"Just Looking"...even managers have defense mechanisms

Two years ago while looking for a new digital marketing home I penned this blog post based on my observations visiting prospective employers.  Though I am happily nestled in a progressive and healthy wonderland right now, I find the points that I raise still very relevant in today's automotive digital marketing world:

Any good salesperson knows that the last way you want to greet a customer is with the words,

"Can I help you?"  

Sales 101 teaches that you will guarantee yourself that famous reflex reaction that stymies your sales efforts:

"Just looking!"

This most basic of all reflex reactions thrusts the novice (or lazy/skill deprived) salesperson into sales purgatory.  If your sales manager is not watching, you will make sure you give them your name and let them know exactly where in relation to the coffee machine you will be standing explaining to your coworkers why these people are probably not buyers -- so they can find you when they have found what they are looking for.  (This also happens to be the salesperson version of dogs peeing on a bush to mark their territory.  These customers are now "upped", meaning that this salesperson has exclusive rights to any purchases these people make by virtue of the fact that he/she first said words to these people.)

I professionally "upped" them so if they buy within the next three years they are my customer!

If your sales manager is watching, you are condemned to perform the "stalker walk", following them from item to item until they either flee on the wings of some lame excuse to free themselves from this awkward situation or until they ask you a question, thus absolving you from your sin of ineffectiveness and letting you begin your version of the sales process. For a couple of weeks now I have been attempting to find a new home for my marketing experience and talents.  It has been frustrating to say the least.  Upon reflection, however, I realized that I was approaching it in much the same way as a novice or lazy/unskilled salesperson.  I was walking in, asking for a dealer principle, handing him/her my resume and explaining, "I was wondering if we can talk about what I can offer your Internet marketing efforts!" If you ask a dealer principle, general manager, sales manager, etc. to consider letting you help their digital marketing efforts they, too, have reflex responses.  Most fall into these three categories:

"We already have someone who does Internet for us."
"What we do now is working for us, we aren't looking to add anything right now."
"Yeah, we know we need to do something about it.  We just aren't sure what yet."
We have someone.
Having grown up in Geneva I remember my father walking home one day with his pink slip, a victim of the closing of the True Temper plant I am never in favor of replacing someone with whom you are satisfied simply because someone else has shown up with strong credentials, too.  At the same time, is one person sufficient for the digital marketing efforts of the modern automobile dealership?  What does your "Internet person" do?   Is he/she doing many things adequately or just a few things very well?  How heavily do you rely on more expensive third party vendor options?  Could a larger staff execute a more comprehensive plan and still be profitable for you?  If you have not asked these questions in the last ninety days, perhaps you should!
We are fine, thank you.
This has to be the most maddening reflex response of all.  This is the "just looking" of the managerial vernacular.  If it is just being said to avoid a discussion with a resume bearing unemployed Internet manager or third party vendor salesperson, etc. then it can be forgiven.  Aside from that, what manager ever believes that their plan and process is so beyond scrutiny that any review of it is pure folly and a waste of time?  Could you imagine the CEO of a major corporation addressing a meeting of the stockholders with a brief statement like this: "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is great.  See you next year."?
You know we should look into this.

If you climb a mountain to its summit to find a robed and bearded guru from whom to solicit advice, he will no doubt begin by teaching you that the first step to any problem is to admit that there is a problem. There are so many facets to the modern automobile dealer franchise that excelling in every single one of them is nearly impossible.  When you remain open, however, to exploring how to improve when the opportunity presents itself you are inarguably more likely to find success in multiple areas than those for whom constructive scrutiny is just too vexing. 

So what do I do?
My primary recommendation is that you call me and offer me ungodly sums of money in exchange for maximizing your digital marketing efforts.
 
