Hello…A little late on this post, but I have been out of the office for a few weeks.
All these points made are great and valid. However, selling cars always comes down to 2 things - people and process.
If you already have a process in place that allows/makes your salespeople contact (and I mean CALL) the customer in less than 5 min, you are way ahead of the game. However, no matter what is said, we have always found a dealers response time lacking, and a major source of bottleneck in the internet department. We all know that your chances of making an appointment increases dramatically the faster you get in touch with your customer.
IMO - we don’t sell cars over the internet or phone, we make appointments - that should be your sales/BDC's main focus when talking to the customer.
A recent report based on the Arizona DMA from Chevrolet showed the dealer response time at an average of 6 hours! (This is already adjusted for business hours) - With only 4 out of the 45 responding in less than 1 hour. This is in a highly competitive major metro market - I can probably assume the same for nationwide stats. Clearly we have a long way to go for training our salespeople.
I had several sales people that loved it! Once they answered the lead on the Hot Phone they would then go into the CRM and claim the lead.
It is amazing how much action and excitement a phone ringing into a Internet/BDC creates. A few stores have the "self assign" model, which I personally like. Salesperson takes the call and then self assigns lead. Makes sure all leads are handled in a timely fashion. Even if not using a product like ours, I think self assign works great.
That is actually a good thing if they deliver on the promises. Some vendors have no R&D budget and won't make any changes to their software. So it is good that they are willing to work with you. I would highly suggest picking a vendor that you feel will work with you and build a strong relationship with them.
I agree with Matt's comments. Finding a CRM vendor that is committed to a relationship, rather than a monthly check, and follows through on commitments.
Products like Press1toTalk and others out there give you a competitive edge. Take every increase in call/appointment/show/sell that you can get, just make sure the uptick is a valid ROI and worth the cost. And, that it augments your current process.
Have one last comment - Inspect what you expect! - Have you secret shopped yourself (and other competing dealers) lately? Hardest thing to do is find a phone number to leave them to see how they handle the call. I have a solution (doing a press release tomorrow so you guys are getting it first) I can give you a local phone number that will ring wherever you want it to (cell, home, etc). Number is good for about 3-4 weeks. Will allow you to secret shop yourself and other dealers with a "throwaway" number. Just make sure you are answering your phone and/or change the VM message to a generic "I am not in right now, please leave a message"
If interested, I will give anyone on this board a number for FREE. Just send me an email with the area code you would like (I will try and get as close as possible), and the number you would like it to ring to, mention this post. I will email you back your "throwaway" number.
Email or call with any questions.
Drew Ament
Press1toTalk.com
Cell: 602-405-9630
Office: 1-(866)-553-1859 x100
dament @ press1totalk.com