It's amazing when 90% plus of all car buyers start the process of shopping on the internet and in most dealerships there is only a 3 day follow-up. If it were my business, I would want to capture the shopper where they start looking and continue for a lifetime.

The "10 Commitments" list is great but in reality, attempt keeping upper managements attention for that period of time on the; Internet.

It's sad for the hopeful internet shopper looking for a quality shopping experience, but for IM's like myself going back into the dealership tomorrow and my competitors are still using templates & processes created from my rookie days in the same town... Priceless.

I assume that the mystery shopped dealers are not participants on DealerRefresh. It seems like the people commenting here are on their game for the most part.

I've done some national mystery shopping, but it has been a while. I've found the better areas to be the most competitive ones: New York, Northern Virginia/DC, LA, and other parts of California. Overall, the majority of American Automotive Dealers are still way behind.

Chris, I agree. I worked at a Chevrolet store as Internet Marketing Dir. for 3.5 years & always suspected that the customers PREFERED to shop in stealth mode. I felt that asking them upfront was asking them to "show their hand" and they'd prefer not to be asked.

We ran a simple post sale survey (in F&I) that created a picture of how they got to us.

RESULT: 35-45% of all sales were shopping at the store's web site looking for inventory while the Internet Dept.'s sales were a fraction of that number.

ISM's WORK HARD.
Joe

I have always help design my own pay plan and my team's pay plans. Depending on the dealer and set up, I have always tried to have a once-touched, then counted philosophy. It puts a lot of focus on tracking and inputting data routinely and then following up.

Once touched means that as soon as they e-mail in, call in, or fill out a coupon, that we, as a department, created enough call to action by either our ads or our responses to get them in.

Walk ins, unless centrally controlled, are not an exact science. Some stores and salespeople will report them, most will not. But I tell the dealers that a large portion of customers don't print maps, don't e-mail in and simply show up to the dealership. They don't inform the SR that they started the process online, and the SR doesn't ask.

Therefore, rather than beat my brains in trying to measure these people, I choose to focus on those we can count. I tell the dealer principle that by us "touching" the client that we gain valuable information that allows us to market to them in the future.

So, truthfully, the people might have bought anyways, might have been a repeat or a referral. The point is however; that these people did go online, and probably NOT to just our site or vehicles as statistics have shown. But they ended up buying from us, AFTER viewing our site our contacting the Internet department.

We had to do something right to earn their business.

I just started new at this dealership last month, but saw a few sales made by "floor people" of customers that should have gone to our dept. We made zilch off of them, and to be frank, the GSM, and SM's don't care. The most frustrating part was these folks had 3 pages of activity in Web-Control, speaking and emailing with the ISM, and myself, but they never had the decency to ask for us when they walked in. The sales reps here normally ask if they have talked to anyone here, but snakes are snakes.

I just started new at this dealership last month, but saw a few sales made by "floor people" of customers that should have gone to our dept. We made zilch off of them, and to be frank, the GSM, and SM's don't care. The most frustrating part was these folks had 3 pages of activity in Web-Control, speaking and emailing with the ISM, and myself, but they never had the decency to ask for us when they walked in. The sales reps here normally ask if they have talked to anyone here, but snakes are snakes.

we also have the 72 hour rule if we sent emails or have left messages with in 72 hours of the customers arrival is a Inet deal who's to say that the message we left did not encourage the customer to visit out dealership without that call may it be 1, 2, 3, ect they may have never thought of coming to our dealership all together.

Let's say we get a lead but we see that the customer just came in the day prior as a walk in we inform the floor that their customer is activly searching for a car and they need to get them back in. What really matter is the dealership in whole and just not one department; however if we see they made no attempt to get them back within the next 24 hours I will have my team work the lead and if they do come in with in 72 hours fo the floor working it we will split the deal but the gross will stay with the inet department. if the floor is more the 73 hours out no split deal and the INET salesperson gets the full deal.

The number one rule is if the floor does not put the up in the CRM the customer does not exisit.

