Help!

[inskeepford]

I think I might have asked this question long ago. I am the Internet Manager at a small store. I work leads, take photos, descriptions, manage two web sites, also manage autotrader, cars.com, craigs list, print window stickers, and I sell. I am still consitantly at the top of the board in sales for our store. All that being said here is my problem. I am paid a small salary plus commision for sales I make. I do not feel that I have enough time to properly work leads to get more customers in the door, which would lead to more sales for my dealership. Several times a week a sales person at our store will up a customer on the lot spend time with the customer without asking any questions about how the customer came to our store. They will then go to put the customer into our Autobase system and find that the customer is in my name. The sales person will then get upset when I want to take care of the customer. I feel that most of the work I do is to benefit the store, and in order for me to make a living I have to sell as many cars as I can. I understand that the salespeople are here to make a living to, however why should they all make money on my hard work and me not see any of the benefits. I want to know if there is a better way to handle all of this or is this a never ending battle that I am fighting. I feel that I am doing to much to be the most effective at my job, however I do not know how to convey that to the powers that be so that they will understand. Please Help!

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Dear Jedi Master,

Have you approached your management about protection? If you log the customer and can prove that you're responsible for bringing them to the dealership, that should entitle you to work with the customer, or at least get half of the deal.

Let's talk about the fact that you have customers showing up and not asking for you. There's two ways to prevent this from happening, or at least decrease the rate in which it happens. Set solid appointments and make sure you do a good job selling your contact info.

Skating is another issue and hopefully your management will back you up when that happens. But keep in mind -- if you're not following up with customers and they just show up out of the blue, then to me they are fair game. In deciding who got credit for what, I would always go to the CRM and look at the activity. No recent activity or scheduled activity and in my opinion that customer is fair game. Now just how long that protection window stays open is up for discussion.

Make sure you click on this link for special advice: Special Advice

I couldn't resist with that picture.

 

[CAORYAN]

-Add an image of yourself in your emails to your clients.

-Have reserved parking for your internet customers and tell them when they pull in to go to the reserved internet parking.

just a few ideas

 

[Alex Snyder]

I was in the same position you were when I was first getting started in this side of the business. However, we had a 72 hour "skate protection" rule based off of CRM. If the customer walked in within 72 hours of your last follow-up attempt with them, and didn't ask for you, the deal was half yours. Management enforced that, so there weren't any major issues. But I got to a point where there were so many customers walking in, asking for me, that I stopped taking whole deals - I split everything. It was at that point I had coworkers hovering over my head like vultures, and absolutely zero arguments over who gets credit for what deal.

Between keeping a website up, answering leads, and dealing with all the same stuff a sales agent does it gets to be too much. That's especially true when you start breaking 50 deals a month. How many are you doing now? I ask because there might be a threshold where your managers decide it is time to either get you some help or look at your position differently.

 

[inskeepford]

I thank you all for your help! As for follow up, I think I do a great job, as I try very hard, however there is always room for imporvement. I find we have a lot of customers who just do not respond to phone calls or emails. I want to get better in this area, problem I have is everyone tells you what you need to do, no one will tell you how to do it. It seems in this business everyone thinks that information must be top secret, most all of us are not even in the same market. I really want to get better in every aspect, and I am always searching for information to help me do that. We get anywhere from 100-130 leads per month, and with all the things I am required to do, I just feel that I do not have time to work every lead properly, or maybe I am working every lead the right way, how do I know?

I am selling anywhere from 10-15 per month myself, and total Internet sales are in the area of 20-25 per month, these are the actual deals I can track. (sales people do not seem to document where there customers are coming from). I am always looking for ways to become more efficient, but in a store this size it seems like I am always being asked to do something to help someone else. (why does Internet Manager mean IT guy?) We do not have half deals in our store, so I have to work with every customer I get my hands on so I can get something from it.

Bottom line is I need to get better at getting the customer in the door and responding to my contact, I think this will help my case for future changes. I am open to anything, and I take constructive criticism well, I always think there is an opportunity to learn something new.

Thanks again for your help so far!

 

[Patrick80639]

You might want to offer coupons or gift cards with your name on them to your prospects. Put them in your emails, they'll hopefully print them out and bring them into the dealership when they come in. I've done it before, not for this particular reason, but none the less, it worked pretty well.

If you need any ideas for offers, let me know.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Yes, we have all been there at some point. Sorry part is..it's still happening and dealers have still not embraced change and figured out what needs to happen - same ol song and dance.

You need to "brand" yourself. Get people to WANT to do business with you and only you. Hook your customers! Thing is...this takes more work.

You have been given some great Advise so far...

I would also recommend getting you previous happy customers to share their experience with you as their salesmen on the rating sites. Try and get them to use your first and last name.

There is no ONE thing that will help with this..it's several little pieces and being sure to try and use all of them.

..sales people do not seem to document where there customers are coming from.

Your asking for a culture change here..it takes time and dedication to get buy-in from upper management.

I find we have a lot of customers who just do not respond to phone calls or emails. I want to get better in this area, problem I have is everyone tells you what you need to do, no one will tell you how to do it. It seems in this business everyone thinks that information must be top secret, most all of us are not even in the same market.

Bottom line is I need to get better at getting the customer in the door and responding to my contact, I think this will help my case for future changes. I am open to anything...

I'll add to the "what you need to do".. AIUA – 4 Letters That Will Sell You More Cars This Month

A-I-U-A applies across the board.

One thing that works for me is "asking for permission". This plays into the Action protion of the AUIA.

Current example of many email from dealers..
"I look forward to hearing from you" or "please call me at your convenience"

In stead use something as simple as..
"John, would it be OK to call you in about 10 minutes?"

Action - Permission - Urgency.