I was told this for years.  "just get them in" was all that they thought was needed.  At http://nabacar.com we have to target customers in a different way.  That just won't work. we had better have something to offer.

15milion times a year, some American has to buy a car.  Any moron in a managers chair can F* it up time and time again, and the phone keeps on ringing.

I've never been in an industry with so many opportunities and this is why we burn thru ups without a care.  Pluck that manager out from the car sales biz and have them sell ANY other high ticket item and you've got an epic FAIL.

It's ALWAYS the pay plan.
If managers were also rewarded on "%of Market Sold" I'd bet you'd see some new attitudes showin' up.

I don't comment that often but this one deserves a comment.  If the sales manager hires and trains experienced sales reps, "Just get 'em in" would not have to be used.  I agree with Jon Quade. 

The experienced sales rep will use his talents and training to "Just get 'em in".  If the sales manager has to say "Just get 'em in", he has either hired the wrong person or has failed to train them.   Maybe he should take the call and say "Let me show you how to Just get 'em in".  A few calls and, hopefully, he doesn't have to say "Just get 'em in" again.        

I love the use of the term Circle Jerk.  It's the truest thing I've read on this site, ever. Way to be blunt Joe.

DUDE- BULLSEYE! Laughing my butt off. You are so right Joe. The managers are so clever, if we just get them in they can close anyone. I particularly love the part where the high school dropout SM is going to educate the professional who shopped us on the INet and has an MBA. Yeah- let me know how that one works out.

Check the ego at the door ladies!  Great article Joe

Good Stuff as always, Joe.

Here's 5 more words that make me cringe, "If I could, would you...?"  As you said Joe, there was a time you could get away with these weak "tactics".

This downturn has already started filtering the winners and losers of the next generation in this business.

Great article, Joe -

Particularly liked this point:
"Sales Managers need to stop sounding stupid, start addressing customers’ questions, and put their Internet and BDC team in a position of power with transparent information."Many dealerships still do not fully appreciate the power and influence that word-of-mouth and online reviews have over their brand's reputation. It is imperative that the internet team be allowed to provide 'transparent information' to potential clients, in order to grow a positive brand image and strong customer loyalty- rather than racking up negative reviews. The more open dealerships are with 'online' customers, the more likely they will be to 'get'em in' to speak with the sales team in person. As Doug Rice pointed out in his comment above, it's hard to convince a customer to come into the dealership if you yourself aren't even convinced that there's a reason for them to be there. Thanks for writing!

Joe,

Great thoughts! Effective sales management cannot be achieved in this way. I cannot tell you how uninspired, and consequently unconvincing, I feel when I am told to "just get 'em in." How can I convince a customer to come in when I don't even believe there's a reason for them to come in. It's not only about giving customers reasons; it's about giving the sales reps reasons. If I know and believe that there is a good reason for a customer to come and buy a car from me, I am much more persuasive. When I am told, though, that I essentially am just trying to trick the customer, I lose faith in what I am doing. Call me naive, but I want to believe that I am making a positive difference in the lives of those I sell to. Convince me that I am doing just that, and I will "get em in."

Nicely said.  When the dealership ceased being the primary source of information for automotive research and purchase decisions, the 'Front Door" moved from that space 50 feet in front of the Sales Desk to somewhere in Cyber Space.  Sales Managers need to realize that how you respond to these inquiries is MORE important than how you respond to people who walk through the door -- and increasingly so!  They're "locking their doors" and not letting anyone in. 

Well said Joe.  I think there is also another important consideration with your argument.  In today's market, if you (for example) take the guy who lives 3 hours away and wants to know if he can get pre-approved before he makes the drive, if you "just get 'em in", and he doesn't get approved, then you have a BIGGER problem on your hands when he leaves negative reviews about the poor experience all over the Internet that do not go away.  Short term gain (got 'em in) for long term pain (ruin your reputation).  We work in a DYNAMIC market, and you need to "adapt and overcome" (my old USMC drill instructor would be so proud to see me use that...) to be successful in today's Internet market.  Keep up the great work Joe!

