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Skating Percentages/Prevention

CFrentzen

Boss
Apr 24, 2009
172
0
First Name
Chris
How many of you are tracking Skating Percentages? Second best is how many have an idea as to how often it happens in your dealership despite best efforts to track and source all leads via your CRM?

Can skating be (virtually)/eliminated via a good CRM + diligent follow-through by both managers and sales reps? If not, can it be exposed 100% of the time?

What steps are taken to prevent/undermine the idea of skating in your dealership?
 
It all starts with an iron-clad corporate policy that is enforced to the letter. Without that it doesn't matter which system you're on aside from trying to keep track of things simpler.

But if your GM, Vice President, or Dealer Principle hasn't said "Skate and the outcome is...fill in this line with one of the following:

  • Termination
  • Dock of Pay
  • No Split Deal
  • etc.
Then the skate battle is a very tough one to fight.
 
I'm probably going to get flamed here but here it goes.

I have a problem with this theory of skating the internet department. The basic question is why does an internet department/manager think that everyone in the newspaper department is skating them? Here are two scenarios that might explain my position:

Scenario A:
A customer submits a lead via the website, gets a response with something like "this discount only good if you ask for me". Maybe even replies to an email with another question then visits the dealership and doesn't feel the need to ask for any particular person. They are doing business with the dealership who's website they visited.

Scenario B:
A customer visits the dealership and speaks with a sales person and maybe takes test drive and leaves with their deluxe dismissal packet, business car stapled to the brochure. They go that evening to the dealers website to check out additional colors and model and submit a RAQ for a car. They are doing business with the dealer they visited.

They are both skates right? Both scenarios both parties think they are getting skated. Both parties some how think "Those are my customers!". The fact is they are the dealers' customers. They simply are afforded the privilege of serving that customer for their dealer in exchange for monetary compensation (at will).

The trick is that everyone on this forum knows that at least 80% of the customers that purchase from us go on line before during and after they visit or buy from us. Why is that someone is going to loose half their paycheck based on whether that customer lifts their finger and clicks that link or not.

My opinion is that the problem is in the pay plan and the belief that we need to departmentalize the customers. There should not be an Internet department or a Newspaper department or a Radio department or a Billboard department. Its all the same department, the Sales department. As soon as we start having "skate" discussions and accusations, the only people getting skated are the dealer AND the customer.

The era of internet departments is over. Every sales person needs to be completely trained to handle all sources of customers from initial inquire to delivery and beyond.

Let it RIP
 
As stated in the last post, I believe there is becoming segregation in sales departments. I am not sure this segregation is good, but it is definitely inevitable. There will always be the I am going to sell it today or not at all salesperson, and the I am going to follow you till you die sales person. Guess who I want working our internet customers... I have seen it work well with both types given specific "ups" based on their sales type. But to return to the topic of "Skating"; I agree with Alex's philosophy of having a firm policy that is not wavered from at all. Our policy is simple, if you can show you have had contact with the customer in the last 36 hours (Logged in CRM) then you are entitled to your half, however if you are the turn man and another closes the deal you are effectively middle-ed out.
 
I'm probably going to get flamed here but here it goes.

Not from me because we're talking about two different things. Fortunately for us at Checkered Flag & Drivers World our Internet department/BDC is centralized. We want customers to ask for our sales managers, but at the end of the day we only care that the car got sold. There aren't any split deals between someone in the Internet department and a sales agent.

So....I focus on sales agents vs. sales agent. We have varying policies at every location so I get to see and hear a lot of good and bad around skating. Personally, I think most of it can be solved with an alert system from the CRM and a pay policy based on "if you haven't shown any contact with a customer in xx days, then you don't get half the deal".

I see both scenarios where a sales agents hands someone a card and brooms them, then complains when the customer comes back to buy the car from someone else. I've also seen a sales agent spend 4 hours with a daughter (father there cosigning) who buys the car, leaves an awesome Dealer Rater review, send a thank you email to the General Manager and then the father comes back and buys a car from someone else 3 days later. And this is a set of customers who live right in our main competitor's back yard. Do I think that sales agent deserves more because father couldn't remember his name and was too embarrassed to say he forgot? HELL YES!

Yeah, these customers "belong" to the dealership - I hate saying that though. I think the "transaction" belongs to the dealership. The customer's transaction needs to be earned every time. I don't belong to Best Buy. I will say that I have an incredible men's dress clothing sales man that I would follow up to a 1 hour drive away from me no matter where he worked - who would you say I "belong" to then?

It is a complicated situation that requires a jury for each instance or a simple policy. I stand by my original post.