Payplan for Internet Employee?

[JoeC]

Hello, and thank you in advance for your responses. In late February we created an Internet Department that would service two Ford stores. The stores each had their own pseudo Internet teams selling about 16 cars combined. With the help of a little consistency we have doubled the sales and sell about 25-30% of the total vehicles of the dealerships. The problem is- I don't have enough resources to help us grow. I answer every lead, make all the calls, follow-up, schedule appointments, meet and greet customers, create e-mail campaigns, micro-sites, etc. -the same stuff every Internet Manager probably does. Anyway, looking toward the future I would like to double or triple our current sales but cannot see how that will be possible due to the lack of manpower. I feel our only alternative is to either hire someone or train a salesperson to assist. Currently, I have two people at each store that help a little with older prospects (30 day out +) but nothing consistent or methodical- how I would like it.

My question is- does anyone have a good solution or best practice in this arena? If we were to hire someone, how would they get paid? By lead? Car sold? If we used an existing salesperson, given there's two locations about 50 miles apart would we sacrifice consistency and possibly sales?

The way it works now is I take the Internet customers as close to the point of sale as possible and then turn it over to a salesperson. The salesperson then gets his/hers commission and I get paid a salary and bonus on quantity. How would someone else fit in while still making a viable business out of this department?

 

[Steve Finell]

Best practice? There are a couple schools of thought: a dedicated Internet Sales Department responsible for handling all internet leads, to include inbound phone calls, with the objective of setting a sales appointment with a sales manager - and all associated follow-up calls/emails. Or, all sales reps are responsible for internet leads with an Internet Sales Manager monitoring effectiveness, training, continuity and, accountability for internet leads.

As to compensation, it sounds like your pay plan is structured appropriately as manager.

An internet sales coordinator could be paid an hourly rate plus commission/bonus for attaining objectives (outbound calls, appointment kept rate and, sold rate). Bonus the elements of their production they either control or substantially influence - quantity and quality.

 

[JoeC]

Thank you!!! May sound funny but during my conversation with the owner I was stumped.

 

[Alex Snyder]

A payplan is a very personal thing that should work in conjunction with what the dealer wants to accomplish within the payplan period. If that is simply "sell cars and make money" then I'd be very concerned about your boss. But anyway - I'll throw out one HUGE piece that has been extremely strong in increasing appointments.

Our BDC (doesn't have to be a BDC for you - could Internet Lead handler) used to be paid on appointments that showed and appointments that bought. We changed their pay to number of outbound phone calls made per hour plus the number of appointments made and they're now quadrupling the number of appointments they used to make. The key to the whole thing is having sales managers confirm those appointments so the BDC isn't just smoking the books. More appointments + Sales Manager Confirmations = higher dealership closing rate.....A.K.A. more sales and gross.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

they're now quadrupling the number of appointments they used to make.

Anything else you would like to add to that Alex?

 

[Alex Snyder]

Anything else you would like to add to that Alex?

No not really

Ooooookay......Jerry has also been helping with training to get the quality of the calls up. His consultations have helped us get to this point.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Thanks for the bone Alex.

 

[mkeesee]

I'm going through the same growing pains. Good luck

 

[JoeC]

Thanks everyone. That's helpful. While I know the payplans are personal, what would you recommend more specifically as a pay plan for someone starting out. For example, if I were to hire someone without experience, the hourly wage I can figure out but how would you set the levels for appointments and bonus? i.e. $300 monthly bonus for average of 15 calls made per hour??? Another monetary bonus for conversion of those appointments made?

Thanks again!

 

[Alex Snyder]

How many calls do you need made? You should figure out how many Internet leads you get and how many calls you make, on average, to each lead. Once you've got that one flowing well, then you may move to having your ISR make calls for sales agents who aren't getting it done - how many of those are there? There isn't a set dollar amount - you're going to have to figure that part out for yourself.

But the big questions to ask on are:

Do I pay someone hourly? If so, is that the bulk of his pay? If not, are bonuses the bulk of the pay? What is the position worth to the dealership overall? If it is worth $5,000 a month then do I pay $2,000 in salary and make the bonus something that regularly pays out at $1,500 but knocking it out of the park pays $3,000. Most of your questions need to be directed to your mirror. Once you come up with some of these numbers you're more than welcome to message me saying you're ready for a phone call - I'd be happy to help counsel you to your next questions.