Establish Two-Way Communication

There are four steps to selling a car from leads through the Internet… Contact; Set an appointment; Have the buyer show up for the appointment and Sell the car. Of these, the most difficult one to accomplish a 60% success rate will be establishing two-way communication with the person who sent you a lead. (By the way, please don’t refer to it as a ‘lead’ when talking to your buyer. I hear salespeople say, “You sent me a lead…” and this means nothing to the buyer… what’s a lead? Instead refer to it as an online purchase request through whichever source they used, such as… “I am responding to the online purchase request you sent through Dealix.com…”)

There are a lot of reasons why the buyer does not respond. Some who use a third party web site had no idea that they were sending their information to a dealer. If they were on your manufacturer’s web site, they may assume that they were circumventing the dealer. Some thought that they would be immediately emailed a price on the vehicle, because that is exactly what some web sites promise. Many are not yet in the actual market for a car; they are in the “thinking” stage and are not yet ready to talk with anyone.

In order to sell the number of cars that you need to sell, you MUST do what is necessary to establish contact with the buyer. I am going to offer three solutions to you so that you can get more of your buyers to respond to you and thereby, sell more cars. Some of these are fairly basic for you, if so, I hope that you are doing them. If you are not, this is your chance to make some changes.

1. Send a response that means something to the buyer

If the person sending you an email is truly in the market now, then almost all of them have two questions in mind… “Do you have what I want?”… “How much is it?” Your email should answer these questions for the buyer, to your complete satisfaction. Let me explain. Many dealerships have a policy of avoidance of the price issue until after they have established contact and have a relationship with the buyer. Even if you cannot quote a price on your first or second email, you MUST address the price issue in a manner that makes the buyer want to continue forward with your dealership as a source for their new car or truck.

Many dealerships send a photo of the exact vehicle that the buyer has requested. Others send a copy of the window sticker, which Toyota now makes available – called V-spec. Still others send three photos… a “good, better, best” scenario that exposes the buyer to inventory alternatives.

One of my personal pet peeves is the email that promises a “no-hassle” experience, but then tells the buyer absolutely nothing about the car they have requested and attempts to turn them into a phone up… “Please call me for more information.” Man, I HATE that! What I dislike most about it is that it is passive and places the buyer in control of the next step, which they seldom take! So the next step is…

2. Go to the phones quickly!

Instead of telling the buyer to call you… Call them… NOW!

Let them know in your initial response that a phone call is coming. Then tell them to call you or email you if they don’t want that phone call. Be prepared with inventory lists and pricing, within your dealerships allowed parameters, so you can answer the buyer’s questions and get them in the dealership to take the car for a spin… (never a test drive!) Your phone technique is just as important as your email and face-to-face skills need to be. Use the telephone to establish trust and rapport and to get the buyer to want to meet you… soon.

3. Have a plan for long-term follow up

Since many of the people sending you an email lead are not yet ready to shop for a car, you need to be ready to communicate new information to them over time.

Your initial response should address the two critical questions on the buyer’s mind… “Yes I have it and it will cost approximately…”. But, after that, you need to be able to offer more reasons for them to buy from you than just price. Unless it is a hard to find vehicle, the person sending you an online purchase request can buy it from just about anyone. You must be prepared to tell the buyer why they should buy from you and your dealership. This should take some work and creativity… you need to differentiate yourself and your dealership from anyone else they might be considering.

You can do this by having several email templates in your files that address the questions… “Why buy from this dealership, based on our inventory, facilities, location, Service or Parts departments, lower tax rate, awards received, years in business, actual owner testimonials, etc.?”, “Why buy from me?”, “Why buy this particular Make?”, “Why buy this particular Model?”, “What else in our inventory might meet your needs and save you money?”

Once you have these email templates created, you can set up a schedule as to when you can send them out and therefore maintain contact with your potential buyers, over time, with new information every time.

Please remember, lots of people promise good service and a “no-hassle” experience, but few truly offer one. One of the most important characteristics of a successful salesperson is credibility… they do what they say that they will do. Don’t just offer a great experience… spend the time and effort to truly give your buyers one.