7 Reasons to Stop Emailing Your Pricing

[ddavis]

I just noticed that I am now "Serious Reftesher". I thought this site had some standards.

The velocity approach works just as well on new cars infact maybe better because there is less competition. It does take a lot more work because there aren't any tools like vAuto for new cars (atleast that I have seen). Obviously, your average grosses will increase with volume.

 

[ajholland]

Aaron, Am I correct in saying that if our price was unrealistic you probably would not have called right? Here at Worden-Martin we try to price all of our vehicles competitively and that's the reason we are the number one seller of per-owned vehicles in this area. Our philosophy, fast nickles over slow dimes. Let me tell you a little bit about how our dealership operates (insert your inspection process, warranty, anything that puts your dealership above others). Now if you come in and look at this vehicle and don't like it, there's no price that you would want to buy it for, but lucky for you this is a really nice one and I know you're going to love this ______. And when you do, I won't let price be the reason you don't purchase. Now when are you more available to come in, now or later today?

That's what I would say. Talk price in the dealership, not on the phone. Value before price!

What about when a customer sends in a lead and doesn't call?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I just noticed that I am now "Serious Reftesher". I thought this site had some standards

Congrats on the new status! Well sometimes we have to lower our standards. Ha! I was speaking to someone the other day that used to participate here on DealerRefresh. They were complaining that our community was "too direct". I told him... Well I won't repeat what I told him.

 

[ddavis]

I was speaking to someone the other day that used to participate here on DealerRefresh. They were complaining that our community was "too direct". I told him... Well I won't repeat what I told him.

There are some really bright folks on here. They have a passion for the Internet and strong beliefs how we should conduct business on it. You have the old school people and the ones I call "cutting edge". The cutting edge people have a lot of experience defending their positions. They don't tend to be bashful.

I had a toy when I was very young. It amounted to a piece of wood with a have dozen pegs sticking out. You had a wooden hammer and you would beat all the pegs down then turn it over and do it all over again ..and again ...and again. It becomes very minotinous, loud and frustrating.

Yesterday, I met with a GM of a very large Toyota store. They are about to blow taps over his Internet department. I wasn't in there 10 minutes. He was very polite but wasn't hearing it. My old Internet department outsold him every month buy 2 to 1 and he knows it.

Anyone that comes on here and states an opinion and doesn't like the reply? This is the damn car business!

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

What about when a customer sends in a lead and doesn't call?

I delete those! Just kidding. If they have a number in the lead submission I pick up the phone and call. If no phone number, I send them an e-mail. There are many different ways to write that e-mail. I don't want you to think I am avoiding your question, but I really have a lot on my plate this weekend and won't have the time to do your question justice. If nobody else gives you an answer, I'll write one out when I am in my home office next week. Please remind me if I let this slip. I am also going to suggest Joe Webb pop in here and dazzle us with some of his brilliance.

 

[Eley Duke]

dd...I read all you posts and agree with virtually everything you say. Tell me about the velocity approach. We get sent "get a quote" leads from GM. Those comprise a large majority of the leads we do receive. It seems to me that you have to determine the blood bath you are willing to take on the front and go with it...customize the response but talking around price just seems to get that dealership eliminated from the list of possibilities. I, too, shop competitors and it amazes me the bath some around here are willing to take on any given unit.

Steve, we are a GM dealer, the GM leads are our largest source of leads, but for us, and I am sure it is the same for you, they are very time consuming. Our approach with GM leads is this. If we have a phone number we make an immediate call to the customer. If no phone number or no answer in the first 30 mins, we then send an email. All our first emails are personal and nothing canned. We ask questions to get the customer to start talking with us. We start talking options, a lot of the leads are very general from GM with little info on options, so we go after spacifics. Are you looking for 4x4, sunroof, nav, etc to get the conversation going. We tell them we need this info in order to build or find the right vehicle. Somewhat like someone walking on your lot, do you really think when they are standing next to a Tahoe LTZ the first thing they expect is for you to give them a bottom line price, probably not. Its more about opening it up, showing the features, etc. So we take that approach, work them on info, then try to get the appointment and in the door. We also go after takling more about a trade, pumping them up how much we are interested in thier trade if its something we will retail. That takes some of the price edge off, people always love to talk about their trade!

And the flip side is we will give out price after we get some more info if the customer pushes on it, we take it as a case by case. We were giving price on everything, giving the bottom line price in the first email. But as Uncle Joe will tell you, people still want to negotiate! On new we then we went to asking questions and getting people in the dealership, it works better for us. As far as GM leads, we really try to get more info from the customer so we can do a better job getting a price for them before just dropping a price on them.

