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As an internet Manager, I rely on a superior website and response time more than anything else -- people want to buy now, not tomorrow. Dealer-E always makes sure our websites are up and running; our data gets where it needs to go in a timely fashion, and our customers reap the benefits as we are able to control costs, since their prices blow out the competition! Keep up all the good work, Dealer-E!

The Company, the Websites, the products and the service are the Best in the Business hands down. Their websites do nothing but Generate leads. From all of us at BMW of Schererville we thank you Dealer E Process for Everything.....

Great service and innovative ideas. They keep up with latest trends and adjust sites accordingly. Chat, optimization, navigation, and social media. Great customer service as well when help needed or I have ideas to implement. Definately a winning combo!

Jennifer,

My message is that you should send an after hours message. During dealership hours we should be responding to them so quickly that we don't need the auto responder.

The one I exampled above works well when using a good CRM tool. I want the customer thinking I am on top of my game and customer focused. So if your CRM is not going to be able to provide the right vehicle info, I would suggest not sending.

When I think the message is from a real person I am more apt to do a little more reading. When I know it's an auto responder I tend to not pay it much attention.

All I am trying to do above is paint a mental picture for the customer making them think I am one hard working car salesman.

I know people who will write an e-mail to their boss and then have it go out at like 5 in the morning to give the boss the impression they are up and working early in the morning. It's all about perception.

Nobody has to send that exact e-mail out, they can choose to do what they want. I am sharing with the community what what I've seen work. What have you got to lose? Try it!

I read this site because of the great new ideas from the authors and commenters. I think some of the best information and new ideas come from differences of opinion. Mr. Thibeau, you make some very great points, but Mr. Oliver brings up a good point.

It's a great article to start with and I think the use of the autoresponder has evolved and will continue to do so.

I do believe in an after-hours autoresponder if for no other reason than to acknowlege we've got the customer's request. Any time you do anything online, you get a confirmation email, so why should contacting a dealer be any different? I don't want a customer moving on to more and more dealers just because they think I'm not getting back to them.

If we remove any emotional/ethical quandaries from the discussion, I still question beginning with a lie for practical reasons. I happen to be one of those people who gets caught every time. With my luck, at some point, I'd wind up in a discussion with a customer about my previous night's activities where I couldn't possibly have been checking my email or something. I just wouldn't want to have to worry about keeping up with a lie.

Wouldn't it be just as effective without that part? It implies that you're checking your email but doesn't assert it unecessarily. Besides, I think in my CRM tool it would likely come out as:

john,

I just happened to be checking my e-mail and I noticed your request for information on the HENWAY 3.5R XLR 401K EDITION MODEL CODE AA75R.

If you don't care for that type of approach then maybe you should have kept this comment to yourself: "So your first response to the customer is a lie? Always looking for ways to improve but dont need that kind of advice."

Here's a few questions for you to ponder Mr. Oliver:

1. Customer inquires about a vehicle that you know has had a rough history, probably not a car you would buy for yourself. Would you tell the customer "A" they shouldn't buy the car, or would you tell them "B" "oh it's a nice one, you should come down and look at it?"

2. You present an offer to a customer that you know is a huge gross for the dealership. The customer ponders the offer and inquires if you can do any better, do you reply with: "A" "Yes we're making too much money off you, let me go grind my manager some more?" Or do you tell them: "B" "No, that's a really good deal you're getting, would you like to take delivery today or tomorrow?"

If you answered "B" then how is that any different than what I am suggesting in my e-mail. Based on your first comment, you're an "A" man.

I'd love to explain the theories of capitalism to you, but I have better things to do with my time this evening.

Just left my opinion is all. I am entitled to it. I do not care for that approach at all.

Judging from the rather nasty tone and the content of your reply I do not care to have a debate, discussion or any interaction with you what so ever.

Lovely, another consumer advocate. Not everyone is cut out to work in this industry. You sure you want to have this debate with me?

"I just happened to be checking my e-mail and I noticed your request for information on the (model)."

So your first response to the customer is a lie?

Always looking for ways to improve but dont need that kind of advice.

Jerry, you are spot on when you blogged “I personally believe it’s every person’s responsibility in the dealership to make sure internet leads are handled in a timely fashion.”

Today consumers drive the car buying process because the internet empowers car buyers to expect instant information at their fingertips. They demand comprehensive, detailed vehicle information that directly addresses the questions they posed. And they want that quote right away—15 minutes, tops.

Catherine Edwards,
ResponseLogix Marketing Director

BTW, Jerry -- your format for reporting on the mystery shops is VERY COOL. A1. What a GREAT learning tool... can't wait to have a Team Meeting. Thanks again!! -- JQ

I'll tell you that you crushed your local Acura competitor in quality of response.

While your process didn't measure up to your high standards, it's probably a lot better than most the dealers in your market.

You're welcome!

