I can't recall ever selling a car to someone who said it was the coupon that motivated them to get in the car and drive to the dealership. I found it was the ones that were already on their way to buy the car and taking on last look at the website before coming in decided to print it out. They were also the type to pull the coupon out after the deal had been made and demand that they get another $250 off the car. My suggestion it to put a disclaimer on the coupon, that it has to be presented first or off advertised price. As much as I despise pop-ups I do hear they generate a lot of leads. Dealers without them on their site say they want them. One thing I haven't seen is a popup specifically for new cars that advertises the manufacturers rebates or special finance rates. That doesn't cost you anything at closing.

I first had a normal $250 off any vehicle purchase which did next to nothing but then switched it to $250 Gas Card with any vehicle purchase. Well, it made a nice difference until the sales people started cannibalizing the heck out of it. All of a sudden every person they spoke to just happened to see it online, friends, relatives, 98 year old women you name it they saw it. Plus the stigma of "Pop Ups" seems to leave a bad taste in peoples mind about our site. So in a nut shell, I'm split on the matter. Thanks Tom

Great question, Jeff. I know that we have several dealerships using them and all of them love them, but there is one in particular that seems to be blowing away their leads per day and it's because they know their audience. They are offering a give away geared toward their market segment which is netting them on average about 10-15 leads a day. Again I know that we have all seen those generic lock in your internet savings now etc coupons, but until you know your audience and market to them correctly it's just another bell on your web site that might or might not get you a lead.

Excellent subject, Jeff! CarLeadsOnline.com has been offering discout certificates for over a year now and the dealers love it. Dealers tell us that they close between 20% and 30% of these leads that come from their own website.
These leads aren't from 3rd party sites, but from your site, the one you have been marketing and optimizing (hopefully). What a great way to measure the effectiveness of your own web presence.

In fact, not only do you get the name, phone number, email address, vehicle of interest and a possible appointment time set, we also offer an extensive html followup system.

Give us a call for a free 30 day test drive. We will let you put us to the test on our nickel.

Jay Traylor
CarLeadsOnline.com
832.661.6472

From where I sit, I get to see an overview from our dealership clients. Many of them like to do new/used purchase coupons. I am all for adding as many merchandising angles to a dealership's site as possible, so that you can pique the interest of the greatest number of visitors.

A shortfall I often see, is that the offer is placed centrally as an opening pop up or pop under and is usally a small amount, and applies to any vehicle. This means the dealer settles for a weak offer that can apply to any car. For example, a $100 coupon off of a $40,000 vehicle.

In a dealership website a much more powerful couponing opportunity is at the car-by-car level, but that has to be administered at a more active level by the ISM.

Alternatively, careful data handling and pricing rules in a website could safely automate the couponing process. By strengthening the couponing angle in the advertising copy that is written into the website - to talk up the presense of the Internet coupons - you should be able to entice visitors to drill down into inventory a little further, and increase your conversion ratios by making the coupon offers in exchange for customer contact info.

At that level also, you've moved beyond the pop-up blocker situation which is probably influencing classic window popped coupons.

I love sales coupons - yes, they do potentially lose you a bit of front end gross, but I've never seen this to be the case in practice. In practice, we close 30%+ of all customers who print out one of our sales coupons - pretty much regardless of dollar value. And our grosses on the coupon deals far exceed our normal grosses. So I'm a huge fan of coupons, even as a pop-under ( which I otherwise despise. )

Having been in the Industry, at the same organization for 7 short years as ecommerce director and working with a number of dealers I have seen Internet sales go from 0 to 3-4 a month and gradually move up to 28, 30, 35 a month average at some dealerships that sell average 140-160 units per month new and pre-owned in a year, these are pure Internet Department Sales not tied into BDC's. This number can double in the BDC environment. I know where Jeff is coming from.

In some of these dealerships there is no one in the sales/service department management or staff that was there when I first started calling on them. Is this turnover or what? The only person left is the dealer owner, President or General Manager and the ISM.

Some of these guys have a revolving door for turnover and complain all the time on how unhappy they are.

I tell them what my Father always reminds me; "If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got."

