Dealer Puke!

The number one issue I hear when I am in a dealership consulting with Internet personnel is "I can't get anyone to call me back or respond to my emails!" Sound familiar? Do you hear this from your staff?

When was the last time you actually read the emails you are sending to your customers? How about the last time you listened to the voice-mail you salesperson left for that potential customer? If you have not done either lately, it is a good place to start to discover why your customers aren't calling back or responding to emails.

Are you giving them a reason to respond?

When I hear this complaint, the first place I go is to the CRM and review the emails that are being sent out. In every situation I find the same thing; Dealer Puke! That's right, Dealer Puke! We are sending emails that tell the customer how great we are, how much better our people are, how many xyz models we have in stock, how easy our Internet process is and a whole host of other self appointed accolades. In a lot of these cases, the specific questions that the customer asked is not even answered. If you asked me a question and I ignored you and started telling you how great I was, how long would I have your attention? Please do not misunderstand me, having "Why Buys" IS important; but more important is connecting with the customer. 

When I listen to the voice mails it is more of the same? "Hi this is Tom at XYZ Motors. I just received your lead on the 2013 Gizmotron and wanted to see if you had any questions. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. My number is 123-555-PUKE".  Why should the customer call you back?

What reason does the customer have to email or call back (besides to ask their question again because it was ignored the first time)?

If a customer was to visit the store or call us, we ask questions to:
1) Gain Control
2) Build a dialog
3) Find out the customer's wants and needs

It is said that the best salespeople ask the best questions. Why then are we not trying to engage our customers with questions and/or curiosity statements? Now I know what you are thinking; we ask questions in our emails. Where are those questions located in the email? Are they relevant to the request? Are they personal? Normally the questions are near the bottom of the email, you know, the part that the customer does not read; and they are generally canned questions that do not build any value.

Do you want to get quality replies to your email? 

Start asking Personal, Relevant, Dialog Building questions! Start by placing these questions near the top of the email; bullet point the questions so the eye is drawn to them.

Look at the lead and try to find out who the customer is. We can discover a lot just from the email address; where they work, hobbies and age are just a few. How many times have you looked at the email address, saw that the customer worked for ABC Company, and asked the customer about their position or what they do? We do that when the customer is in front of us, why not in an email. Working at ABC my qualify the customer for a supplier discount on a new car and this customer has no clue they qualify. A lot of email contain the year of someone's birth; I am not going to ask them about their age, but I at least know how to better approach this customer.

Did the lead arrive from a payment calculator from your site or the OEM site? Why would we not ask the customer about their payment expectations? We know that payment is important if they submitted a lead from a payment calculator; aren't most customers payment focused?

Look at the address line; where does the customer live? Do you know this area or live nearby? Maybe the address is at the local college; is this a student? Does this customer live in your primary market area and your store is the logical choice to by from? Does this customer live in another town or even state; why are they sending you a lead?

Did the customer list a trade on the request? Are we asking questions about the trade? What did they like most about their current vehicle? Why are you wanting to trade? What is the condition of the trade?

What options/color did the customer request? Are we asking why those options are important to them? How are they going to be using the vehicle? Are we asking what colors the customer would not take? Is this vehicle for business or pleasure?

I recommend 3 or 4 Personal, Relevant and Dialog building questions. Don't make it an inquisition, but a personal conversation that flows naturally. Once the customer realizes that we are genuinely interested in them and we are asking questions that are relevant to their request, they will respond. The dialog will start to flow and the you won't have to just focus on price. The customer who submits a lead is no different than the customer that walks in; they want to know that you care and are interested in helping them. They are not looking for someone to puke all over them with things that are not important to them.

Start asking Personal, Relevant, Dialog building questions and your Internet staff will start getting responses. Start building a dialog with the customer and our Why Buys won't look like Dealer Puke and the customer may actually stop and read your email in the future.

My next post we will tackle the voice mail and giving customer a reason to call back.

Social or Selling

Social networks are what their name implies; places to be social. Imagine you just walked into a party with a group of 100 of your friends and acquaintances and the first thing you do is yell out to the room "I sell life insurance, who wants to buy some!". Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

It is 2012 and I am still amazed at how many people and business that are doing just that on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all of the other social networks. Let's go back to the party and see what normally happens at a social event.

