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Jan 2, 2009

"But that takes someone willing to really care and learn." Right on the money Wendell! I have had the great opportunity to work in the Net side of our Dealership, and watched the Manager of the Internet Department, who was a great Salesperson, but not much in the Management area. By no means putting that person down, just was not Management material. Would get his ten cars, and then feet up on the desk. Not willing to make change or even approach the G.M. with new or fresh ideals. Myself at the time being wet behind the ears, so to speak. Had all kinds of new ways of looking at things like we should. Like a consumer and not what would take more time or effort. From better and more photos, to video of the cars, and Sales staff, and real time tracking of Leeds. My old G.M. would say, "Wow you really think outside of the box Lee". That felt not only great, but further encouraged me to bring him more! That's what I call a real Manager. Approachable, and down to earth. As part of the many cuts in our Company, I was one of them. I was saved by an e-mail 15 minutes before the ax was to fall. Now working on the Service side of things. I'm still blessed to be part of this great Company, and feel really grateful and lucky to be here. After seven years, and doing everything from Service, Sales, to having my feet wet all day in the Prep shop, I feel have a real grasp on the day to day operations, and how you are only good as your people. That starts with Management and the training and guidance they provide. After being in the Internet Department, I was hooked, and still am! I find myself looking up my old web site and weeping at the lack of care I had once put in. Noticed I said my old web site. That's because it might as well been Lee.com. That's just the way I looked at it. I really did care, and poured my heart into it. Even went out and got a Blackberry and had all the Leeds come to me so there would not be one missed, and could reply back to Leeds immediately. not when we could, but right now. Less than a minute and not during business hours only. Literally until I went to bed at night. That use to blow the socks off my clients who were surprised to get a real person as late as 1 am, and within a few moments of pushing enter on there computer. This comes from the days, and I mean the eighties when the phone was the first contact to your business. How important it was, and how this first impression meant everything. Not can you hold. I use to have to study and provide a cost of how much it cost to make it ring. Back then it seemed like a lot. Even worse if you fouled that up, how much it would cost if the other guy did it better. We would phone shop on a weekly bases just to see if someone was better than us. Well that's the past and today it's the Web site. If you have stock photos, and descriptions that have no meaning, well someone else is eating your pie that you paid for. Well ok time for me to step down from my soap box, and freshen my resume. I again feel truly lucky to have been part of the Net, and one day soon hope to be back. It's in my blood and will do what it takes to do it again. For all those Managers who refuse to look at the people who love what they do and embrace them and ignore the Internet Department as a need, well good luck. All other Managers who want to succeed today and into the future, please e-mail me at [email protected] or call my cell phone 757-406-5777. Thanks for the time and all the education from Dealer Refresh. I will still be an advert reader. Lee.

Jan 2, 2009

Well this is the best article I have read on here.

The only FEAR most management has is CHANGE.

If you are not making a profit CHANGE your business model IMMEDIATELY!!

The only thing that surfaces during times like this is POOR management and a lack of decision making , or long range planning.
Then when we have a complete turn around you will reap hugh profit benefits. ie as long as you stay lean and mean. JMHO!

Jan 2, 2009

A light switch is not far from flicking on. With the light will come a move toward a different industry. The speed of this move will be dictated by the economy and/or manufacturers. If things bounce back within the year, the move will be extremely minor. If things don't bounce back for 5 years, the move will be much stronger.

The problem is in the managers. Management does not become management without a keen ability to survive. Even when times are good survivability is the name of the promotion game in the car business. It is a dog eat dog business, and I bet the same pit bulls will be sitting in the same seats if this is a short storm.

Change does not happen over night - it comes on the back of lots of time and a majority of acceptance (forced or wanted). It also requires a drastic reason.

Management should currently be looking at a few things:

1. Are the dealership's cash reserves enough to weather 2 years without profit?

a. If not, what are you cutting to get there?
b. If there isn't enough to cut, when are you selling the dealership?

2. If you've already taken care of number 1, have you evaluated your inventory for positioning amongst a more rational buyer? Save the emotional options (smart keys, remote car starters, 20" wheels) for orders. Carry cars that are most likely to have dealership service and warranties straight from the manufacturer a year from now. Make sure they're affordable for over 80% of your market.

3. Design a plan of attack for marketing. Are you going to push the perception that you're the cheapest guy in town? Are you going to be customer service oriented? Are you going for profit or volume? Figure it out and stick to it for 12 months - don't waiver because you were off one month. We can no longer live month to month.