Having seen so many General Sales Managers and Sales Managers who have come in over the years, looked at the Internet Department and wanted to place their imprint, their change, modify the process, change CRM tools, change LMT's, out source, in source, contract out. Dealers go from their own web site to a cookie cutter concept to a 3rd party. They have lead 3rd party lead providers; then do away with the lead providers, it goes on. They have little or no clue to what makes ecommerce work because they do not understand the nuance of the system.

It is difficult for a hunter to appreciate the needs of a farmer and vice verse. Many times the Hunter yearns for what they perceive the peace and tranquility of the farmer's life but they cannot. Same for the farmer

One thing is we learn from these challenges, it helps us become stronger. One major thing I have learned is the client, at this point, increasingly each year is looking more and more at the Internet to research, decide and purchase.

Dealers that take the old approach and work with CRM operators that promise quick results, web sites that look like supermarket tabloids, treat customers like they were on a showroom experience, have the need to roll around on the parking lot and beat up the customer on pricing will never know and effectively service the Internet Consumer.

There are so many successful companies out there that are able to do this. LL Bean, Amazon, Dell, Harry & David, ebay the list goes on. These companies have huge databases they work, manage, cultivate and keep fresh. They mine these databases very effectively and sell a ton of goods and services to the clients.

We build a relationship with them and give them the information they request and meet with them and they buy when ready. It maybe a week or month, I recently had ISM's client come in 4 years after she first met with them on line and they made a purchase.

I will dare say, and this maybe more of an International observation at this point, that in the next few years we will see more and more virtual dealerships that outsource the service work on a contract basis and will focus on selling/leasing vehicles, warranty's and service contracts to clients they have built a data base on, brokers on line. There are already small pockets of the going on in the US.

We see companies like eBay that sell more and more vehicles on line every year and the consumers are lining up to purchase because they trust the system. This is not true in just the USA but Internationally as well. OEM's have people on US Military installations worldwide that have been doing this for years.

China as a emerging economic world power in many ways is innovating this ecommerce process and there are many examples that the interested observer can see for themselves.

The American Auto Industry is ripe for this type of innovation and change as (with the exception of Toyota and Honda) the Industry is in shambles.

Where there is crises and trouble there is room for opportunity.

This is fertile ground for young entrepreneurs like Jeff kershner and hundreds of the ISM's across the country that will one day realize they are in possession of a key of knowledge that will open a door of opportunity for them.

I personally know Donny and he taught me everything (well almost) that I know about sales and I taught him about half of what he knows about computers and high tech stuff...

We had the best internet team in the business routinely selling 40 cars per month (in a 125 to 150 car per month dealership) yet the forward thinking GM (who was also the one who wanted to make sure he wouldn't lose his data if he turned off his monitor and still uses AOL to email his numbers to Toyota (oops did I say that out loud)) just kept cutting our pay.

Out of one side of his mouth he said he wanted units and didn't care about gross, in fact suggested we go $100 to $200 below invoice on Camry's. Then decided that we were overpaid and couldn't hold any gross.

Getting off of soap box now.

Now don't forget that we have to teach everyone what a spread sheet is, do their word docs for them and type for them as well. Not to mention should the copier go down or the phone system is acting up. Well you are the "Internet" manager are'nt you? Here is my personal favorite! I actually had a Gsm call me and ask me if he unplugged his monitor would he lose any data? Naturally, for job security I ran right up there and told him" better let the pro" handle that one. He thought I was Bill Gates. Of course after that I had opened myself to fixing his lap, I mean cleaning it from the sites that he did not want to pop up and fixing anything that had a wire attached to it!
Donny

This will only be solved with Executive buy-in. Until the owners, presidents, VP's, etc acknowledge the importance of this "Internet Thing" these issues will continue.

Just be glad you aren't an Internet person in the Real Estate business.

I would like to add another twist to our position...
undefined job responsibilities. I often spend time wondering just what is expected. I am an Internet Manager, not Director, but often fill that position as well. When it comes to Manager meetings, I guess I am not one, because I am not invited. I am told by my owner, that he is my boss and I report to him. My GM says I report to our sales managers. My Internet Department runs 40% of our dealership business...reckon someone could throw me a bone here...better still, do I have the right to ask for one? By the way, how does less then 1/2 min wage plus commission (which will be a flat) sound for all the work you do?

