Seeking innovative pay plan ideas for internet sales managers

[Eley Duke]

Well there are a few reasons:
Because I would make him cradle to grave. Getting the customers in the door is now the hardest part about selling a car. If he can maintain his percentages with 130-150 leads, that's 19.5 cars. He would make 70-$100,000 /yr depending on gross, keep his normal schedule + have off every Sunday [Charles county blue law, dealers are closed]

......I can't see that working, too many leads to be a cradle to grave. It seems his strength is getting people in the door and that is what you should help him build on. It would be very difficult to handle 130-150 leads month after month with follow-up and "if" selling 20 cars a month, even more difficult.

Now why in the world do that??? You just said that getting people in the door is your biggest challenge. Why would you dilute a propensity for doing just that???

You make him cradle-to-grave, at MOST he can handle 100 leads a month, that's 25 shows and hopefully 15 deliveries. How does that move the needle?

Play to a strength if you want to move the needle! This man gets people in the door!! Pay him to do just that -- work on increasing his show rate.

If it's me, I cut his leads to 150 and pay tiered bonuses at 40% show and a whopper at 50%. At 300 leads he's forced to cherry-pick now; imagine what the right attention and process for all leads would produce.

Thats how you move the needle!

.........Amen John!


By the way; no Sundays ever at Duke, and every other Sat off. And rocking those numbers, he'd be my new BDC manager with bonus levels that John just described for shows for himself and the entire BDC performance!

 

[john.quinn]

When DDC figures-out I'm a Poser, I'm going to work for Eley! (as long as they pay me enough for constant air conditioning!)

 

[Eley Duke]

When DDC figures-out I'm a Poser, I'm going to work for Eley! (as long as they pay me enough for constant air conditioning!)

I hope Alex doesn't read that! Thanks John, I would be honored to work with you and we'd have fun, wait... that poser part was a joke right.. ! Not only will we pay you enough to run a window AC unit, I'll make sure there is a bonus to get a TV plugged in! But no purple ties please, except on 80's day!

 

[clevrname]

Haha. I'm a little surprised at the conversation I have started. Not gonna lie thought, I kinda like it haha. Anywho, I actually got some help about two months ago, me and my internet partner work GREAT together. We have the same personality and just mesh very well in our demeanor. The last month I did everything myself was November, I had 325 leads, 134 appts, 113 shows, and managed to deliver 46 shows. It was by far the most insane month ever. Whenever my show/close ratio is crap, I just go talk to the sales manager and he whips the sales staff into shape.

I have actually been solicited by other dealerships who were shopping us to see our process. They liked the way I handled myself, and I offered me jobs. This is my first time working in the sales aspect of the dealership (I previously worked in service). If I can manage to pull 70-80k a year steadily, then I may stay in it, until then, I am still slaving away at ODU.

 

[john.quinn]

Wow... How many lessons here? An Appointment Setter weened in the Service Depot... Just gonna defer to Joe Webb's DR article from earlier today....

 

[joe.pistell]

The last month I did everything myself was November, I had 325 leads, 134 appts, 113 shows, and managed to deliver 46 shows. It was by far the most insane month ever. Whenever my show/close ratio is crap, I just go talk to the sales manager and he whips the sales staff into shape.

Joshua,
Great work! I work at a used car store here in Sunny Syracuse >:-p

All our leads have phone numbers. I have been thinking of an appointment setter, I am looking at our stats have have some questions...

1. Are your leads email or phone leads or both.
2. If both, Whats the mix of phone vs email leads?
3. What % of your email leads have a phone number?
4. Do you get more used leads than new (or viceversa)?
5. What are your thoughts on New car leads vs used car leads? (i.e. easier to work, easier to make an appt & show and close)
6. If the customer dosent buy at the appointment and show later, do you get the credit?
7. Who "looks out for you" at the store and makes sure you don't get skated?

Thnx!

 

[Eley Duke]

Haha. I'm a little surprised at the conversation I have started. Not gonna lie thought, I kinda like it haha. Anywho, I actually got some help about two months ago, me and my internet partner work GREAT together. We have the same personality and just mesh very well in our demeanor. The last month I did everything myself was November, I had 325 leads, 134 appts, 113 shows, and managed to deliver 46 shows. It was by far the most insane month ever. Whenever my show/close ratio is crap, I just go talk to the sales manager and he whips the sales staff into shape.

I have actually been solicited by other dealerships who were shopping us to see our process. They liked the way I handled myself, and I offered me jobs. This is my first time working in the sales aspect of the dealership (I previously worked in service). If I can manage to pull 70-80k a year steadily, then I may stay in it, until then, I am still slaving away at ODU.

Joshua, that's an awesome job you are doing! I am not really soliciting as much as I was giving Blake a little crap, have you ever driven through Waldorf? I am sure there are great things about Waldorf, as I have only seen it from 301, but it would be hard pressed to compare to living in Va Beach! Yet, Suffolk might be a little too fast paced for you Joshua.....

You are at a good dealership, and I have a lot of respect for Mr. Barker, he has done very well, done a lot for the community, and he also learned it from a man I have the up-most respect for and who mentored several of today's successful dealers in Hampton Roads. You and him share the same name!

Keep digging and you will have a great career ahead of you in this business. There is a guy on here that I am sure is laughing and thinking how similar his path was to yours now, started in service, knew a little about the internet so they asked him to handle leads, went to ODU, built a successful BDC.... in Va Beach! He's become very well respected in the automotive community, started just like you did.

If I can ever do anything to help, don't hesitate to contact me!

 

[Alex Snyder]

When DDC figures-out I'm a Poser, I'm going to work for Eley! (as long as they pay me enough for constant air conditioning!)

 

[clevrname]

Joshua,
Great work! I work at a used car store here in Sunny Syracuse >:-p

All our leads have phone numbers. I have been thinking of an appointment setter, I am looking at our stats have have some questions...

1. Are your leads email or phone leads or both.
2. If both, Whats the mix of phone vs email leads?
3. What % of your email leads have a phone number?
4. Do you get more used leads than new (or viceversa)?
5. What are your thoughts on New car leads vs used car leads? (i.e. easier to work, easier to make an appt & show and close)
6. If the customer dosent buy at the appointment and show later, do you get the credit?
7. Who "looks out for you" at the store and makes sure you don't get skated?

Thnx!

I get e-mail leads and phone ups. Our dealership spends a good amount of money in purchasing leads every month. I would probably say only about 10-20% of my volume is with phone calls. Percentage of e-mail leads that have phone numbers is about 80%, but only about 50% are actually valid numbers. I get many more new leads than used. Right now I've sold 16 new this month and 8 used. I think used car leads are easier to work, mostly because, we are the only one with that exact car. If the customer doesn't buy at the appointment, then I just get paid for the appointment. If they are blown out by the sales rep and I can get them back in the door I get paid for the appointment again. When they eventually sell, I get a pay for that as well. As far as looks at me my Director is not on site, he calls throughout the day to see how things are going and we have weekly meetings. For the most part I work directly with the General Manager and Sales manager, I tend to hang out in their office all day.

 

[clevrname]

And thanks for the support everyone! I'm used to communicating on car forums where everyone is talking how much better they are than everyone else! This is a nice change. haha.