In the absence of that there are a some core elements upon which a good Internet marketing process should be built Hybrid roses offer a myriad of different colors and varieties for the flower gardens of the world, but they are usually all grafted to the hardy root system of a wild rosebush.  So, too, you should make sure your Internet strategy is grafted onto these trusted, basic tenets of automotive digital marketing:
Feature a good quality product.
Your primary objective is to sell cars, period.  Make certain that your inventory listings are designed to elicit a response from those who see themYou do not need an elegant studio in which to stage your cars (though it can help) but you should make sure that your pictures are clear, accurate, and informative.
  • Does your vehicle fill most of the frame of the pictureAre they well focused?  Is lighting or glare a significant hindrance?
  • Is your description correct?  Does it feature an accurate trim level and include the most important or unique options?  Did you update the mileage on demo units?
  • Do you have engaging ad copy in the description?  Is it relevant to the vehicle?  Does it answer the most basic questions about the vehicle. (You would be surprised, by the way, on how much more people rely on the pictures than the descriptions for feature/trim information.) Do you point out significant damage or defects in your pictures or descriptions?  (It's not as though a customer is not going to notice when they arrive.)

You wouldn't buy clothes that were all crumpled up on the floor of a fancy clothier, would you?  Your inventory feed is your prospect's first exposure to your primary product.  Make your first impression a good (and accurate) one!   Find your story and tell it well. Believe it or not: not every dealer is the #1 biggest volume primary source of the most amazing ever expanding all encompassing inventory at the lowest below invoice pricing in the tri-state area that specializes in giving you an amazing difference that results in the greatest customer satisfaction of anyone anywhere who also happens to give you more for your trade than anyone else ever will because they sell more cars than all other local dealers combined! All dealers have those facets of the automotive sales business in which they absolutely excel.  Discern your greatest strengths and use good ad copy and images to portray it simply and succinctly on your company website.  Present your story, not just a template of what automobile dealer sites are supposed to say.  People tune out a preponderance of cliches.  Make your site reflect who you are and in what you excel. A high end luxury dealer's site should not look and read like a modest, low end economy dealer's site -- and vice versa! We caught one! Now what? All of the above becomes an exercise in futility in the absence of a good Internet lead process.  If you put ten salespersons or marketing professionals in a room, you will get eleven opinions on what the lead process should look like.  On one point they should all agree:  your process should never be etched in stone.  As market trends ebb and flow so, too, should your response tactics constantly be edited, tested, and tweaked.  Here are some points to consider:

  • If you use an auto-responder, it should contain simple calls to action.  Remember, too, that brevity is the soul of wit!  Avoid sending a Charles Dickens manuscript as your auto-responder.
  • Answer quickly.  Forget the OEM clock, you should be answering leads quickly because it makes good business sense.  I've never heard anyone say, "strike after the iron cools off". 
  • Answer the question!  If your prospect has questions, answer them.  Don't try to sell the car via email or phone.  Your goal at this point is to sell the appointment.  Ideally you seek that balance between giving enough information to build trust and rapport and yet letting reasons remain to justify the prospect's need to come in to see you. You will never build rapport by ignoring the prospect's questions, though.
  • Calls to action: use them!  Every email correspondence should invite the prospect to proceed to the next logical step in the sales process.  
  • Build rapport and make every attempt to connect with your prospect.

The length and/or intensity of your follow up process or its contents all should be regularly discerned by the individual dealership.  If you have a high volume of leads, try two competing process models for a quarter and measure your results.  The point is that a good Internet strategy should include scrutiny, an openness to new trends/ideas, and an attention to the resulting data.

That's so crazy it just might work!

Finally, make sure you have a good Internet Marketing Manager at the helm.  Many opinions exist on what makes a good Internet manager.  I would propose, however, that whoever you choose and whatever his/her duties a good Internet professional should have difficulty sitting still.  The jetsam and flotsam churning about on the Web affects and influences our culture to a greater degree at every passing moment.  Good Internet marketing watches those trends, tries new approaches, and tests ideas carefully to determine what is most effective -- even if those results conflict with his/her personal biases. Closing a deal hasn't really changed.  Automobile purchases are still largely based on emotional impulses.  What increasingly differs are the ways that we are attracting prospects to our sales staff and closers.  Internet trends are fluid and so, too, should be our Internet marketing.  A good Internet Marketing Manager realizes this and, while staying true to the fundamentals, is always looking to adapt the strategy and the message so as to stay relevant and effective.