Perhaps I am missing something, or others haven't picked up on it, but as an Internet Director, I am also responsible for parts & service's presence on my website. Funny, their budget comes out of mine, I am responsible for that budget (SEM, PPC, etc.) and any DECREASE in parts or service. Yet, for some reason, when there is growth, there seems to be no remuneration or credit. Still think you're paid what you're worth?

Internet Sales Manager may be the hardest position today in terms of defending its purpose and value. The blur of new technology and relationship building online is a space that 'old school' management is struggling with. We all know that fundamentally the problem goes well beyond an 'unknown' landscape. Or even the fear of change. If the dealer is not meeting the customer’s needs face-to-face now, why should things be any different online?

There is good news for the Internet Sales Manager. Time is on your side. It is weeding out 'old school' every day. Within the next decade you will be seen as the new champion. The dealers will not crown you, the customers will. They have decided they want a better customer experience. They are speaking with their keyboards. From the internet they are better informed. They are safe from fast-talkers. And they have lots more choices of where to buy. The interesting thing is it is the negative associations that are attached to buying cars in person that are driving customers to the internet!

I have another thought about ISM’s. They seem to be pioneers. Early adopters. They run towards change. They will someday be recognized for saving the dealer industry.

A final thought for any dealer who reads this. You do not have control over the manufacture of the product you sell. The identical vehicle can be found at every dealership that sells your brand. What you do have complete control over is the experience you provide your customer. This experience can be your point of difference, and your greatest competitive advantage. If you are selling on quality, service and low price, News Flash: customers can get that anywhere. It’s time to create compelling reasons to buy from you. Reasons that make the product secondary.

First I would like to say that it is a pleasure to find this type of information about the internet sales manager positions and functions. I have been developing and marketing all types of businesses and services on the internet for the past 10 years and was recently hired by a local dealership to optimize their websites. Website optimization is a process where you get a website to rank on the first page in Google, Yahoo, Msn and many other search engines, using a specific key word, words, or phrase.

The dealer had several different people in this position before me. Most were sales men with limited internet knowledge and experience. With in two months I increased the hits to the site by 38% and sales from all over the country. I want to comment about the importance of this position with in a car dealer or any other company. If 80 % of people today are looking online and shopping online before they even enter a store don’t you think going forward this is the type of position that will be highly marketable and warrant a six figure income plus bonuses?

I did some research about this position and it led me all over the internet and here is one of my stops. I searched nation wide for internet sales manager positions and I came up with the following. Most of the car dealers that listed a salary range they are willing to pay people $80,000 to $150,000 per year. There are other companies besides car dealers that will pay up to $200,000 per year. In my opinion this is definitely one of the, if not the most important positions at any company. The life line of any company any where in the world is new customers. I think this should be a $200,000 and up position.

It all starts at the top of the food chain.

Cell phones, pages, add, and floor reps that don't know how to qualify a deal before desking it...

Most sales managers are old school car salesman in all ways. They are usually older, brought by even older, start the retail at $6k/over and $6k/under on trade (only to offend the educated consumer), computer challenged, have long-time bonds with the newspaper rep that stops by and hands them that ad with their picture, name and stores phone # listed, and never have taken the time to learn where 90% of car shoppers start shopping now.

They believe- to hire BDC/Internet employees they need to hire a car salesman, internet sales= low gross, and $1000/month for a 24hr/7days a week advertising source... you gotta be outta of your mind!

Sometimes we as "car people" forget about the actual buying process the customer experiences. Sure, some big hits still happen from the drive-by that happens to catch the "right" sales rep. But let's be for real. Where do the managers go when THEY want the big screen, plasma tv? Or search real estate listings for their next mansion? Sure they go to the best buy (note the name) place, or do the walk-through when narrowing down the options. But where did they start?

My equation: Successfull BDC/Internet = Dealership long term success

So is a GOOD bdc/internet professional at a dealership worth the money and time to develop?

