is interesting. Thanks for sharing Ed. From what I quickly checked out, Finishline Ford has some price adjusting to make :)

Andy, be sure to keep this thread updated as you make progress with your new venture over to Ford. Congrats on the move!
 
#6
Thanks to everyone for the responses. It was a gutsy move. Before I bash the store I am at or it's Internet dept. I should first state that they should be applauded for doing the right thing and getting serious about doing it the right way. They have been courting me for a while and finally all of the stars lined up. I live only a couple of blocks away from the store so that's nice.

The process right now is that they spend a lot of money and wait. We have alpha auto trader, cars.com and an eBay store and we might as well not have any of them. The leads are directed all over the store and most of the people involved check their email "every couple days or so" with nobody really checking on outcomes, etc.

Bad photos, no comments on cars, not priced to market, I can go on. The fun part will be fixing it all and looking like a hero. 4 days in and I am well on my way.

We have a progressive GM and used car manager who both want to do the right thing, they just havent found the person to get it going. Wish me luck!

Thanks for sharing the dealers, too. I am aware of Finish line's success, but I think their success is more of a v-auto story than anything. Web site is stock. With Ford it's hard to do anything other than the white and blue.
 
#7
Andrew Carr said:
Web site is stock.
Click to expand...


This statement got me thinking about a conversation I've been having with a few different dealers lately, and has nothing to do with where I work now.

I just want to point out that we all look at dealer websites all day everyday and they get boring really fast. Our customers don't have that same sentiment. We're not Best Buy - people don't come to our website looking for the latest deals to drop $20 to $400 repeatedly throughout the year.

We are car dealers who, if we're lucky, get a customer to our website twice a year. Twice a year to find our phone number to make a service appointment.....and once every 2 to 5 years to buy a car. All I'm trying to get at is the "boring/stock" website isn't as bad as we make it out to be.

And maybe you already realize that Andrew, so take this as a general post for the other 95% of the people who browse DealerRefresh (the people you never see posting).
 
#8
Ed Brooks said:
Finishline Ford in Peoria, IL knocks it out of the park with their total operation. In a couple of short years Bill Pearson took a 50 Used per month operation to 300+. Finishline has fully embraced the Internet. They really pay attention to how they present the dealership and the individual vehicles online. They do so many things right, it's hard to know where to start....
Click to expand...

Ed,

How long ago did FinishLiine Ford occupy the gigantic hardware store across the street to put it's used car inventory indoors?

Finish Line Ford announces the largest pre-owned indoor showroom in the Midwest. Shop over 300 import and domestic vehicles across 95,000 square feet of climate controlled indoor showroom space. No matter what the weather is outside, it's always sunny and 72 degrees inside. No more shopping for a vehicle in the rain, snow or hot sun. Our new indoor showroom is located directly across from our main building.

Finish Line Ford | Peoria, Illinois
 
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#9
Alex I don't disagree at all about dealer web sites. They are all the same general concept for the most part and I'm not thinking I can magically re-invent the wheel. When I started to look at sites here in the st Louis market and in several other markets, many were the same.

Trying to look at it from a customer perspective, if I visit 10 sites of local dealers and they are all the same I might at least remember the site that is a little different, has more info available and is easier to shop on.

I just want mine to jump off of the page a little more than the others. Other than getting photos, comments, and pricing right and actually responding to leads I think this is one of the most important things I can do right out of the gate.

It could be worse. I could have gone to a store that had a bunch of bad habits and thought they were doing it right...instead I went to a store with no habits that wasn't ashamed to admit it.:lol:
 
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