What would you like to see more of from Vendors?

[Muranoman]

Noob to this site, but a big fan. I have been in the Vendor world for about 8 years. I have meet many great people at dealers and in the Vendor side of things.
I was in Car Sales briefly but as you all well know, you have it or you don't and clearly I didn't. But I do find satisfaction in helping dealers achieve their goals and have trust in me that I will not sell them a product that will not fill a need they have at the moment.
From being a long time lurker, there seems to be a consensus that most vendors are necessary evils. I can say with confidence some are exactly that and will happily take your money to sell you a product that may or may not, usually the latter, not have a huge effect on the bottom line.
I would like to stay in the Vendor world because I believe their are vendors out their that want to make a difference in the car buying process that is fair for both car buyers and dealers.

My questions are:
1. Is all you look for in a Vendor is how many "leads" email and phone leads they generate.
2. How much knowledge your rep has in your particular marketplace
3. What is the one thing you would change if you could for all Vendors
4. You don't have to name names, but what Vendor has been your favorite and why?
5. What is the best way in your opinion to have a new Vendor with a new product approach you. Set a meeting by phone, walk in (I have found this the least effective), referral from your ISM or Sales Manager?

Please feel free to add whatever you like, if I know this message board that should not be a problem

Thanks!

 

[kevinkelly.it]

I see a paradigm shift in how vendors are selling to dealerships. Two years ago, a good vendor would call with a short intro about their service and product requesting a time to meet with you. Today most vendors simply call and want to perform the entire sell process over the phone. Dealerships are the leanest business model out there. No one has 10 to 30 minutes to listen to a sales pitch and have them try to close the deal.

I never thought the day would come when I would just hang up on vendors, yet we are all so busy, that after 5 minutes I have to move on and these telesales people won't stop. So now I upfront tell any vendor with a new product that you have 2 minutes to tell me what you can do for me and if I want to learn more, you have to come in to the dealership. I will clear 15 minutes for a presentation, otherwise, I won't do business with you. If you can't show the value of your product or service in 15 minutes, we don't have time for another 4 hour CRM presentation.

My favorite vendor is the one that stops in once a week just to make sure all is working, calls twice a week for follow up and is in the dealership on short notice. Only your big power player vendors have the critical mass to give that kind of service today, yet this is the vendor partnership dealerships need to run successfully. These small vendors from states far away are pouring money down an endless pit with no service, no response and the last they want to do is partner with our business to make us successful.

Also, a list of local dealerships using your product that I can contact and be sure you are not all hype, is the perfect sales close. We are such a small community, that I will know someone on that list that is not set up to sell me your product.

 

[john.quinn]

I was in Car Sales briefly but as you all well know, you have it or you don't and clearly I didn't.

Refreshing honesty! Usually the ones who "clearly don't" become consultants.

[100% Joking Folks! Just kidding, kidding, kidding!!!! ]

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

I never thought the day would come when I would just hang up on vendors

And I can tell you that you're not alone. Since we listen to a lot of dealership audio files, we hear many of these calls coming to the owner and the GM. I like the fact that you give them two minutes, most won't even do that. I am not sure 2 minutes is a fair amount of time, but it's better than nothing. Myself and my salespeople will try to get GM's or owners to do a 15 minute webinar, and we have a lot of success with those. We're a small company with a great product and it would not be feasible for myself or one of my reps to just jump on a plane to do an in store demo. I could, but it would require me to raise pricing and I would rather keep my pricing competitive.

I would highly encourage dealers to allow vendors to submit an e-mail with more details, and if you're interested you can take the next step. To just shut vendors out is not a good plan. You never know when you might just come across something that's going to change the way you do business for the better. This is also an opportunity for people to become more educated as to the technologies that are improving the way dealers do business. Set some time aside once or twice a month to explore vendor offerings. You might just stumble upon a great product or find a way to reduce current expenses.

Vendors, it's not just about quantity of sales calls, it's also about quality. Instead of calling 50 people in one day, focus on ten or less and provide your potential customers with a powerful intro. When you get somebody on the phone you better know what you're going to say. We hear many vendors stumble here. Have a Goto Meeting button ready to go, I can't tell you how many dealers have said that they would give me 15 minutes now. I have them login to Goto Meeting and we're off an running. If they don't have time, offer to send an e-mail with more information. That e-mail should contain a Jing Video like this one. Before ending the call, ask the following: (First name), I will call you to follow up on the e-mail I send, should I do that later today or would tomorrow be better for you? Then call when you're supposed to.

Now Kevin, with all that said, when would be a good time for me to show you how Phone Ninjas can help you schedule more appointments with your phone and Internet leads, I have time this afternoon or tomorrow, which would be better for you? Oh and I have plenty of references for you .

 

[john.quinn]

I would highly encourage dealers to allow vendors to submit an e-mail with more details, and if you're interested you can take the next step. To just shut vendors out is not a good plan. You never know when you might just come across something that's going to change the way you do business for the better.

I might be in a slightly different boat, in that I'm the director for a 14-store group, so I get allllllllllllllllllllll the calls from the inane to the potentially revolutionary newest thing, but I'll be honest: even two minutes is too much most of the time.

