Internet Response Team to the Rescue
By Mike Bowers
Does your dealership have a director of e-commerce and technology? Odds are it doesn't.
Does it have an "Internet response team?"
Once again, probably not.
These are not typical job titles at the typical dealership. But as things change ever so quickly these days at the typical neighborhood car dealership, so do some of the job titles and responsibilities.
At Anderson Honda in Palo Alto, Calif., Lisa Ackerly is the director of e-commerce and technology. But she is only one of 10 dealership employees who are committed to selling cars online there.
Anderson Honda also has five full-time Internet sales associates, a three-member Internet response team and an Internet sales manager.
If you take a look at some of the sales figures at Anderson Honda, it is easy to see why. According to Ackerly, the dealership sells anywhere between 170 to 195 cars each month on the Internet.
"Forty percent of the cars we sell are from the Internet," says Ackerly. On average, the dealership sells about 400 cars each month.
For those dealers who may be selling a lot less than that and want to increase the numbers, how does Anderson Honda do it?
"Part of the answer is the Internet response team," says Ackerly.
At Anderson Honda, the Internet response team is akin to an emergency response team one might find at any given county's central communications operations. They are ready to respond to any emergency that gets called in. Ackerly is not particularly fond of the usual auto responders most dealerships send out when they get an online inquiry. They are like getting a form letter in the mail. Be honest, when was the last time any of us got excited about a form letter, even if it was from the president?
Instead of the auto responders, Anderson Honda kicks the process up a notch.
"The crucial thing for us is to e-mail them and place a phone call immediately," Ackerly says. "Our goal is to catch the customer by phone while they are still online."
Ackerly says that while not all potential customers can be successfully contacted while they are still online, it does work some of the time.
She points to Anderson's aggressiveness in going after the Internet lead as crucial in its online sales success.
"If you look at the anatomy of the buying process, buying a car is at least on your mind when you are online," Ackerly says. "If I can get to you and involve you in the sales process, my chances of closing the deal are far greater."
Ackerly says Anderson Honda, responds to purchase requests or pricing information online in 11 minutes via e-mail, on average. That's some pretty good work by this Internet response team.
Let's pause for a minute here to consider Anderson's model. Is this something that may work at your dealership?
Well, there are two things you must remember about this scenario. Anderson Honda is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley. If you haven't heard by now, this is the center of the technology universe.
This is where Internet start-up companies are the rage and newly minted millionaires are driving the average home prices through the roof. Computer literacy is higher than the national median here and the numbers of folks wired to the Web is also higher. So if you take all of those factors into consideration, it is not difficult to see why it works under this scenario.
Ackerly says that in many instances her customers are "techies" who are working 16-hour days at Internet start-ups. They don't have the time to peruse dealer lots. They do have the time to click around while at work. She says that in many ways, it is the convenience of the buying process that clinches the sale for her dealership.
Anderson Honda will have someone drive a car to customers who may be thinking about buying so they can test drive it. They also deliver cars to customers. A good portion of Anderson's customers never set foot in the dealership. Besides the 10-member Internet sales team, the dealership also has a large crew of 18 drivers who do anything from drop off vehicles for test drives, deliver cars or pick up vehicles to be evaluated for trades.
There are a lot of people involved in the process who make the online selling model work for Anderson. Most dealerships are not this far along in the evolution of their Internet selling models and they are not in the position to go out and hire that many people to employ the same tactics.
That being said, there are some vital lessons to be learned here. Perhaps the most important lesson is paying attention.
If you are truly interested in selling cars on the Internet, subscribing to a lead generation service and putting up a Web site is not enough.
Many friends ask me how they should go about trying to buy a car online. I usually give them a list of key Web sites to visit to begin their online buying experience. Most are quite serious about buying. However, when I hear back from them, it amazes me how many tell me that they submitted a purchase request or submitted a request for a price and simply got no response.
Just the other day, I was doing some research for my nephew, who was interested in leasing a Ford Expedition. I submitted an online request through one of the buying services for a price on a specific model. I got back an e-mailed response from a sales associate who said he was going to look into the availability of the model I wanted, but that is where the entire process died.
I never heard from this gentleman again.
Anderson Honda has committed the resources to selling cars online and the commitment is paying dividends. Your dealership may not be ready to do this yet or may be doing it on a lesser scale, but that doesn't mean you can't emphasize some of the same elements in your sales model. Respond to those e-mails. Respond as fast as possible and make sure you have some key personnel in the position of doing follow-ups so those leads you pay good money for don't die on the vine.
Mike Bowers is managing editor of WD&S Publishing, Metuchen, NJ. WD&S is a provider of information services for the automotive retail industry. Publications include Dealer's Edge, Warranty Dollars & Sense, Auto Retailing on the Web, The Parts Manager, and Fixed Coverage. mbowers@dealeronline.com
