Let's Talk Structure

Post by: Paul Rogers

What Is Your Structure? What Should It Be?
These are questions that we get quite often and they might be two of the most important ones when it comes to having success with the Internet.

A) You MUST have a defined structure for your Internet initiative!
B) Defining your structure allows you to hold your people and yourself accountable
C) You need a job description that outlines exactly who is responsible for what
D) There are three basic structures – and several hybrids – to choose from

My next few posts will focus on each of these topics.

Defining your Internet Initiative structure is an essential step that many dealerships simply don’t take. (The reason I refer to it as an Internet initiative and not as a department is that many dealerships have chosen NOT to have a separate department, they choose to integrate the Internet into many of their already established processes… more on that later).

A LOT of dealerships just allow the Internet processes to evolve, without a plan or a strategy. Someone is assigned the task of responding to incoming Internet leads and then they add another someone and pretty soon they have a department. Many times management doesn’t really know who does what or how effective the department is. All they even know how to ask seems to be, “How many you got out?”

Defining your structure should be based on several different concepts, including:



Response Time = “What structure do we need to have in place to assure that incoming emails and phone calls are answered in the shortest possible time?” Phone calls need to be answered before the third ring; emails need to be answered in less than 30 minutes – immediately, if possible.



Long-term follow-up = “How can we assure that we stay in contact with our prospects, (incoming email leads) for at least 90 days?” Internet users tend to go online many weeks before they are ready to purchase. THIS IS GOOD NEWS! You can build value in your dealership and eliminate your competition by effectively responding to ALL Internet purchase requests over time.





Volume = “How can we effectively grow our Internet initiative?” You will need to be able to receive more and more email leads since the Internet is such a cost-effective marketing tool and will continue to be more and more important to your dealership’s growth and marketing strategy.





Philosophy = “Do our clients really need a unique way of buying a car, just because they used the Internet to start the process?” If you believe that they do, then you need to go with a structure that offers your customers a unique buying experience. If you feel that your traditional processes are effective for the informed and sometimes demanding nature of many Internet-sourced prospects, then one of the other structures can work well for you.