4. Once number 3 is figured out, put your people on a process that follows your marketing strategy. Don't expect a volume-oriented sales force to immediately start making huge PVR's if you decide to go for profit. Have patience and water your garden daily.

5. Do I really need to go any further? This is Business 101. So if you're going to continue to be in the game, get back to basics - I bet it worked when you were selling cars too.

Jan 2, 2009

We all knew this day was coming. How did we know?

How in the h*ll can a sales rep get paid a flat for a $60,000 vehicle that takes 2-3 hours to deliver?

It was like musical chairs. The music stopped and all the ugly parts of our industry came right to the surface.

What we're witnessing is the begining of the death of the Automobile business as we knew it. For those that survive, this is the birth of a far better career.

On the way to a better day, it's gonna be messy and painful. We'll witness the death of entire brands. Many stores can't take another year of cash loss like 2008.

Darwin's rules are in full force now. The strong will eat the weak. Ask yourself, is your management team going to eat your competitors, or, will your store be eaten?

LOOK AT YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM.
Sure there is cost cutting going on, but, are they communicating a new attack plan for 2009?

We're in the top of the 2nd inning, there's a lot of drama to play out yet. If your management team is a bunch of slackers, I suggest you get your resume tweaked ASAP.

Are we having fun yet?
Joe

Jan 1, 2009

Dealerships are like a "Deer in the headlights" now a days. They are not accustomed to what they are facing today. This doesn't turn around in a few months(although most should have seen it coming). Deep seeded problems of management and hiring have sprung the trap that they find themselves in today. And most deserve where they are now. To wake up and go in the right direction will be monumental. Easy money and lazy ways in a business almost gone bankrupt. I guess that's almost fitting. But being in the business over 15 years it makes me sick. You are right that the wrong people have been put in management. To attract the right people into this business now - ponder that for a minute. There must be a new movement of the right people to turn these dealerships around. I think that is the real problem with Owners and existing management willing to go down with the ship. Everything you say is right on Shaun. But that takes someone willing to really care and learn. You must be willing to do what a few of us do and that is to learn daily. And make that a part of your being and understand that the ole ways are just that OLD. How many people do you know like that - or have you ever have known a handful of people in your life like that. Who really want to put themselves out there and do all the things day in day out. The problem is they always have the other driving motive. No one knows anymore how to think and be creative(or Think and Grow Rich). It 's a different world, but it will come on around 180 to roost.I think it is right now. What makes me more upset than anything over the years is watching all the good salespeople leaving the business because of bad management. Salespeople are the ones that make it happen. The management must be knowledgeable enough to give them the tools so they may blossom into great builders of their sales business.

Jan 1, 2009

"An excellent Sales Person does not equal an excellent Manager"

This is true. People are often promoted to a level of incompetency. They call this the Peter Principle

Peter principle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Jan 1, 2009

Great Management and Great Leadership

This coming year will be a sad year for many car dealerships, so I’m writing this article to offer hope and encouragement, and maybe it will help save at least one from despair. But before I continue, let it be known that I am a very optimistic, positive, “glass is half-full” kind of guy. To me, adversity is nothing more than an opportunity for growth, and without challenges no one would develop perseverance. Now, I’m not saying that I like adversity or being challenged all the time, but lately it seems the world I’m living in serves up more and more of it everyday.

Managing The Dealership

Every dealership needs to start by looking at the way they are managed. Thousands of dealers have operated with blinders on for too many years. This mentality avoids true management of people and their processes, and has no chance against the Godzilla-sized problems facing every dealer in the country right now.

First, ask yourself, “Whose hands are on the wheel?” I’ve been in far too many dealerships that have a really great Salesman working as a Manager. NEWS FLASH: An excellent Sales Person does not equal an excellent Manager! The best Manager might not be able to sell their way out of a wet paper bag and that’s ok! Maybe this challenges your way of thinking about management, but that’s ok too…you reserve the right to change your mind when given new ideas.

Consider this. Right now, as you read this article, Managers are making big decisions. Hiring and firing decisions, vendor decisions (who to keep, who to cut, who to add), advertising and marketing decisions, decisions on what to buy at auctions and pricing used inventory, decisions on how to process incoming internet leads, website decisions, decisions on training and education initiatives and so on and so on.