I'll submit to vendors: practice what is preached on these pages. Jerry, I'll use you as an example. We did business for one reason and one reason only: a 3rd party endorsement -- or "review" if you will. Someone I trusted said I should give you a shot. I did. And was satisfied, and have since referred other clients to you. But if it wasn't for that "trust" factor from a colleague, it just couldn't have happened. There has to be some relationship.

Unfortunately, that's my reality. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to ever utter the MOST OVERUSED PHRASE in our industry: "I don't have time...." because the truth is that we make our own time for that which we deem appropriate. But the phone rarely stops ringing -- especially since the Lehman crash in 2008. And to me, really, cold-calling just isn't the way to go.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

John,

I agree with much of what you wrote. Cold calling is a real pain in the ass, for you and us. I will say that you're correct, referrals are the way to go. But when I get that referral, it's a cold call to the person I am calling. Unfortunately they are a necessary evil.

I always find that I have better luck when I initiate the phone call. If I waited for people to call me,I might not be in business today.

Soon you'll be on the other side of the fence.

 

[john.quinn]

Soon you'll be on the other side of the fence.

HA! And my lack of talent will be on Full Display for all to see!! haha!

 

[mmayberry]

I agree 100%. We all take the least path of resistance and I can't count the number of times I did the same thing. Get a call from a vendor and first thing out of my mouth was don;t have time or happy with what I currently use and did not even give the person time to tell me how he could possibly save me time and make more money. I cut off my noes to spite my face. Every dealer has time to listen. The dealer that takes the time are the dealers that are really interested in making a difference in their dealership. In today's economy ever dealer needs to take a hard look at themselves and ask the question. "AM I DOING EVERYTHING I CAN TO BE AS SUCCESSFUL AND PROVIDE THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE AS I CAN" or am I happy selling 100 used/75 new cars a month and my CSI is not what is should be when you could actually be selling 150 used to 125 new cars a month and getting my CSI 90% and above by making simple changes. Dealers need to remember it should not be just about him/her. They have employees that they employ and should help them do as much good business as possible in the most effective way. You probably all heard the commercial "15 minutes could save you 15%. In the car business "30 minutes could actually save you thousands". What would happen if every customer that came on your lot and treated you the same way some dealers treat vendors. (I know some customers do) but if every customer did. Would not be in business very long. Just my opinion because I have been on both sides. Dealer should treat vendors that same way they treat most of their customers. With respect. You never know when that one product could make a great change to every aspect of your dealership.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Dealer should treat vendors that same way they treat most of their customers. With respect. You never know when that one product could make a great change to every aspect of your dealership.

Or you never know when a vendor might buy a car from you.

I took my car for service to an Infiniti dealer and I tried to get some face time with the GM, he wouldn't talk to me, too busy. Guess what, I am not going back. Next time it's the other dealer in town.

 

[yagoparamo]

I see a paradigm shift in how vendors are selling to dealerships. Two years ago, a good vendor would call with a short intro about their service and product requesting a time to meet with you. Today most vendors simply call and want to perform the entire sell process over the phone. Dealerships are the leanest business model out there. No one has 10 to 30 minutes to listen to a sales pitch and have them try to close the deal.

I never thought the day would come when I would just hang up on vendors, yet we are all so busy, that after 5 minutes I have to move on and these telesales people won't stop. So now I upfront tell any vendor with a new product that you have 2 minutes to tell me what you can do for me and if I want to learn more, you have to come in to the dealership. I will clear 15 minutes for a presentation, otherwise, I won't do business with you. If you can't show the value of your product or service in 15 minutes, we don't have time for another 4 hour CRM presentation.

My favorite vendor is the one that stops in once a week just to make sure all is working, calls twice a week for follow up and is in the dealership on short notice. Only your big power player vendors have the critical mass to give that kind of service today, yet this is the vendor partnership dealerships need to run successfully. These small vendors from states far away are pouring money down an endless pit with no service, no response and the last they want to do is partner with our business to make us successful.

Also, a list of local dealerships using your product that I can contact and be sure you are not all hype, is the perfect sales close. We are such a small community, that I will know someone on that list that is not set up to sell me your product.

We are at the front trenches of this change. What I seethat has changed for us as a company is that the transactions have become morebut much less money.

We use to have a few choices in digital advertisement: Autotrader, cars.com. Websites were no different; remember when Cobalt Nitra was $1,200/month and you actually had to make some of the changes? Websites are a lot cheaper nowadays and everyone understand Autotrader a lot better so they make better decisisons on their programs.

Technology is a lot cheaper (servers, bandwidth, etc), programming‘easier’ and more accessible for companies, and knowledge more spread. Sothings are relatively cheaper than before.

So I find my company with a lot of ‘small’ services that weoffer to the dealers that are very little money: Review sites for $150, QR code+ mobile system for $300, chat for $150, videos for $295, etc.

An average to good salesperson that has some experience and that is hitting the field is going tostart at $6,000 (once you add insurance, gas, phone, taxes, etc). How many ofthose couple hundred dollar programs does he need to sell even if we have a 25%profit on them to just make up his salary?

My company is in a very lucky position because we buildother products over the years, but otherwise we couldn’t afford to havesalespeople in the field. We have seen almost all competition disappear fromit.

The sad part is that these field people are a tremendousresource for the dealers and as they disappear dealers need to go out on theirown and find information about products and what is available in the market ontheir own.