Joe,
I assume you're speaking to me, not Andrew.....
"If you've won 'em over once on the net, they'll assume you've got the right package and they're less likely to shop ya' the next time."
I agree with that - I see it all the time. Many repeat customers purchasing cars from the dealership, who went through the Internet department on their last purchase, are not using the Internet department on this purchase. In my opinion, this is a good thing! The irony of our jobs, as Internet people, is to get people off the Internet. We cannot sell a car in an email, so the ultimate goal is to get a customer in the showroom. If the customer opts to not use the Internet department on future purchases, and heads straight to the showroom, without shopping competitors - is this not the absolute best scenario for the dealership? I am an Internet guy speaking to a bunch of Internet guys, and realize this is a bad scenario for our paychecks.
"Ergo, Less requests for 'net quotes is a good thing." - I think we're saying the same thing.
Another side to the coin, are all the trends the Internet goes through. This "Internet Thing" is still in its infancy. The government is still trying to find a solution on how to handle it, and new business ventures come from it every second. Will everything we're talking about in this thread be worthless next year?
In the meantime, I'm not looking for a solution to what is or isn't a problem on my end. I was simply putting my dealership's "situation" out there as an example. I've got some plans in the pipeline
My reasons for starting this thread, although I kept this agenda hidden in the original article, was to bring up discussion on the topic of "where are the customers going?" I wanted to put a thought out that I don't think many people have considered.
I assume you're speaking to me, not Andrew.....
"If you've won 'em over once on the net, they'll assume you've got the right package and they're less likely to shop ya' the next time."
I agree with that - I see it all the time. Many repeat customers purchasing cars from the dealership, who went through the Internet department on their last purchase, are not using the Internet department on this purchase. In my opinion, this is a good thing! The irony of our jobs, as Internet people, is to get people off the Internet. We cannot sell a car in an email, so the ultimate goal is to get a customer in the showroom. If the customer opts to not use the Internet department on future purchases, and heads straight to the showroom, without shopping competitors - is this not the absolute best scenario for the dealership? I am an Internet guy speaking to a bunch of Internet guys, and realize this is a bad scenario for our paychecks.
"Ergo, Less requests for 'net quotes is a good thing." - I think we're saying the same thing.
Another side to the coin, are all the trends the Internet goes through. This "Internet Thing" is still in its infancy. The government is still trying to find a solution on how to handle it, and new business ventures come from it every second. Will everything we're talking about in this thread be worthless next year?
In the meantime, I'm not looking for a solution to what is or isn't a problem on my end. I was simply putting my dealership's "situation" out there as an example. I've got some plans in the pipeline
My reasons for starting this thread, although I kept this agenda hidden in the original article, was to bring up discussion on the topic of "where are the customers going?" I wanted to put a thought out that I don't think many people have considered.
The lil' guys need to be on their A game to compete with the depth and scale of the mega dealers. Your "less ups these days" research validates my thoughts.