Well said Joe.  I think there is also another important consideration with your argument.  In today's market, if you (for example) take the guy who lives 3 hours away and wants to know if he can get pre-approved before he makes the drive, if you "just get 'em in", and he doesn't get approved, then you have a BIGGER problem on your hands when he leaves negative reviews about the poor experience all over the Internet that do not go away.  Short term gain (got 'em in) for long term pain (ruin your reputation).  We work in a DYNAMIC market, and you need to "adapt and overcome" (my old USMC drill instructor would be so proud to see me use that...) to be successful in today's Internet market.  Keep up the great work Joe!

Totally agree. Some pretty good reasons to have counsel on staff. Each state does have some differences. However, there is some more standard language that can survive across state lines. Either way, dealers need to pay careful attention and continue to be vigilant.

Now that's funny.

Mike - the use of any contractual language is always at the interpretation of a court of law at the end of the day.  An initial implication can have a final interpretation that is different.  This is why we should have lawyers looking our contracts over. 

Perpetual -- like the constant allure, comfort, and wear-ability of  jean shorts.

It's important to have some experience in reading contracts. The 'perpetual' language means that since they don't own the data, they have to have permission from the dealer to continue to use the data in the event a relationship no longer exists (it was cancelled by dealer). It doesn't mean that they get to access the dealers DMS perpetually even if there is no relationship in place. For example, they can't go behind a dealers back with the user/pass, etc and grab the data even if the dealer no longer uses their services.

That sure is an easy term to lose in a glance.

Thanks for adding your comment Chris. These 2 companies can careless regarding the dealership. They've stated it themselves in numerous statement. I am NOT against our industry changing. I am not against edmunds and also TrueCar (sorta), I have always been against the way they are acquiring our information.

and...as an advertising girl I have to make one little comment. When are dealers going to start bitching about the thousands their flooring is costing them for every day their inventory isn't moving rather than the couple of thousand they spent to get the sales? Just saying....

Writing a response (kinda venting..sorry about that) to a few comments I've read. I worked for Autotrader.com for ten years. (Don't now) Edmunds was the third largest site to link into ATC, only second to Google and Yahoo. One down fall for Edmunds previous to 2012 was ATC fueled the used car search that was on their home page. Consumers would search for a vehicle many times mistakenly searching for a new car...but really were searching for a used. They were instantly sent to ATC (of course not realizing they were not on Edmunds anymore) Edmunds ended the Contract I believe some time last year around August. ATC results have gone down severely since then. From my experience with what dealers told me, ATC had a higher conversation rate when they were partnered with Edmunds. Many sourcing studies were done and Edmunds.com consistently sent used car sales to dealers...however ATC took the credit. It's my humble opinion that Edmunds is launching a direct sales team to get that used car revenue and TMV is really no different than ATC's partnership with V-Auto and the trade in center or KBB. ALL in one now, right? To all 3rd parties defense it has become virtually impossible to perfectly track where all your sales are directly coming from. Every major study is showing that around 71% of consumers have NO prior contact with the dealer before coming in to the dealership. That was in 2010. I saw a huge decrease in emails and phone calls in the last three years nationally by two thirds while maps to dealerships increased by the same. This backs up the studies that show there is less contact the dealer prior to the visit.

One major merchandising issue is the custom comments and 1-800 numbers in your ads. Many listings end up with three numbers including your sales people requesting a text to their cell etc. Tracking becomes impossible. (on a funny note...make up a sheet with logos of companies like Cars, ATC, etc and put one on the page on the top left that you don't use to advertise. (hopefully that's your local paper) Have your sales people/customer each circle where their customer said they came from online. I did this for one dealership and had a good laugh when 41 sales were attributed to some random company the dealer was not using nor had I even heard of.) Anyway, always amazes me when a dealer has his IT guy show conversion and they only base it on phone calls/emails. With that percentage being such a small amount of all sales it seems like an inaccurate way to determine where sales are coming from. I believe your data is being mined no matter who/what you are using. Including v-auto, auto trader, cars, etc. Your data has paved the way for 3rd parties to keep growing their business in other ways like this site...(found from google) and partnerships with companies like Reach Local, Yellow Pages.com etc... Not just from your dms. It's really no different then me being on match.com and my profile pic showing up on someone's cell in another state considering to sign on.