The process is good, yes. (Thank you). But the best process in the world won't work if your team can't execute. Our performance this morning was embarrassing. No excuses. This will be a good learning tool, and hopefully we'll get better for it. Thanks again!

John,

You didn't lose anything! I will tell you that you have a good process and I liked the templates you all use.

I am building the mystery shop website right now and will have it finished in about 20 minutes. I'll need your e-mail so I can send you the secure log-in info. jerry@phoneupninjas.com

And if anyone else would like to be mystery shopped, I'll be doing some more next week for free. Just join us in this thread: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f5/mystery-shop-time-581.html

Hi Jerry -- thanks for the effort. I put my money where my mouth was, and lost my money!

We are a BDC -- dedicated team of responders -- and I agree -- if we can't do better, then we need to nix the responder.

When it rains, it pours. The gal you spoke with actually put you on hold because the school was calling her back to tell her that she does indeed need to pick-up her little boy and take him to the ER for x-rays on his (apparently) busted arm. But we are a NO-EXCUSE organization. Why this lead wasn't handled by the morning shift before Gina arrived at 11:30 is a serious issue.

Again, thank you for your efforts!

That's not a chink in the armor is it John? Just kidding! Actually I did already mystery shop you and will be putting the data together after lunch.

Let's get back to the auto responder. I saw yours and it was one of the better ones I've seen. My only question; if in the auto responder you make a statement saying you're going to call in a few minutes, what happens if the person does not call in a few minutes? This could potentially happen if somebody was out sick with the swine flu or perhaps they were just busy with something else. So in my opinion I would not want to send that auto responder out unless I was absolutely certain I could make that phone call. For a dealer using an Internet BDC, that would be easier to accomplish, but for a dealership using sales people off the showroom floor, you're opening yourself up for some disappointed customers when you don't call them as per the expectation.

If the dedicated BDC department is handling the lead right as it comes in, why not just manually send that e-mail. This way you're assured the person sending it will in fact follow-up with the customer. I did get one of these auto responders from your Toyota BDC rep, but no phone call has arrived and it's been an hour.

Please don't go alert your BDC, let's see what transpires. I am going to give it another hour before I start compiling the mystery shop report. As I finished writing this she just called.

It’s good that she called, but her original e-mail said a few minutes. Hopefully you can now understand where I am coming from with my comments in the original article.

As always, I welcome your feedback.

OOoofff... hope you didn't shop us this morning!! haha... Swine Flu killing us (not literally, thank goodness!). Between call-offs and CRM issues, when it rains, it pours! But that's all part of it, right? Have a great process, do the best you can, always look for improvement, and take it one lead at a time

No preference, Jerry. Always looking to learn new things, and I don't pretend to have all the answers. I would ask that after the shop you reveal yourself, as our follow-up process is lengthy (so we can invalidate the lead). I would probably prefer to keep our actual responses private -- I don't want to make it too easy for others to copy our stuff

John,

Would you like it to be a public or privately viewed mystery shop?

Please feel free: www.motorworldgroup.com

I don't know of any OEM's that require or score on an auto-responder, but several score on content.

John,

Would you mind if I mystery shopped your dealership before I continue this conversation?

You can e-mail me at jerry@phoneupninjas.com if you don't want to post what dealer you work for.

Does your OEM require an auto responder? If so, I would probably comply with the requirement.

Hi Jerry! I would never look crossly on an intelligent discussion! I certainly hope you won't either.

There's nothing you mention with which I completely disagree. Honestly, you sound like most of the vendors and most of the OEM's. Practicality, on the other hand, is often lacking in typical vendor-speak. And I'm sure you'll agree that there's not ONE overall best anything.

Speed is important, yes. No doubt. But believe me, when the balance of content/speed is optimized, you win (no one said anything about typing -- all templates, of course. But adding-in the personal touch and appropriate content is key). ESPECIALLY when compared to the guy who just called to set an appointment -- I love when that happens: "You just spoke to someone from ABC? Did you get my email? You mean he didn't send you something like this? Hmmm.... well how does this look?) You can set all the appointments you want -- they'll show here. My WOW is going to be better than your WOW. Again, 5-6 years ago, first won, yes. Not now. Best wins now. You need balance.

Here's another real-world situation in which you'll score poorly (and this sucks, but it is a fact of Dealer Life). We are tested by the OEM's. Several of our franchises, like Lexus, tie-in ILM scores to prestigious awards, i.e., Elite of Lexus. And guess what they score? The first email! You can be the best Ninja there is, but if your email doesn't contain everything they want, you don't score well. Rediculous? Yes. Fact of life? Yes.

Lastly, I'll submit to you that you can't do what you really need to do in 5 minutes. I'll further submit that 5 minutes is too long -- as I mentioned before, customers want the INSTANT verification that their message, newly sent to cyberspace was received.