Poor Managers make the above BIG decisions based on instinct alone, which is a display of ignorance. Ignorance is not only unacceptable, it represents a coffin nail that every dealer should avoid at all cost. A bad Manager has no idea what his or her employees are truly capable of and how to motivate them. When a Manager only evaluates sales people based how many vehicles they sell, they fail to identify the reasons why they sold that number of vehicles. If you don’t know why Johnny-Sales-Guy only sold five cars this month, you are a bad Manager.

Bad Managers don’t recognize, or even see the need, for tools that track sales efforts; they don’t know how to determine the value of their vendors; they don’t understand what advertising and marketing choices return the best results; they don’t know what their ratio is between their showroom traffic and their internet traffic; they don’t know what makes a good website (or even know why their website exists); they don’t know when they need training; and they don’t know how to hold trained employees accountable. Managers such as these have no right to be managing in today’s dealership.

Great Managers, of course, do all of the above well because their experience, knowledge, abilities and talents match the needs of the position. They know the strengths and weaknesses of those he or she manages and they will position their employees to play to their strengths, NOT their weaknesses. A great Manager knows what days showroom traffic is at its peak and cross-trains sales people for traditional showroom sales as well as internet sales. A great Manager tracks sales people’s response times, follow-up discipline, appointment setting ratio, closing ratio and uses metrics to help the dealership thrive not just survive.

Again, good management is a dilemma for many dealerships because so many stores are being managed by people whose greatest strength is not managing.

Helpful Hints and Encouragement

Choosing to keep an employee should be based on the fact that their abilities, strengths and talents match your needs and that they are well utilized to make your business successful. Establish an employee rating scale (i.e. “Outstanding,” “Exceeds Expectations,” “Meets Expectations” and “Needs Improvement”), then MANAGE your staff toward success or out of your dealership.

Keep and/or add vendors that increase sales conversion. Now more than ever, vendor choices need to be based on ROI. A good vendor will stand behind their product or service by not forcing long term contracts. Having the best tools available is useless if there is no proven process for them.

Make cuts in places like newspaper, television and radio. If you spend more than $5k a month in any of these areas, separately or combined, sharpen your axe and start swinging it!

Manage your processes or you will make bad decisions. If you don’t know how to effectively communicate with your customers (especially online), you will not be able to identify good leads vs. bad leads. You won’t know why one CRM tool fits your business needs vs. another. Solid processes give you critical management tools like visibility, accountability and responsibility.

If you are the Dealer/Owner/DP, do some self-examination related to your leadership skills and abilities. If you aren’t the one casting the vision for how the business moves forward, who is? A leader must exist. Here’s a video that includes 13 great leadership rules.

Properly managing your people and processes is one of the biggest keys to your dealership’s success. Just signing-up for the latest and greatest product or service will do nothing to help you if the wrong people work for you or if you have the right people in the wrong roles. There will be amazing success stories in 2009, but they will all have two things in common, great management and great leadership.

Jan 6, 2009

Jeff - Thanks for all your efforts in our industry. I give you the Automotive Industry Blog of the Year.

And to all your contributors (specifically Alex), you do a great service for the industry.

DigitalRalph.com · Jan 3, 2009

Jeff,

Thank you for the 2008 recap and list of your site's most popular posts. I went to the microsite discussion and saw, for the first time, all the comments posted by one of my old Courtesy Chevrolet suppliers, David Jackson... Wow, I was pretty amazed that I had not seen it before. Must have been before I started using Google alerts on my own name. Anyways, I just wanted to point out 2 facts regarding the history of my using Mr. Jackson's services:

1. When I was first introduced to Mr. Jackson by Mike Gordon, our IT director at the time, Dave's response to my question regarding microsites was - "What's a microsite". So I taught him about the concept and submitted mock-ups of the sites I wanted him to build via MS Word document.

2. Since Mr. Jackson had never build microsites before I explained the concept to him, he also did not know how to build ADF-XLM formatted web site forms that could be easily parsed by lead management tools. I provided Mr. Jackson with the STAR manual in PDF file format, and then worked with him to change his forms until they would parse properly into any standard CRM or Lead Management tool.

The shakespearian phrase "me thinkest thou protest too greatly..." or something like that comes to mind. The fact remains that I have personally referred more dealers to Mr. Jackson's business than any other customer he has ever had... I know simply by looking at his client list.