Just going over some older comments and stumbled on this one. Which is one of my biggest pet peaves. The beautiful thing about e-commerce is tracking and is it is proven that there last purchase was an "Internet" lead, then what has changed here. Did this client suddenly abandon the internet for their research with this vehicle? Using "tracking" as we do, we know that the likelyhood of them just walking in and buying another unit is remote at best. Why, would you alienate the person that first procurred the lead and based on "tracking" that we all do, has probably done more follow up and prospecting than anyone. Why? would this not count as their sale....Very very old school mentality there
Donny Beckman
Internet Director
Tom Gill Chevrolet

Jeff- Jennifer-

How can you say a repeat customer is NOT an Internet sale? If they webbed up, bought a car from you and return for another, you have accomplished a lot!

A couple of my guys have good follow up and are able to get repeat business (with some small fleet business) from web customers. Should they refer someone, that is different unless they too web up, but I think if we earn their business the first time, it can be more difficult the next time to retain their business (at least with the price buyer). Just my opinion.

I have had a couple of different pay plans, and they of course have been based on growth, with the plateau being 100+ vehicles monthly.

The pay plan I have fought for basically stipulate any web-customer is an Internet deal. The rationale I have used with GMs is simple- without adequate marketing, what happens with your new car department? Slow sales. What happens if someone comes in on a pre-owned and buys new? New car director gets a mark. It doesn't really matter why they are here (aside from tracking where to spend money, of course), what IS important is they are in front of us and not the competition. For example, if they are here because of the TV spot you're running- proper credit needs to go to that to keep it running.

Therefore, my online marketing is integral to our store's success. In order to be able to put our advetising dollar to its best use, EVERY deal generated by my online marketing needs to be accounted for and reported. How else can they sell a customer for under $200/sale?

Stress to them this is the only truly measurable department in the store from ROI standpoint and be earnest in your reporting, and be consistent in your measurements!

What constitutes an Internet deal? My baseline is: Web-ups, phone pops, walk-ins with print-outs (from my website, manufacturer or Cars/Autotrader, etc. NOT from KBB unless they clicked thru to my website for example), people mentioning they saw a car online and came in or someone who says they researched and found us on the web during our fact finding.

What I would like to know is how many of you are actively involved in the store's Fixed Operations presence on the web and are YOU being compensated?

We count on our DSM. I give our Internet Sales staff 72 hour protection. If a lead comes in and they log all their contacts with the customer, it never comes up. We use Eleads and it tracks everything. My staff is excellent with working their day planners. If a lead comes through the Internet, we have a history. If we have contacted the customer within the last 72 hours, it is a split. We really have a great group of salespeople that are all friends as well as co-workers, so that makes things easier also.

I agree with all of you regarding the difference of when to count "The Internet Sale" & "Non-Internet Sale". It can be an everyday issue with many dealers. Having a great team and all working togethor will help prevent many head aches.

How my Internet Department runs:

I direct the Internet Sales Department along wtih marketing for the website. I take care of all the leads received, outgoing calls, emails sent, followups & setting appointments for the internet customer along with maintaining the website. I then meet & greet the customer and a sales rep is beside me as I am speaking with the customer. Speaking highly of the dealership, inventory & the salesmans product knowledge will get them a better closing ratio and off they go to make a deal. Back into the office I go and start nailing them down again. (And keeping up with Jeff Kershner

There are a few customers that inquire on the Internet for additional information and show up with no intention of setting an appointment, they want a vehicle and are ready to buy. But we do consider them an internet customer due to tracking purposes.

I also agree with Jeff , not counting previous customers as Internet sales. B-backs, etc I do not count.

Over the years we have encountered this issue on almost a daily basis. Only recently did we implement a solution that seems to be fair for all parties involved. Here's what we've done:

Four elected representatives from each department (traditional showroom sales and Internet sales) met in a closed door meeting with no manager present to formally document 'split' rules. These rules, which now apply in all cases, seem to be universally accepted since they were written not by management but by those parties directly impacted.

Let's face it...it doesn't really matter what rules we play by so long as we all agree to play by the same rules.

I'm surprised nobody is commenting on this. I would think there could be some potential $$$ benefits after some contributions to this thread. That might not be the case if you are being paid very loosely on an Internet deal. If that truly is the industry norm, I apologize to you lucky people for asking this question.

