Just took over KBB ICO leads among-st others. Couple observations / Best practices

Salete · Dec 22, 2019

Good day and Happy Holidays

. This may have been covered . Would like some assistance thoughts on this program.
- Initial observations - KBB hits them LOW. Upon calling customer already are on defense.
An Accu-trade # seems to be a bit more on the money . How do you bridge that gap from initial offer / to a number that says we want this car

Also looking for a good email template that may introduce program / self if cannot reach by phone.

We also use 2 other programs.
Are most of you sending these request to CRM and managing from there. Or going into each platform? The person that managed before went into each platform. Doesn't seem to be to efficient.

Thank you

Collin Pedersen · Dec 23, 2019

For KBB ICO you will want to manage from within each platform. It's a pain, but managing your status with ICO will probably be more efficient for you. That's what I discovered at least. KBB does hit them extremely low, the only success I've had with this program is leveraging that exact point, and explaining to the customer that I (the dealer) am willing to pay well over KBB estimates. Because of the defense of the customer after a low-ball offer from KBB, I've found more success in the phone VS email templates, and unless your CRM is smart enough to pull in the actual values from KBB ICO (I don't think any are currently) then you'll want to follow up with a tailored email.

Salete · Dec 23, 2019

Well said Collin. Will head the advice. Appreciate it !

Baron Ringler · Jan 4, 2020

KBB ICO is a two-edged sword. "Yes", they hit the customer sort of low but how would a conversation like this go if they hit the customer too high, or don't give us room to operate?

You can't just tell a customer you might give them more. You have to give them reasons; reasons why the store needs more used inventory, why those specific brands are important to the store, and that because of the market we would need to verify the miles and condition and owing to condition may be able to give more.

Also, you can't be afraid to ask strong questions of the customer. If you are thousands off, ask how they came up with their number. Generally they will tell you their payoff or research from some other site but no matter what they will give you the information you need to move on with your process. Them if they say they have research agree to work with it. DOn't even fight it, just agree to work with it. When the customer brings the vehicle in youo can do the trade walk and pick apart their research to the point you get the numbers much closer together. Many times you will get way different numbers because the customer chose condition and equipment that doesn't apply to their vehicle but you will never be able to convince them of that over the phone. It has to be done in person.

My biggest issue with KBB ICO is that they keep sending us customers from more than a hundred miles away, then claim that we are wrong and thtat they have safeguards in place so that doesn't happen. Very annoying.