The first dealer he ever sold a microsite to after Courtesy Chevrolet was a Mercedes-Benz dealership that I referred to him. Yet, I have never seen a thank you, my attempts to reconcile I have been rebuffed and I have been contacted by dealer after dealer who felt obligated to bring to my attention that Mr. Jackson had defamed and slandered me during their phone conversations... Sometimes, the phone calls and emails have come to me from dealers I have never met!

Oh well... One thing I learned a long time ago when I was in a fraternity in college, is that you should never help people or inspire them with an expectation of reward, recognition or pay back. Mr. Jackson has certainly reinforced that lesson learned.

Oh, and one more thing... I sure do like the way your new design and features work on DealerRefresh.com compared to the old site platform! I hope that you and Alex keep up all the great work you have done in 2009... May this be the best of all years for DealerRefresh.com!

andwrig · Jan 1, 2009

Jeff - I agree with you wholeheartedly. Let's get it done in 2009. Thanks for the efforts of everyone on DR.

Happy New Year.

Andy

Dec 31, 2008

Considering the industry has almost nowhere to go but UP from here (one would hope), I too expect 2009 to be a promising year for the industry.

DR has clearly been an oasis for the industry. You have represented the art and science of relational blogging well and established a loyal following. I think this site is a true reflection of your own person Jeff.

Happy New Year to everyone who frequents DR and thanks to all for sharing your passions, positions, and ideas. It is entertaining and educational.

Godspeed. -RG

Oscar Vanderkooij · Dec 31, 2008

The negative spiral can only be stopped one way. By spending money! All those folks that are afraid to spend money because they do not know whether they will keep their job or just wait for the market to turn around. Well, it won't unless we start spending money.

Although I agree with Joe that their are gas savings currently. The oil prices have been going down because of the slowing/declining growth of the economy. So as soon as the economy turns around, the gas prices will shoot up again. The economy is a funny thing. You lower the rates to improve the economy, but indirectly this will affect the economy in a bad way to.

Really the answer is that we all need to go shopping our a** off, so companies will start reporting positive sales numbers, which will lead to more jobs and more people spending money.

My 2 pennies.

Dec 28, 2008

Joe - that's great. I have to admit that I've gotten a little caught-up in the down side of the market lately...if that wasn't obvious. Thanks for lightening things up!

Dec 27, 2008

Back in the day, before 24hour TV News discovered how well paranoia sells, we had to ask ourselves....

When do you know you're in a REAL REAL DEEP Recession?

You see tires being driven down to the chord.
Restraunts (all of them) totally empty.
Cigar butts smoked all the way down to the filter.
Car pooling chatter heard all the time.
You reuse coffee filters.
You add coffee to day old coffee grounds.
You don't buy jeans with holes... you earned them.

Hey!
No one talks about how recessions can produce MORE of a lot of stuff...

You see a lot More...
Bicycles
More hitch hikers
More noodle casserole meals
More drinking
More neighbors helping neighbors
More cars on jacks in neighborhoods
More college grads doing trades work (God help us all if we need to kick the illegals out to take back work in this arena)
More patches on jeans...

Lastly,
Not all places are suffering the same. Some areas are bearing most of the downturn. In the Great Depression, if memory serves me right, I recall that San Francisco missed the whole event.

Joe

Dec 27, 2008

A fellow cyclist acquaintance runs this site
if you ever want some positive news http://positiveeconomicnews.com/
that's why I like cyclists they always seem to find the positives in everything.

William Bryant · Dec 27, 2008

Man this is an interesting post.

First off, John as I mentioned in a previous comment, and has been reiterated here-- the spread of bad news and belief that things are terrible will continue to make things worse, not better. Hence the term "consumer confidence."

Yes, our overall economy is at an all-time low. Unemployment is high (unless you live in ND apparently). But the reason things will continue to get worse will be because of consumer confidence.

As Grant Cardone said, the power to turn this economy around is in the consumer. If the consumer is empowered (tax incentives, loan incentives, Madoff gets the chair... just sayin') then it will spur our economy.

There are still good investments to be made. Good money to be spent. Heck, if you bought trucks when gas was high, you're making good money on them now!

As a real estate investor I have followed the market very closely. I haven't bought a house in 2 years because I smelled it coming (it hit us a little later than most of the country).

