Forgive the rant I feel coming on but at this point in the comments I think it will be relevant on several fronts.
Delivering a trade value to a customer through one of these tools is a means to an end.....the end result being to acquire contact information from someone who is very interested in purchasing a car. As Jay said earlier, it’s about establishing credibility through transparency (the new buzz word) as one who is willing to provide the information necessary to assist the customer in making a comfortable, educated decision. These tools are customizable allowing the dealership to capture as much or as little information as they desire prior to providing the value number. Some gear towards requiring as much information as possible thinking they want to acquire the "serious customer" who is willing to provide detailed information. Others, me included, lean towards requiring less information prior to delivering the value making it easier for the customer to move forward, gaining the greatest number of opportunities and letting salesmanship do the rest. After all, that is the intent of the product, not to just deliver a value, but to open the door to conversation with a new customer. The big thing to remember is although the customer has received a value that is not where you want your conversation to begin when following up by phone. If you do, the conversation will invariably end up in a discussion over what the trade allowance will be...and that's not the point. The point is to establishing trust, confidence and value with the customer...trade allowance portion of the conversation should come much later in the interaction. The objective is to sell a car, not a trade value. The conversation should begin with the benefits of purchasing through your dealership (your Value Proposition)and establishing the wants and needs of the customer with the goal of setting an appt. for the customer to visit the dealership.That’s’ where the greatest chance of success lies, not in trying yo agree over the phone what a trade may be worth.
Let me address the generic trade value form versus a "branded tool". In my experience the generic trade value form does more harm than good. If the customer perceives the value they have been given was generated by the dealership (and we all know that it never meets their expectations) they then point the finger at the dealership as the one not giving them enough for the trade. It puts the onus on the dealership as the "bad guy" and could possibly cause the customer to be defensive or even resistant to conversation. The values provided by the respected "branded" tools are independent, objective,3rd party values that take the onus off the dealership yet still begin to "mentally condition" the customer as to the real value of the vehicle. It’s much the same as what happens in the dealership. It's not the value that causes so much trouble. The value is the value (of course taking into consideration regional and resource differences).It' the presentation of the value to the customer that causes so much trouble. Think about it. In the course of our needs analysis with the customer we discover there is a trade. Once settled on a car and negotiations begin we get detailed trade information to prepare for an appraisal. (A great question to ask after acquiring the information and prior to leaving the your desk is, courtesy of Car Fax and a great word track,: “Oh...by the way ..before my manager runs a CarFax report is there anything else we should know about this vehicle”?. If there is anything else to give up they will rather than risk being embarrassed later. After being given the number by the desk it’s often presented to the customer with something like “ (Customer name ) , based on the selling price of (MSRP or retail pre-owned price here) for your new car, we’re able to allow you ( ACV here ) for your trade leaving just a difference of ( net sales price here ). This again puts the onus back on your dealership as it insinuates that your dealership has determined the trade value when in fact the value was derived by using a combination of resources rather than one person at your dealerships opinion. The insinuation may initiate a bit of an adversarial relationship. Now it’s game on and at some point someone is going to feel as if they have won and someone will feel as if they lost …not a mutually satisfying way to begin a relationship with a new customer.
As mentioned earlier, much can be done to improve the delivery of the trade value information to the customer and the “mental conditioning” all starts as soon as you find the customer is interested in trading in their current vehicle.
I learned these word tracks years ago from Tom Vann of Team Hillsdale Chrysler and have seen them work time and time again to produce great results.
Try this, it works:
Upon becoming aware that there will be a trade …
“(Customer name), we handle trades a bit differently here to allow you the greatest trade allowance. I think you’ll like it. Would you mind if I shared it with you?
“To fully grasp the market value of any vehicle at any given time we rely on 4-5 different sources, one of them being you since you are most familiar. Since I find most of my customers focus is to save time and make a comfortable, educated decision we help do the legwork so you don’t have to”.
“The values we gather come from:
1. You
2. Several independent sources to see who has the most interest
3. Our own valuation expert
4. Trusted 3rd party resources like Kelley Blue Book”. ( instruct them to use the “Rate the Condition “ report on kbb.com and evaluate the car as if they were going to buy it)
“The easiest way is to start by seeing your car and you driving the new one during the evaluation. Based on the total feedback we’re able to find the most that anyone will be willing to pay for a particular vehicle at any given time. Customers appreciate receiving top dollar and the ease of getting it. We find this method to be very fair to all parties since all opinions are considered including yours”.
Now, when the trade value is presented,it is much easier to justify as giving them the “best of all worlds” rather than being held responsible as the bearer of bad news( in most cases since the trade value rarely matches the customer’s expectations).
Sorry about the rant…just thought this would be helpful information to share ..hope you feel the same way!
