7 Reasons to Stop Emailing Your Pricing

[JamieS]

Saw this on Glen Garvin's twitter feed today; what's everyone's thoughts on this? I would think consumers would choose to follow up with dealers that gave them the info, not the other way around.

7 Reasons to Stop Emailing Your Pricing

Email has become the preferred method for all kinds of communication. In sales, our clients and prospective clients want us to deliver some communication and some information by email. But for most of us, including our clients, email is a graveyard for things other people need from us.

Most of what goes into our inbox is useless, and even some of what is useful gets ignored anyway.Why, then, would you ever email pricing?

1. You are taking yourself out of the sale: By emailing pricing, you have taken yourself out of the sale. You have eliminated your ability to influence or control the sale process by providing your prospective client with pricing.

Now that they have your price, they believe that the process is complete and they can make a decision.

2. It eliminates the possibility of a discussion: Providing pricing by email eliminates the opportunity to have a discussion about the pricing. It eliminates the chance to clear up any misconceptions, and it eliminates the potential to capture and deal with your prospective client's immediate feedback or questions.

3. It screams that you are a commodity: Emailing pricing screams that you are a commodity. It indicates that there is no real value creation, least of all by the salesperson, and that pricing should be used a deciding factor.

Here's why . . .

4. It's disconnected from the value that you are creating: When you email pricing, you are disconnecting the pricing from the value that you create and that your company creates as a result of it's pricing. Without reviewing the dissatisfaction that your solutions resolves, and without reminding your prospective client what it is they are paying you to do, the pricing is going be compared to other pricing” not the value created.

5. It eliminates any potential sense of urgency: Emailing pricing eliminates any sense of urgency. It can sit in your dream client's inbox for days, or weeks, or months. In fact, they never have to look at if they don't want to.

If you were helping your dream client with their dissatisfaction, emailing the pricing and waiting will kill your momentum.

6. It destroys your ability capture an advance: The key to keeping the sales process moving forward is to move from advance to advance, always confirming the next commitment that moves you closer to a deal. You may have put some call to action at the end of your email, but if you have ever tried this, you know that obtaining that commitment on an email with pricing is unlikely. You have brought your own sales process to a screeching halt.

7. It eliminates communication: After you have emailed pricing, you will find it exponentially more difficult to get your client on the telephone. Your calls and voice mails will go unanswered. Your emails will not be returned. It's like your prospect with the urgent need has entered the witness protection program.With today's technology, even inside salespeople making a transactional, low value sale can still do better than emailing pricing. With tools like GoToMeeting or Glance, you can easily schedule a meeting to review pricing and eliminate the problems you create by emailing the pricing.

Questions

When, if ever, is it appropriate to email pricing?What commitments would make emailing pricing more acceptable? How do you mitigate the risks of emailing your prices?Why does providing pricing by email reduce your effectiveness in managing the sales process?How do you create value for your dream client after you have taken yourself out of the sale?

Is it easier to get your prospect's time and attention after you have provided pricing by email?

 

[ddavis]

Saw this on Glen Garvin's twitter feed today; what's everyone's thoughts on this? I would think consumers would choose to follow up with dealers that gave them the info, not the other way around.

7 Reasons to Stop Emailing Your Pricing

My experience is with volume lines in a large metro market. If I had sold Mercedes and Lexus, I might think differently. No offense to Glen, but he doesn't show any retail experience on his profile.

Obviously, if given the opportunity, you want to pick up the phone and call the customer. As soon as you get a lead, pick up the phone. You have a chance to engage the customer without an email exchange.

Most of the time, the customer emails you to find out (1) if the vehicle is available and (2) what is the price. By ignoring the price, you look like you have something to hide. They can buy the same car from a number of different dealerships. Like it or not, we are in a commodity business. Today, the market sets the price and the market is the Internet. If dealers do not have special Internet prices on their website, most of them will shoot you an email with net net prices. Don't believe me? Shop your competition.

 

[ed.brooks]

Sales today is very much about transparency, and less about trying to control the customer. This is all about control.

 

[john.quinn]

You know what? I would have written that 10 years ago (I would have written it better, but... tehe...)

We could tear that apart line-by-line, but in today's market, there's one simple question you need to answer: what do the clients want? After you answer that question, you give it to them.