But as mentioned, houses are still selling. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are getting their crap together. They're doing what they can to NOT put houses in foreclosure. It would be a spur to the market to start buying some of these foreclosures in the months before summer, and have them market-ready by summer, keeping in mind they won't sell for what they would have 3 years ago. BUT it's a market adjustment.

I may be wrong on that, it is just speculation. Ideas?

Dec 27, 2008

Joe, I love the gas price raise math! I believe the turn in consumer confidence is coming soon. Look at how many stores had half price or better offers through the holiday shopping season. So many of us love spending the money we work hard for and with prices on everything including cars being a good buy right now how can it not bounce back? The retailers that understand consumers will consume when the perceived value is greater than the price will capitalize in all economies. I know we intend on being that retailer.
Joe we've gotta get on the phone soon,
Craig

Dec 27, 2008

thanks for the positive post Joe!
John you can stay in your foxhole

Dec 26, 2008

It's not a knife falling, it's a sword, and it's only just begun to fall.

Table A-7. Employment status of the civilian population by nativity and sex, not seasonally adjusted - 2026 M05 Results

www.bls.gov

Dec 26, 2008

oh, one last thing...

July's gasoline shock crushed everyone's retail appetite. Septembers stock market fall sealed every families resolve to have a very simple (low cost) Holiday.

So, average Joe's gasoline windfall keeps piling up AND add a low cost Christmas and Average Joe is paying off those Credit Cards with glee!

All the while, since July, he keeps racking up miles and miles on his aging ride. He’s holding back from buying new, waiting for the smoke to clear...

While Average Joe is holding back, auction yards are spilling over with excess inventory. Lease returns, cash strapped dealers looking to raise cash, rentals, are all trying to find a bidder.

Manheim's Auction Index has had the steepest price decline in its 15 year histroy, now 2 months running.

At this point, there is NO PROOF that Average Joe is going to show up and save the day. But, you can see the potential for a rebound.

I am a firm believer that the 1st Q of 09 will be a banner year for used cars. I hope your dealer is poised to "catch a falling knife" and bravely go where no sane man dares pass… step in there and buy some really cheap inventory to flip into spring's new market.

A strategic optimist,
Joe

Dec 26, 2008

Alex,
I'll take the opposite side of the debate. I’ll employ yet another old trader mantra…

BUY FEAR, SELL GREED..

Where have our customers gone? They’re not in ANY stores! The TV news these days is full of fear and we all know nothing rivets an audience better than some good old fashioned "the world is ending" fear (see wikipedia: Chicken Little) haha...

Ok, the news on TV is grim, but what news is brewing behind the scenes? Good news I say! First, we know that 93 out of 100 of your customers are still working and second, they ALL have to drive to work and BETTER NEWS! 93% of the US population has been given a BIG raise recently!

Since July 4th, gasoline has fallen just over 60%. In NY, it’s fallen from $4.30 a gallon to $1.60’s. Where ever you live “The Oil Bubble of 2008” has popped, but, the Credit Crisis on TV has us all paralyzed.

Ok, while we're in our fox holes watching TV news dispense doom and gloom, how are things at your customer’s home? Let’s look at their gasoline bill, this month vs July (5 months ago).

Mr. and Mrs. Average Joe have a sedan and a SUV and drive 15,000 miles a year each.

Sedan:
Chevy Impala = 56 gallons per Month

JULY: $4.30 p/gal fill up = $240.80

NOW: $1.65 p/gal fill up = $92.40

Save = $148.40

SUV:
A Ford Explorer = 78 gallons per Month

JULY: $4.30 p/gal fill up = $335.40

NOW: $2.65 p/gal fill up = $128.70

Save = $206.70

Combined gas savings per month: $370.10

That is sweet news indeed!

Drop this Credit Crisis news and we’d be over run with consumers! Alas, the credit crisis news is grim and hides this windfall. But, as the weeks pass, the Fed intervention will make its way into the system. Fear will ebb and your customers will get that “all clear” signal to come out into the sun.

In the mean time, they’ll have been enjoying a windfall of lower energy (and falling food prices). This windfall is enormous and is piling into our laps. Remember, it was just a few months ago when everyone (me included) had resigned ourselves to the new era of $4 gasoline.

When the time comes for your customers to dump the old car and buy new, they’ll be more conservative and far more open to the value of a used car then ever before. There has never been a better time for the future of selling used cars than here and now.

