Car Salesmen even less trusted than Congress...

[ed.brooks]

We have to stop letting the handful of sleazy operators define the rest of us.

"Poll: Congress Ranks Second Lowest In ‘Honesty Rating,’ Beating Only Car Salespeople" Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

 

[danoneil]

I returned to the sales floor July 1st.

How to get a customer to trust you in person and via the internet would be a great thread !

 

[yagoparamo]

I knew we would all qualify as politicians

 

[ddavis]

We have to stop letting the handful of sleazy operators define the rest of us.

"Poll: Congress Ranks Second Lowest In ‘Honesty Rating,’ Beating Only Car Salespeople"

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

Ed, I promise that the "old school" is alive and well in Phoenix. It is much more than a handful of dealers. Beyond, the sleazy tactics, there are two elements that contribute to this view. We sell a product where the price is negotiable. Customers purchase even though they didn't get the "best price". Over the last few years, a large percentage of the population has come to believe that business and profit are bad things. If corporations, that were once held in high esteem, are now "greedy businesses", imagine where that leaves dealerships. Honestly, I can't plug into this mentality.

I returned to the sales floor July 1st.

How to get a customer to trust you in person and via the internet would be a great thread !

Dan, some of my oldest friends have departed from management to sell. They don't have to put up with the crap and they make more than their managers.

It has always been about relationship selling, empathy and repeat and referral business.

 

[kevinfrye]

I would bet on a car salesman negotiating a deal between 2 parties looking for a solution before Congress ANY DAY OF THE WEEK...

 

[ewalraven]

As somebody who recently went car shopping .. I 100% agree lol. (Sorry guys).

 

[Jeff Kershner]

When I first voyaged over into the sales floor after years of fixed ops, the first week of training was visiting 3 dealers in the area and to go as far into the sales process as we could (without buying car) at each dealer. My sales manager had a series of questions we had to answer around the experience we had at each dealer and with each sale person.

"How long did it take to get greeted?"
"Were you invited into the showroom?"
"Were you asked to take a test drive?"
"Were you presented payments or purchase options? - How ling did it take to receive?"
"Were you placed into the box?"
"Did you receive a full product / benefits presentation?"
"Did you receive a service walk?"

These along with several questions around character

This was in 99-2000. My fear is my answers to these questions would be little different today.

So many of us work hard to perfect our online processes, presence and brand - only for the process on the floor to continue going down the same path is has for the last 10 - 20 years.

Maybe I'll go mystery shop the local Audi dealer here soon (still like me an A5) and report back my experience from beginning to end. See how we deal with a little "showrooming".

Maybe there is more value in "searching and finding" your next sales-rep (after finding the car) before stepping onto the dealership..

I do believe overall, the process on the floor and the number of dealers working to do things better and the right (more effective) way has increased quite a bit over the last 5 years.



Would you agree?

 

[kevinfrye]

When I first voyaged over into the sales floor after years of fixed ops, the first week of training was visiting 3 dealers in the area and to go as far into the sales process as we could (without buying car) at each dealer. My sales manager had a series of questions we had to answer around the experience we had at each dealer and with each sale person.

"How long did it take to get greeted?"
"Were you invited into the showroom?"
"Were you asked to take a test drive?"
"Were you presented payments or purchase options? - How ling did it take to receive?"
"Were you placed into the box?"
"Did you receive a full product / benefits presentation?"
"Did you receive a service walk?"

These along with several questions around character

This was in 99-2000. My fear is my answers to these questions would be little different today.

So many of us work hard to perfect our online processes, presence and brand - only for the process on the floor to continue going down the same path is has for the last 10 - 20 years.

Maybe I'll go mystery shop the local Audi dealer here soon (still like me an A5) and report back my experience from beginning to end. See how we deal with a little "showrooming".

Maybe there is more value in "searching and finding" your next sales-rep (after finding the car) before stepping onto the dealership..

I do believe overall, the process on the floor and the number of dealers working to do things better and the right (more effective) way has increased quite a bit over the last 5 years.



Would you agree?

One of the things I shared in my presentation at Digital Dealer 12 was the uprise in traffic on website "staff pages". Take a close look at your analytics - did you realize that online shoppers are not only narrowing down the car and the dealership they want to shop from, they are going to your staff page, and choosing who they want to work with BEFORE they even call, email, or visit. We are seeing multiple people coming in asking for sales reps by name that they have never communicated with. We then later find they chose them because of a great picture with a friendly smile, combined with a compelling short description of why to buy from them. Maybe I should write a short piece on this...

