Want more Leads? Do LESS with your Inventory!

[Mike@Carfeine]

Chris,
It's been my and those of many people I've informally polled over the years that 'virtual inventory', while it creates leads (and work), does not necessarily result in the best consumer experience. In fact, I've encountered some people who have been so annoyed at the experience they have told me that they no longer want to deal with the dealership in question.

Also, if you have to say, "...technically this is true.", you probably shouldn't employ the method.

Use VI at your own risk

 

[Chris K]

Mike,
I appreciate the comment. People are already perturbed we don't post inventory - the bosses choosing - but we've become the #1 volume Nissan dealer without it in our zone. Now prospects will at least see the vehicle they want, configured how they want, and if they are serious and want something special, they will have no choice but to have a dealership locate it for them. We locate about 60 vehicles a month, so we're used to converting these people if we have the car or not. I guess we'll see... but 3rd party leads right now really, really suck. As far as I am concerned, a lead from all 3rd parties are worth about $5.00 at best.

 

[Jon Groenig]

I was just contacted by a vendor that wanted to add to this thread, but wanted to stay anonymous. They sent me an email with their thoughts on the subject and they had some good points. I am pasting their email below.

“Someone” needs to let everyone on this thread understand that, the comments/thought processes explained have one common flaw. They all assume that everyone coming to their website is a “Now Buyer”. If you have the car that a Now Buyer “wants” then they Now Buyer will contact you to inquire...with the amount of information shown on the car having less influence on the results. However, only 2%-3% of your website visitors are “Now Buyers” with the majority being “Potential Prospects” that are not as far into the Buying Cycle. Your goal for your website should be to accomplish two things: 1) Satisfy the visitor’s quest for information so they will continue to come back to your website as they get deeper into the Buying Cycle. 2) Have “emotional” ads for your cars with “urgency” and “call to action” to inspire Potential Prospects to “want” the car they are looking at and turn them into Now Buyers. That is what “marketing” is all about and it is no different when you put the word “Internet” in front of “Marketing”.

1) Drive more traffic to your website with SEO, SEM, web 2.0 marketing, Video SEO, URL branding = more a few Now Buyers but significantly more Potential Prospects who are just looking to “see what you’ve got”.
2) Have the “information” that the Potential Prospects are looking for so they will keep coming back to your website as they move through the Buying Cycle.
3) Create “emotional presentations” of your inventory to create urgency, inspire mental ownership and turn Potential Prospects into Now Buyers.
4) Follow up.

 

[Jennifer Schrader (blog)]

Mike - Great comment.

Chris K has mentioned about the Build A Car feature. Which enables to consumer to Build their own vehicle to their likings. Along with providing more in depth information of Features, Specs, Options, MPG's, Price etc etc.

Mike, You are speaking in regards to the Virtual Inventory which is a total seperate product. The Virtual Inventory will list every single possible make & model you have to offer with the ability to hide them too regardless if you have them there or not! Why show them what you don't have but what you do have and can have?

What gets many Internet Managers frustrated is having the consumer go down the road and drive off with the vehicle you did have on the lot for 8 out of 10 times they don't even choose the vehicle they initially attended to get in the first place.

( Gotta love those online consumers )

No matter if it is Build A Car or even to the Virtual Inventory, these tools provide so much information for the consumer that possible can be given to them.

Be Savvy! Be strong on the Call & Sell that Consumer!

 

[Rob Ernst]

I interviewed at a dealer who wasn't selling much over the internet. When I was checking out their website and their autotrader and cars.com listings they had about 300 used cars listed. I knew for a fact they had less than 100 cars on their lot. Also, no pricing.

When I asked the GM about this, he said, "yea, we do that on purpose. We never delete anything and we get a ton of phone calls asking what's the price".

I thought the phone calls weren't a bad thing but then I decided that I probably wouldn't call and would assume the price was too much. Also, they get put at the bottom of cars.com and autotrader.com so nobody sees their cars.

I didn't take the job but I ran into the guy who had the job and was replaced by someone else later. He said all he did all day was take phone calls asking, "duh, what's the price" and didn't have time to do anything else.

I've always felt if I gave more info, sold the sizzle with comments and was at least NEARLY the best with price, plus responded more quickly and with a better response than everybody else, I won.

'nuff said?

Rob Ernst

Superior Chevrolet
Internet Sales Manager

Mobile: 513-200-5025

 

[Jennifer Schrader (blog)]

Rob -

Yup - Nuff Said!

 

[veh]

I gotta say that I agree with Mike. Virtual Inventory is beyond annoying. Especially since most dealer sites present it as "inventory". Look "inventory" up in the dictionary! It doesn't say "stuff you could theoretically obtain".

Many internet shoppers will be put off by what they percieve as misleading or "hard sell" features on websites. They are shopping the internet, in many cases, to AVOID those things. The little marching live chat popups THAT WON'T CLOSE are aggravating. The "we have 10 of those in stock--here are their VINS, and if you want to know the COLOR or any other attribute CALL US"-Yuck. I don't WANT TO CALL YOU. If I wanted to interact with you, I know how the phone works, and I could have driven to your store.

And edit the info--no one cares if the rotors are 9" steel (unless it's a Porsche with something interesting!)