Average Joe gets a $221.00 raise - Dale Pollak

Where have our customers gone? They’re not in ANY stores! The news these days is full of fear and we all know nothing rivets an audience better than some good old fashioned Chicken Little fear. What news is brewing behind the scenes? Good news I say! First, we know that 94 out of 100 of your […]

www.dalepollak.com

Joe

Gerald · Dec 26, 2008

No kidding! We see everyday how our attention spans seem to retract daily, but what is really funny is how inane the customer really is!

You point out the customer running away from trucks when gas went up, but then gravitate back to them after prices fall. What slays me is- Why did you buy the truck in the first place!!!? Did you NEED a truck? If so, how did that need change when gas went up, and now that need magically come back when prices of gas rise again?

I don't remember that many people riding the short bus to school, but geez, maybe I was wrong.

As a fellow Historian, I find this as entertaining as you. But it is nice to have a good understanding how your buyers will behave in some situations.

Alex Snyder · Dec 26, 2008

If there is anything 2008 taught me, it is that America's memory has shortened even further than it was before. It is amazing how fast people switched their car-buying habits based on gas prices going up and coming back down. I can't get over the speed at which truck sales died and came back. Do people really believe we'll never see an increase in gas prices again? Did the environment take a back seat in our Hummers once again?

The housing market died and interest rates are at their lowest, but even with housing still in the toilet people flocked to new purchases enough to have every mortgage broker and Real Estate agent I know working through Christmas. All indications show the housing market is going to continue to drop, so why invest now?

Never try to catch a falling knife.

Wall Street is a bloody mess, but I hear more and more people are throwing money at it thinking a big return is going to happen next week.

Wait for the knife to hit the floor first.

Don't get me wrong, I am super happy to hear people are spending money - we need it to happen more! I'm ecstatic some faith is being restored to the system. I'm just intrigued by the month-to-month mentality we seem to have in this country now. One of my degrees is in History and maybe it is that dorky academic side of me that finds this whole mess fascinating.

One thing these consumer trends are showing me is that we can either get away with more experimental advertising or have to get more long-term with our campaigns. It is obvious people are not going to remember when you made a mistake. Sure, a few folks will, but the masses won't. At the same time, maybe it means we need to start thinking about spreading our messages farther and longer. Maybe it means we have to beat people over the head until they say stop. Maybe we have to get extremely targeted...more-so than before. Maybe we should concentrate on branding more than ever. Maybe we should do more guerrilla marketing.

Whatever the marketing tactic is for 2009 it is going to be an interesting year to say the least. No matter what, it will be tougher and require better strategizing than ever before. I think it will be a good year for online and anything that is free to consumers (non-subscription based medias).

William Bryant · Dec 26, 2008

You know Alan, extracting that information about where EXACTLY a customer came from is a struggle for our dealership. I take a look at the sales log and track to see where that customer submitted information online to see where the sale came from, but if they didn't submit info, I have no way of telling. Customer survey sheets in F&I or at the time of write-up, or in our CRM, or anywhere have failed miserably.

My attempts to tell everyone how important it is to know this information (which would of course strengthen the fact of how low our ROI is on newspaper and TV) have not gone un-noticed, just without action. I'm going to have to try harder to get my dealer's attention on this fact so that it will get enforced.

Especially now, we need to know how to squeeze the most out of every penny spent in advertising. Thanks for giving me some motivation to persist in this!

Oscar Vanderkooij · Dec 23, 2008

Alex,

Our dealership has always looked at performance of advertising sources to decide whether to keep or shut down the vendor. We look at Closing ratios, Cost per vehicle sold, Gross vs Cost, etc.

In addition we have never really spend a lot on branding since it is hard to see what you get as for the ROI (not that it is bad)

What we have started the last several months is let all our vendors know that if we do not get help from our vendors we will have to shut them down alltogether. We send all our vendors letters asking for a decrease in price (keeping the service the same) or increase in service. This has worked extremely well with some vendors including our CRM vendor, credit pulling vendor, oil vendor, etc.

That said, when looking strictly at the Internet, I think you can really negotitate with your vendors and monitor the quality of the leads you are getting.

Regarding Consumerism:

I have noticed that although lead volume is about the same from third party and our own website, we have seen a decrease in closing percentages. Customers are telling us they are "just looking" more then before, which tells me that our customers are being more carefull because of the economic situation. The want is there, but the need has been lowered.

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