As a matter of fact, if they want a price, send them 4 prices... If you don't think that will spur a conversation, well, maybe just trust me on that.

I've posted some of our numbers in other posts -- and in no way embellished them. It took some kicking, scratching, and clawing to get my head around this approach, but the proof is in the pudding.

 

[ejyoder]

While I agree in theory with some of the statements in there, I think if you don't provide pricing, and especially if you haven't been able to reach them by phone, you've provided no value whatsoever to the customer.

Many of our internet prospects are surprised when we reach them by phone and they say "I didn't know someone would call me" or "All I was doing was some research and wanted a price". I believe many consumers are shopping online for cars just like they do for a new microwave on Google or PriceGrabber. We have to remember that many of these customers are clicking a button that says something like "Get a Free Quote". Guess what they expect in response?

 

[JamieS]

With respect to Glen he is the Pres at Dealer Specialties and just posted the article written by somebody else and he even he disagreed with it.

DD I agree. Withholding the price puts the thought in the consumer's mind that the dealer is trying to hide details.

JQuinn I'll to have research your threads and find that data you mentioned, would love to hear more!

 

[john.quinn]

Many of our internet prospects are surprised when we reach them by phone and they say "I didn't know someone would call me" or "All I was doing was some research and wanted a price". I believe many consumers are shopping online for cars just like they do for a new microwave on Google or PriceGrabber. We have to remember that many of these customers are clicking a button that says something like "Get a Free Quote". Guess what they expect in response?

Know what's a great way to start a conversation?

"I just sent you an email with a bunch of prices -- have you seen it yet?"

 

[ed.brooks]

The fundamental question here goes well beyond a BDC or Internet Department's ability to answer. Earlier I used the terms "control"and "transparent", but I could just have easily used "Old School" and "New School". Old School dealers were successful for years in keeping a tight rein on information and they were in control of both the customer and the process. New School dealers have recognized that, with the internet, there is now much more transparency in the market and keeping control over the customer and the process is much more difficult. These dealers have embraced the market's transparency and are using to fuel their growth.

The problem comes in when the internet department is "New School" and the rest of the store is "Old School". The New School says sure, shoot 'em a price when they ask. But pricing (especially on used) often comes from the Old School part of the building. The key is to get both parts of the store on the same page. Sending a customer a high price isn't going to be much help getting them in the door. But neither is avoiding the question.

 

[yagoparamo]

Sometimes is hard for us to get our heads out of the fact that we are in the car biz so lets turn things a little bit for a second.

We provide photo services in WA, but lets imagine that I was in your state and you call me to ask about services and you also call Dealer Specialties, and CDM data.

We all tell you we will do our best, we work hard, even our farts smell like roses when we are at your dealership. All ur systems are pretty similar, we can do a few things they can't and they can do a few things we can't. So we are running a pretty close race.

What is important in my biz is the people behing the system, but right now you don't get to see that. All you can get from us is a promise that we will perform. To that effect, we all sent you 2 or 3 dealerships that claim we walk the path of the prohpet when it comes to photos.

DS and CDM data give you pricing and I don't (even though you may have requested it). I send you an email full or 'why do photos with us'.

What would you do next? Will you continue to engaje all 3 of us or will you now focus on fine tunning one of the 2 more complete offers that you got?

 

[ddavis]

The fundamental question here goes well beyond a BDC or Internet Department's ability to answer. Earlier I used the terms "control"and "transparent", but I could just have easily used "Old School" and "New School". Old School dealers were successful for years in keeping a tight rein on information and they were in control of both the customer and the process. New School dealers have recognized that, with the internet, there is now much more transparency in the market and keeping control over the customer and the process is much more difficult. These dealers have embraced the market's transparency and are using to fuel their growth.

The problem comes in when the internet department is "New School" and the rest of the store is "Old School". The New School says sure, shoot 'em a price when they ask. But pricing (especially on used) often comes from the Old School part of the building. The key is to get both parts of the store on the same page. Sending a customer a high price isn't going to be much help getting them in the door. But neither is avoiding the question.

At both of my former stores, the Internet department made up 70% of the new and used car sales with an average total gross highter that the floor. Our success pointed to the fact that talents that made so many managers indispensable are of little or no consequence, today. My department was selling most of the cars and enriching both the new and used car managers and it was a daily fight.