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Comment by Brian Bennington on September 4, 2014 at 3:28pm

As a Post Script to my comments below, after reviewing the animated GIF files you added to the post that I thought were unnecessary, I think I'm beginning to get it.  As I watched the smiling blonde rocking back and forth in the "Can I help you" paragraph, I'd say she's genuinely enjoying a very nice ride on the "lap of love...."  And, obviously it ties in well with the paragraph's "Can I help you" title.  Really, if you look at it for a minute or two, that's the only possible explanation.  Now, I call a dynamite GIF and I sure hope you have more of them!        

Comment by Jeff Novak on August 31, 2014 at 10:26pm

Thank you for your candid critique, Brian.  You are correct in noting that the content here is basically internet marketing pablum.  What is sad is that for many dealers even this level of banality lies beyond their comprehension or execution.

The post was written after a four store auto group I was working for simply dropped their internet program because the threat of change terrified their old guard.  The blog was a way of sharing some of the breadth and diversity of my thinking without the limitations of a brief resume.  I wanted my blog to be informative, yet not be so detailed as to allow future competitors to simply read my playbook posted out of some excess of hubris.

I have found myself in a great dealership home that affords me the freedom and support to not only implement what I consider to be best practices but to experiment and measure some of my theories for going forward. Although we could always use more money, an intellectually challenging work environment buttressed by appreciation for one's talents pays dividends of its own.

As for my seeming fascination with animated GIF files, I must confess I borrowed the concept from an hilarious blog that contained a sardonic skewering of "Fifty Shades of Grey".  While I am sorry they detracted from your experience, they make me laugh, which for me is as important as resisting the urge to take myself too seriously. 

(For the curious, here is the blog post that inspired my collection of animated GIFs: Katrina Passick Lumsden 59 Shades Review .  I think she used them far better than I did.)

Comment by Brian Bennington on August 31, 2014 at 8:22pm

OK Jeff, you got me to read this.  The initial story of your conclusions gained from your recent job search were interesting, as maneuvering to get new and better employment has always been an interest of mine. Especially in the methods practiced by an ambitious and accomplished professional such as yourself.  While I'm not close enough to it now to have a valid opinion, the stories I hear lead me to believe there's a lot of experienced marketing people who have real difficulties selling themselves into the position they want.

Then, when you moved into the dangers of basic "sales greetings," and finally offered some pretty stock observations of a good Internet Marketing Manager, which coincidently happens to be your career, you lost me.  Sorry, I tried.  In deference to your expertise and accomplishments, please know that my interest in Internet marketing is minimal, but because of the relatively general IMM qualities you outlined, you stayed within my growing indifference to understand.  And, I do agree with your premise that "...even managers have defense mechanisms."

Of note, those bogus illustrations you used were worse that unnecessary.  They actually detracted from the post.  The writing was plenty active enough and without "jumping images."  Which leads me to a final question.  Was this a homage to the "importance of a good Internet manager" or are you looking for another job?     

 

Comment by steven chessin on August 30, 2014 at 9:01pm

Jeff - this is brilliant stuff.  Your observations and recommendations are spot-on.

1st a "good internet manager" would read this   ... right ? Secondly, every store I have ever worked at defines that position differently - so it is somewhere in-between a rep on her first day - and a 30 year pro advertising - bdc - marketing seo - sales specialist. You made a lot of great points. I think the most important one is for a store to know what it is good at and not try to be all things to all people. I once worked at a Kia store that was 15 miles from the volume discounter that sold 3X as many cars with a service dept with 1/3 the bays, so I created a promotion called "Do The Math". We also had free loaners for our customers. There are many ways for dealers to differentiate themselves. I heard a late-night radio infomercial interview about having the highest customer loyalty of any store in the country. It was very strong. I would buy from that dealer. I believed him.   

As an "internet sales specialist" I place my entire focus on 2 links in the chain of events. And just those two. The first is getting people from the VDP to making contact by any possible means. The second is getting that customer to the phone without any emails beyond the first. So I guess that makes me a "2-Trick-Pony". Contact from the vehicle page and conversion to phone. That's all   ... and that's enough. Ha ha -- I stopped trying to be "all things to all people" too.  

I particularly LOVED your 'rant' about "We Already Have Someone That Does That". Back in the days of the crash I was actually told, "we have more leads than we can handle so we don't need your lead generation and lead management techniques - whatever they might happen to be - but thanks for stopping-by !" 

Somehow ... I seriously doubt that they did ! 

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