I see you left the other part of my question out Jeff - ha ha. Maybe we should save it for another time, and re-word it?

I have been recently look at what this company has to offer and I spoke to Michael the other day. I think they really are awesome with what they offer.

Thanks for the good word on our services Jeff, and for putting together a great blog and resource

Yes it was funny with him doing deals in the back ground but that shows great potential! Never pass up a deal. When they mentioned about losing more on the videos they were providing, I suggested to them about the Digital brochures that I provide to my customers and they are very easy, resourceful and answers many questions. It is a very quick overview of the vehicle itself. I also wanted to know what kind of video's were they providing to them?

I attended as well... it got off to a rough start technically, but once things were rolling, it was very useful. I found it of interest that many of the top eCommerce dealers were switching from providing pricing immediately to internet requests, to taking a more traditional approach of asking questions first, then working to a price from there after some interaction with the prospect... The fundamentals still work well! Kevin Frye/eCommerce Director - Jeff Wyler Automotive Family

I was involved with the e dealer webinar and really enjoyed the other feed back from the Internet Directors that had hosted it. I learned alot and was able to relate to their success in the Internet Sales departments. The internet sales in the dealerships have evolved largely around the United States and is absolutely going to get larger & larger as time comes along.

Thank you

Jennifer Schrader
Internet Sales Director
Williams Honda of Traverse City
www.williamshonda.tc

I'm so glad I found this posting because I was just contacted by these guys and are trying to get us signed up. Now that I see the BS involved with them I'm letting the VP of sales for our group know. I already get enough bad and no response leads with autobytel and edmunds as it is.....

This is a question. I'm asking about Autobytel
the lead source provider and wondering how it works for dealerships. Have any of you had experience with them and are you happy?

We used iMotors on a two-month trial with the same general negative experience as the others have. The issue is not about the ability to credit off the bad leads (where there service was always great), it was the fact that we were getting such a high volume of bad leads in the first place - people with absolutely no intent on buying a car submitting invalid phone numbers and invalid mailing addresses that were obvious at first glance. We spent much of our time doing the filtering that should have been built in to the iMotors system in the first place. As one other writer said, that was what we were paying them for.

Hi Erica,

I fully understood Jeff's complaint about iMotors, but the problem with dealerships today seems to be that no one wants to work for their money. Many dealerships sign up with lead providers thinking that they will be receiving buyers from every lead sent, when in reality thats just not the case. If you want to sell a car to a lead you received from a provider then you must remain persistant with the customer. Most Internet Sales Departments know that they must develop pipelines with their leads, its not a mystery that you would of course work harder with the leads that seem more interested or more willing to buy now then later, the push back leads of course you would follow up in the coming months. I'm sure you already know this.

What I'm trying to get at is this...why do some dealerships excel with iMotors and others fail? Simply because I believe the successful one's already have a well rounded system in place and know how to handle the leads as they come through. I would be happy to mention some dealerships that have been doing business with us for over 4 years. Why would they continue to "waste money" if this wasn't a good program? Clearly they know how to work a lead into a buyer.

I guess you can call it the gift of a good sales person.

Ok, I just couldn't help weiging in. I know I should be working right now, but I got sucked into Jeff's blog - darn you! Tara, Tara, Tara, your obvious failure to understand Jeff's email was frustrating and you are lucky I am not Jeff, because I have a blazing temper and I would have unloaded. But, in respect for Jeff's blog, I will refrain, since I personally have no experience with iMotors, but can certainly empathize. Our group has 64 dealerships in the Mid-Atlantic and we have cut almost all of our third party leads except for two providers. The frustration our internet teams have with bad leads and the time spent chasing them is a concern that stretches all the way to corporate where I sit.

The last thing we want our internet teams doing is chasing their tail, which is the very thing you callously skipped over and called "hard work." No, that is stupid work. Work smarter, not harder is what we say and we do our best to provide our teams with tools and leads to help them do just that and you can believe, iMotors will never be one of them.

Erica Sietsma
Manager of CRM Systems
Mile One Automotive