Again imagine you just walked into a room of 100 friends and acquaintances; what is the first thing you do? You see the first person as you walk in and say hello, swap pleasantries and then talk about what has been going on in your life. You ask questions of the other person to build on the conversation and show interest in their lives. The normal course of conversation will be about what has been happening outside of work first and at some point you will wind up talking about business and how things are at work.

Is this what is going on in your business' social marketing? Oops, I think I just mentioned the word that confuses people into shouting across the room, to the entire crowd, what they do for a living. Marketing, we have all done it for years, we advertise our wares anywhere we can. But wait, isn't that what I am supposed to do is let people know what I do and what I can do for them? Yes it is, but just like our conversation above, there is a time for that. Imagine you are back at the party (by the way, what kind of drink do you have in your hand).

This time you are already at the party socializing with your friends and in walks that guy. As he walks in the room he yells to the crowd "My name is Jim and I sell cars, who wants to buy one!". Imagine how quiet and uncomfortable the room feels right now. Now imagine he is making a bee line right for you. You look around feverishly to find someone to talk to, someone to protect you from "that guy". Maybe you turn your back to him and make a bee line yourself for the hours d'oeuvre tray. Uncomfortable isn't it.

Are you making your "friends/followers" uncomfortable at the party? There is a time to talk business at the party and even a time to pass out a business card, just like there is a time to do the same on your social networks. The right mix is important, too much selling and you get tuned out and avoided.

Don't be THAT guy at the party!


P.S.: Earlier I asked you what kind of drink you had in your hand when you imagined yourself at the party. Leave me a comment and let me know and in the next post we will talk about the most powerful word in sales.

How large is your stack?

Open your desk drawer; how many business cards from other people are in that stack. Maybe that stack is on your desk or in a neat binder; maybe you have a rubber band around it. Now take a look at your phone contact list; how many people are in your list? 50, 75, 100? Do you still have a rolodex (yes they still sell them; I was surprised as well)? Now take a look at your email address book, how many there? If you are in sales you have a customer management program, how many are in there?

Why have I put you through this hunt? We now live in the most connected time ever, yet so many of us are not connecting. We all have Facebook, Twitter, maybe a LinkedIn, might be on Pinterest, or Foursquare. You might have a blog on Blogger or Wordpress, you might have just signed up on Google+. Wow, it sounds like we are connecting, but are we really. 

Back to the exercise, are you "connected" with all of those people on the networks you belong to or do you just have their contact info? If not, why? These are all opportunities to do business, find a job, help someone else do business, help someone else find a job, get questions answered, answer questions, or just socialize and stay CONNECTED. If you are in sales, how important would it be that you could "touch" your customers on a regular basis? If you are looking for a job, how much easier would it be to get that interview if you knew someone at that company? If you had a plumbing nightmare (yeah, I have had one of those) how great would it be that you were connected to a plumber that you sold a truck to? Maybe that lady that just came into your store is starting her own internet advertising company and you are looking for some help with AdWords. 

con·nec·tion - (k-nkshn)  - A person, especially one of influence or importance, with whom one is associated, as by kinship or common interests

I am guilty; we all are. Take a moment to go through your lists and start connecting on as many networks as possible and then stay connected. Make sure that you are not just "connecting", but that you are conversing with these new connections as well. People want to deal with someone they know. If they feel like they know you, they will be more willing to deal with you when you have a product or service they need. 

I recently lost my job at a company I had been with for 16+ years. It was time for a change, I just didn't get to decided on the timing of that change. I have no ill feelings toward the company or my former boss; I wish them well. I do wish that I had taken the time to be more connected to my clients, the sales reps who called on me, the people I had met on a daily basis. I am glad I have a stack of business cards, a phone full of numbers and an email address book.

Take the time to connect today and start talking to those connections on your SOCIAL networks. It is called social for a reason; it is time to be social and connect. Do you have other places to look for the "hidden" contacts in your life, either professionally or personally? If so, leave a comment and let us know.