For many customers that is the first experience with the dealership. Often, Bdc/Internet managers are the sales rep, managers, and sometimes the F&I.

Quality Bdc/Internet managers are worth more than most Sales Managers when they produce the numbers.

Computer skills, internet savvy, marketing knowlegde, sales ability= PRICELESS

I think Jeff is right and this is the reason:

Most auto dealers, and I talk to many on a weekly basis, simply fail to see the value in the Internet in general! From my experience as as an Internet Manager, I quickly realized that the Internet Department is still scary territory for many Dealerships and that must be due to a lack of information. Most General Manager's and Dealer Principals rely solely on their NADA Groups for information on new and emerging ways to sell more cars.

Unfortunately, they attend these meetings every so often and come back with a whole set of new ideas. All you Internet Managers and Directors out there can SURELY testify to this! Then what follows is a lot of excitement and motivation from Upper Management leading into a lack of commitment and follow through.... probably because they tried the new Idea for 15-30 days and simply gave up on it, anxiously waiting for the next NADA Group meeting to hear what the next "big idea" is!

From what I have learned it takes on average 90 DAYS to see the full results from ANY new advertising source or Marketing Idea!

I imagine that Dealerships felt the same apprehension when the Finance Department was first introduced. Its just takes time folks, along with dealership-wide commitment (buy-in) in order to utilize the Internet Department as a Profit-Center in the Car Biz!

If we are all in this for the long-haul, whats the hurry? As the great Bob Marley said, "....don't worry, everything is gonna be alright." Yes Mr. Dealer is gonna be alright, provided that you stop Micro-Managing you Internet Director and trust what he has learned from Dealer Refresh!

Lets all stand up, take a deep breath, sit back down and realize that the way people are shopping for their next vehicle HAS changed! If you want to earn their business Mr. Dealer then you will simply have to re-think the way you market to your target audience.

If not, no hard feelings, they will just simply buy a Mercedes from Jeff Kershner!

Any position, in any business, in which you strive to do really well, requires a lot of energy and hard work. For busy car dealerships my vote for toughest job is Service Advisor. If you've never done it, do it for a week or so. You'll have a new appreciation for your position.

Your polling applet is not appearing so I am forced to write a comment. Jeff, you know that I do not work at a dealership so I can not give a credible take on your declaration. I will say this however.

In my organization, most of the workers, especially management, will tell you they are so busy it is rediculous; that they have so much going on and so many people demanding so many things from them that it doesn't seem possible, and to be fair that is typically the case. But I know that it is natural for us to see our own jobs as one of the busiest and/or most difficult in the organization.

I think this is a sign of the employee working hard and taking ownership of his work and also of having a dynamic work environment, like you do. Some workers do not feel this way. They have some things to do and their jobs are well defined. They come in, do their thing, and go home. But in your case, everything you said is probably true. But I suspect others in the dealership would argue they have the toughest job. Like the Service Manager, or the GM.

So, I am not one to say whether or not the ISM is or is not the toughest position. I would say however that it sounds like one of the more exciting jobs there.

the first email bounced the second one I sent to sales at hendrick atlanta dot com

Don't mind sharing at all.

Send me an email to sale at hendrickatlanta.com and I'll reply

Good work Billy! email me at btucker at swope dot com
we are working on that very thing right now!

Billy,

That's impressive. Do you mind sharing how this is done? It looks like you have designed a room totally one color to create the look of stock photos. I'm curious about the lighting, staging, etc...

Brian and others.

Feel free to take a look at what we do


the differences in leads and phone calls generated since we first established these processes and before are tremendous.

Will be glad to help anyone wishing to get this started.

anybody else using ecarlist?

Going back to an old post, my dealership is now using a new program called ecarlist, which allows us to view & manage inventory by new/used, pre-owned, make etc., manage photos, comments, print window stickers and buyers guides, prepare all paperwork for print/emailing to distant customers, push to Cars.com, Autotrader.com, Craigs list and eBay, while tracking inquiries on each vehicle. With the photo tool, we can re-arrange in any order we like, add & delete, etc. Very impressive tool.