Merchandising is going to have the largest effect on sites working for you. Edmunds/ATC/Cars are all similar in results, they just show them to you differently and some of them rip you off. If you have started to take a look at your srp/vdp counts and are comparing results, keep in mind how srp's are based on showing up and things like how many vehics show up on the page can double the results. For instance ATC has like 25 vehics and Cars has like 50 per page. So automatically you would think that cars has more views if you were simply comparing srp's to srp's. The layout matters too. More info shows up on ATC's srp(custom comment) so less people are likely to click through to the vdp vs they almost have to on sites like edmunds and cars. So vdp's should be more. Keeping your vehicle facing the left side of the screen in a corner position where you can see the front two lights and the back rear light on driver's side is the most appealing to the consumer eye. A simple thin banner around your pic is better than trying to fit the car in front of your building sign. And a custom comment starting with why I would want your car vs the next one priced low...like LOW miles, THIRD seat, DVD, LEATHER, AWD, ONE owner, etc...will get you a VDP. VDP's are a virtual test drive. Make sure you have videos of your dealership and a great response to negative reviews.

There's a reason why ATC lowered all their prices including going from an A market to a C or D market in many large areas as of Feb 2010. ....it's because dealers were over paying for results that had gone down.(If you are still paying the same rate as you were previously to Feb 2010 and are not paying less I'd be angry and requesting a credit with results and pricing for the last two years) Sellers were allowed to sell you the new contract but there was about a $500 area where they could charge you more or less based on whatever they wanted to do. It felt like a lot of pressure for a sales person because if I was your rep and your partnership went from $6200 down to $4200 I had the option to take you to the new contract with a better product for less money but I would have to try to sell enough to another dealer to make up for the $2,000 loss in addition to meeting my quota. If I didn't sell enough to make up for the loss it would impact my income for three months. Having integrity really hurt my bank account and in the end resulted in a not meeting my standard because I had so many contracts I needed to lower the price on or else I would have felt like I was ripping off all my dealers who I consider my friends/family. With a standard of only $1200 a month to sell, one contract going down by $2,000 was very difficult to replace in a market that already saturated and over priced for the small dealers left to sell to. If I sold you alpha and it was $4,000 only 1/12th of the $4,000 would count towards meeting my standard, but if I lost the alpha from your dealership I would be negative $4,000 that month and that would be calculated into a three month rolling average for standard/pay. So basically sales reps were paid to over sell their dealers and pray to god not to lose your business or they couldn't pay their mortgage for three months.

I'm happy for Edmunds now that they parted. Glad I quit ATC before the parting because it was one of my selling points. Edmunds does send qualified buyers who have been researching what car they want for over two months on average. I saw the results while with ATC. Happy selling and much love. <3

I wish consumers could buy directly from the manufacturer.  Dealers charge too much for everything, especially maintenance and repairs.

Reading through this, literally made me nauseous.  I worked for one of the large groups and they don't allow anyone access to their DMS.  I seriously doubt that they have changed.  Blame the manufacturers.  They started all of this when they decided to provide invoicing to third partys.

sorry, i was referring to Edmunds (though we were on zag at several stores). the lead count has been decent, but the closing ratio hasn't. as i said though, they havent' asked for any transactional data

Dealers
can shoot themselves in the foot as much as they want, for God's sake at least
learn to use proper grammar and punctuation when arguing. You need one question
mark for one sentence and I hope you aren't yelling at everyone in your posts.

However
funny it might be to read through the majority of "reactions", it is
also a bit disheartening. Using things such as F&I ect... as a means to
make money, isn't exactly that honest of a business practice. I do don't go to
a grocery store and argue a price for groceries, I pay what is listed on the
shelf which in most cases is pretty fairly priced and in-line with all other stores
across the country. Nor do I pay the grocery store directly for the time the
items sat on the shelf. Come on, get real and move with the future, everything
is moving online and open to a consumer. People enjoy being lazy, but they also demand information and want it quickly, thus the internet.

Another request maybe, just maybe,
stop making annoying commercials on TV, most dealer's commercials can be made
by high school students in an intro video production class.

P.S.

I found
this post through Google, maybe they will get into cars one day? They enjoy
buying consumer research databases, fully opening them, and using the data for their
own profit advancement through advertisement and royalties. Them and Microsoft
of course. And they aren't all that forgiving of corporations when it comes to data mining and acquisition.

My 7 dealerships have been on the program for 90 days. ours is a flat fee and they do not have access to our dms. We were expecting double digit close, but it hasn't performed well for us at most stores (under 5%). Anywone else on the program with better results?