As far as used, we educate the leads that we price all our vehicles with the fair market price the first time, so they get the best price without wasting their time and no back and forth with any managers.

Hope that helps some.

 

[Steve Sams]

Thanks Eley! This is what we have started doing here as well and it seems to be getting better results. I wish that GM would take the time to get specifics from these people. All they need to do is make a few changes on their end and it would make the leads much better. But this is GM and they have their finger on pulse of everything concerning the internet. What do dealers know anyway?

I typically send an email geared at driving the customer to our ebiz site. Ideally, we will have a unit like they seek in stock and the pricing on our site is very aggressive. I use my email to introduce the salesperson the customer will be working with. The salespeople get the specifics and we try to customize the service from there on out. I would be curious as to how close your nearest GM brand competitor is? My main competitor is 5 miles away and that crew will immediately drop their pants.

Steve, we are a GM dealer, the GM leads are our largest source of leads, but for us, and I am sure it is the same for you, they are very time consuming. Our approach with GM leads is this. If we have a phone number we make an immediate call to the customer. If no phone number or no answer in the first 30 mins, we then send an email. All our first emails are personal and nothing canned. We ask questions to get the customer to start talking with us. We start talking options, a lot of the leads are very general from GM with little info on options, so we go after spacifics. Are you looking for 4x4, sunroof, nav, etc to get the conversation going. We tell them we need this info in order to build or find the right vehicle. Somewhat like someone walking on your lot, do you really think when they are standing next to a Tahoe LTZ the first thing they expect is for you to give them a bottom line price, probably not. Its more about opening it up, showing the features, etc. So we take that approach, work them on info, then try to get the appointment and in the door. We also go after takling more about a trade, pumping them up how much we are interested in thier trade if its something we will retail. That takes some of the price edge off, people always love to talk about their trade!

And the flip side is we will give out price after we get some more info if the customer pushes on it, we take it as a case by case. We were giving price on everything, giving the bottom line price in the first email. But as Uncle Joe will tell you, people still want to negotiate! On new we then we went to asking questions and getting people in the dealership, it works better for us. As far as GM leads, we really try to get more info from the customer so we can do a better job getting a price for them before just dropping a price on them.

As far as used, we educate the leads that we price all our vehicles with the fair market price the first time, so they get the best price without wasting their time and no back and forth with any managers.

Hope that helps some.

 

[Rick LaCour]

Hi everybody. Brand new to the site here (so be gentle!). I saw this article on Twitter and I just had to read it. I just recently left the dealership world to work for my current company. I have to agree with most of you on the "transparency" thing. When I was running Internet Departments, I tried it both ways (price/no price). Like with most things, there is no "magic bullet." Unfortunately, with the Internet being so anonymous, you don't have the luxury of looking in that customer's eyes or reading their body language to see what buttons to push.

So, what do you do? Something that worked for me, was to try and avoid a price war with competitors. I gave them a price on the vehicle they inquired about, but also showed them a couple of other vehicles from our inventory that I thought they might also like. My thoughts were that the customer might be more likely to set an appointment with me if they knew I had multiple vehicles that they like. I mean, we were all taught to show them more than one option on the lot and always offer "good, better, best" menus/choices in the F & I office, right? Most of my customer seemed to like that approach. It made them feel like I was more of a "consultant" than a "salesman."

Anybody else been using a similar approach? Thoughts?

-Rick

 

[john.quinn]

I gave them a price on the vehicle they inquired about, but also showed them a couple of other vehicles from our inventory that I thought they might also like. My thoughts were that the customer might be more likely to set an appointment with me if they knew I had multiple vehicles that they like.

BINGO! Give that man a cigar!

 

[Autotraining]

All I can say is "wow". This post seems to be scream "I'm fooling myself into thinking its still 1996". The biggest change I have seen in this industry over the past few decades, is that the consumer can connect with dealers faster than before. Notice I didn't say CRMs or vAuto or anything on the dealership side. Selling cars, or anything for that matter, is about being able to build enough trust in this transactional relationship so a consumer will buy your product. To do that we have to think as a consumer. Nothing is more frustrating than asking for information, like price, and not having it given to you. We can't control the customer, we can only control our own actions and hope that those actions will build trust. This isn't rocket science. Trust wins and offering price shows we have nothing to hide. Heck, offer options, multiple vehicles, trim levels, new and pre-owned on every quote. This way if the consumer feels your initial vehicle is more $ than they can handle perhaps they will see something else they like.