 

[ed.brooks]

One of the things I shared in my presentation at Digital Dealer 12 was the uprise in traffic on website "staff pages". Take a close look at your analytics - did you realize that online shoppers are not only narrowing down the car and the dealership they want to shop from, they are going to your staff page, and choosing who they want to work with BEFORE they even call, email, or visit. We are seeing multiple people coming in asking for sales reps by name that they have never communicated with. We then later find they chose them because of a great picture with a friendly smile, combined with a compelling short description of why to buy from them. Maybe I should write a short piece on this...

Yes Kevin, but you're talking about dealerships that have already acknowledged the fact that they have accept change. A lot of the dealers that attend conferences like Digital Dealer don't just accept change, they embrace it. If they have top level management in attendance, they are the leaders.

But for many (most) dealers that send their only Internet Manager, the process on the floor remains unchanged. As Jeff details below.

When I first voyaged over into the sales floor after years of fixed ops, the first week of training was visiting 3 dealers in the area and to go as far into the sales process as we could (without buying car) at each dealer. My sales manager had a series of questions we had to answer around the experience we had at each dealer and with each sale person.

"How long did it take to get greeted?"
"Were you invited into the showroom?"
"Were you asked to take a test drive?"
"Were you presented payments or purchase options? - How ling did it take to receive?"
"Were you placed into the box?"
"Did you receive a full product / benefits presentation?"
"Did you receive a service walk?"

These along with several questions around character

This was in 99-2000. My fear is my answers to these questions would be little different today.

So many of us work hard to perfect our online processes, presence and brand - only for the process on the floor to continue going down the same path is has for the last 10 - 20 years.

Maybe I'll go mystery shop the local Audi dealer here soon (still like me an A5) and report back my experience from beginning to end. See how we deal with a little "showrooming".

Maybe there is more value in "searching and finding" your next sales-rep (after finding the car) before stepping onto the dealership..

I do believe overall, the process on the floor and the number of dealers working to do things better and the right (more effective) way has increased quite a bit over the last 5 years.



Would you agree?

Until we're able to make substantial changes to our sales process on the floor, we will be seen as untrustworthy by the public.

 

[ryan.leslie]

did you realize that online shoppers are not only narrowing down the car and the dealership they want to shop from, they are going to your staff page, and choosing who they want to work with BEFORE they even call, email, or visit. We are seeing multiple people coming in asking for sales reps by name that they have never communicated with. We then later find they chose them because of a great picture with a friendly smile, combined with a compelling short description of why to buy from them.

We see this phenomenon all the time...

There is a glittery silver lining to this GALLUP poll for dealerships that are doing more with reviews than just collecting them. The great thing about "perception" is that it can be changed, and when it is changed it has an extreme impact on the consumer.

The good news here is that the bar by which your sales professionals efforts will be measured is unbelievably low. If you arm your team with the right tools it really is like sending them into a knife fight with a machine gun.

I'm pushing the concept of Reputation 2.0 for our dealers, and one of the cornerstones is clearly the individual pages. As my friend A.J. Maida says, "It's about the people, people!"

Ryan

PS.
Refresh Friends, I'm holding a webinar at the request of a few DealerRater certified stores tomorrow and have some open slots. The webinar is going to expound on some of the themes of this post so I thought I'd open up the registration for anyone here that is interested.


Your unsold prospects research the car they want to buy and the dealer they may want to buy from, but would it surprise you to know that they research the salesperson too? The "meet and greet" no longer happens on the lot; the "Meet and Greet" happens ONLINE!

This market update will give you and your sales team critical insights into the mind of today's unsold prospect as well as four real world strategies you can implement today to better use the reviews you are currently collecting at NO cost.

Please join me Dec 5th for what is certain to be a a lively and informative discussion... Becoming the Brand Within the Brand. Click here for the registration link.

Full disclosure: I am not a fan of selling in a forum so I want to be really clear about this webinar... I created the content and strategies I'm going to discuss with DealerRater's staff pages in mind. The webinar WILL feature the staff pages we offer at no charge with certification. If you are a DealerRater certified store this will be PERFECT for you. If you don't work at a DealerRater Certified store you may be able to adopt some of these strategies, but I don't want you to be surprised to see a heavy focus on DealerRater tools if you join.