It was interesting, to me, to finally hear someone admit the front door of the dealership is online and we're still not doing a good job of meeting customer wants.
I think we, as an industry, are doing a terrible job. To me it's the same as what's happening in the store. 30% of the sales team makes up 70% of the sales. There aren't a lot of people doing internet sales well - and it comes down to individual accountability. Of course, we in the management realm are responsible for driving individual accountability and performance upwards - but it amazed me how we, as an industry, miss the simplest of steps.
Do you know how often I have told the same people that they need to investigate the lead and address the customer's questions in their response? Or, why we shouldn't simply acknowledge availability and ask for a phone call or appointment?
I still think we need to leave reasons to visit the showroom or we are wasting our time doing the entire education process online without a good way to close a sale - but we need to realize that shoppers are still visiting 3-6 dealerships before buying. Instead of shopping in the store, they are shopping online, and the store visit is basically equivalent to the sale if we don't find a way to mess that up (a big if!).
We need to push our value proposition to shoppers online: why this car, why our store, why this price, value, value, value. Actually, I'm glad we suck as an industry; because, if I can get my team good at this, we will be very productive.
And, we still can't get someone top dollar for their trade without seeing it and driving it - just like someone can't buy a used car simply on price without seeing and driving it. It just doesn't work - it is unfair the customer to try and do it that way.