I just flew back from Las Vegas and boy, are my arms tireddealer attendance was way up at the second Auto Retailing on the Web Conference in Las Vegas, May 5-7, but I am still amazed that you weren't there. You should have at least sent your internet sales manager. What? You don't have one? We need to talk. I've told you before, in regard to car sales on the internet, it's not a matter of if, it's not even a matter of when, it's happening now.
I can understand your hesitanceI mean, where would you be today if you had jumped on the one-price bandwagon when it was hailed as the next "great leap forward"? This is different. You don't have to change the way you do business, you only need to add another wrinkle. You added F&I, you added sub-primenow it's time to add an internet sales department.
And I don't mean to get some kid to put up a website for you so you can forget about it. Find out how to do it right by turning to our Digital Dealer section. Read everything in it, articles and ads. (Don't miss the conference tapes for sale on page 38. I put it there at no charge so you could catch up.) And don't overcomplicate it. Don't ask questions like, "How long should we wait to respond to e-mail?" "How long would you wait to return a phone call?"
You've probably heard that internet customers want to be treated "special". Well, who doesn't? Of course, you should make all prospects/customers feel they are special. The difference is that, as opposed to the street traffic that comes in who you know nothing about, internet buyers are already defined and categorized. With internet customers you can know what "special" means to them before they even contact you. This isn't rocket science here.
I told you our Letters section would take all comers and be wide open. It is fast becoming what I had originally hoped it would bea forum for dealers to share information, as well as give feedback to us. We will continue to run letters with names withheld because we are the dealer advocate publication. Thanks to all who have written. Don't think I don't appreciate the input, even if your letter doesn't get printed. And don't forget, there's always next issue.