Determining Your Internet Setup in Auto Dealerships

Now that you’ve decided to develop an internet program, it's time to determine how you want it setup. But whichever you choose, make sure that each salesperson has his/her own computer and internet connection in order to do the job properly. There are four basic configurations to consider:

1. Sales Manager passes out leads to anyone
This is my least favorite, so I thought I would get it out of the way first. In many dealerships, Sales Manager's will simply print out any new leads, when they get around to them, then pass them off to any available salespeople to do something with. I'm sure I'm making this sound very haphazardly routine, because that's normally the way this program works. There is virtually no monitoring by the Sales Manager, and since we know that many salespeople think internet leads are a waste of time, usually do not work them very productively. Even worse, when the leads doesn't pan out the way the saleseprson would like, they simply throw that lead away. What they don't realize is that the lead has valuable information for follow-up not just for now, but also for the future. It's important that every lead be saved in a database in order to direct market by email until they tell you to take them out of the database.

2. Sales Manager trains two showroom salespeople to handle all leads
If you're not going to consider a full-fledged internet department, then your next best approach would be to have two salespeople handle all of the internet leads. You'll want to choose your two best phone-up, computer-literate salespeople, since much of their work will be done with a computer and on the telephone. These salespeople do not need to be your best closers, but should be strong at building rapport and setting appointments over the phone. They should have a warm, friendly, trusting, enthusiastic personality to make that good first impression, making the customer feel comfortable about wanting to come into the dealership to do business.

3. Sales Manager hires internet specific salespeople
These would be salespeople who only handle internet leads, and would not be responsible to take showroom or phone customers. Two things need to be considered: First, you need to make sure that each salesperson has at least 80 new leads to handle each month. After the first month they will have plenty of leads to work since only half the leads will be contacted, so the other half will carry over into the next month, along with the 80 new leads, etc, etc, etc. Secondly, you need to make their pay plan different from the normal showroom salesperson. One reason is the internet salesperson will typically do 10 times more work than the showroom salesperson, so there should be a salary plus commission involved. More importantly, many good salespeople quit the internet department because with all the work they have to do aside from the actual selling of the vehicle, they may have months where the sales they make may not satisfy them financially. So you need to make sure they can live while they're developing the leads.

4. Sales Manager hires an Appointment Coordinator
This is a great idea that I have made work successfully in many dealerships, especially smaller ones who didn't desire a full-fledged internet department. As you know, salespeople typically are not good phone people. Showroom salespeople feel more comfortable face-to-face when working with a customer. Dealing with a customer over the phone takes them out of their comfort zone, so they just give information without striving for the appointment. Hiring a good Appointment Coordinator who loves the phone is a definite benefit to salespeople. Salespeople don't like doing the actual work of calling them and setting the appointment, but they sure don't mind having the appointment set for them.

The Appointment Coordinator would be an individual (not being sexist, but I found that putting females in this position works better) who really enjoys being on the phone, can develop working relationships with the prospects, and can work the phones for long periods of time. They don't necessarily need to know a lot of product knowledge. If a prospect needs to know anything directly related to the vehicle, the appointment coordinator can easily transfer them over to the salesperson to have their questions answered. Then the salesperson can set the appointment, and relay the appointment information back to the coordinator.

The appointment coordinator needs to be very organized, understand the computer, and generate detailed reports. They also need to have control over salespeople when it involves the intenet since they will virtually be responsible to run the internet department. So it's best that the Sales Manager meet with all salespeople involved with the internet department to lay down the ground rules and determine the chain of command.

As to who would get the internet leads, this is another topic for discussion. I don't think you should distribute leads to every salesperson on the showroom floor (that is, if you're not planning on developing a separate, full-fledged internet department yet). Choose those salespeople who truly want to help make the internet department successful, and be responsible to do whatever is necessary to make this happen. They should also be good closers, and handle the phone well.

A good appointment coordinator should have the following responsibilities:

— Call every lead that comes in
— Try to set an appointment for every lead
— Follow-up with all leads that are not contacted
— Develop a long-term follow-up program
— Keep monthly progress stats
— Send monthly email newsletters

Once you decide to develop a full-fledged internet department, it then becomes a matter of increasing your leads, hiring more internet salespeople, and basically, developing your new company.

	#1
Mike Whitty "Top Sales Expert"	Determining Your Internet Setup in Auto Dealerships Now that you’ve decided to develop an internet program, it's time to determine how you want it setup. But whichever you choose, make sure that each salesperson has his/her own computer and internet connection in order to do the job properly. There are four basic configurations to consider: 1. Sales Manager passes out leads to anyone This is my least favorite, so I thought I would get it out of the way first. In many dealerships, Sales Manager's will simply print out any new leads, when they get around to them, then pass them off to any available salespeople to do something with. I'm sure I'm making this sound very haphazardly routine, because that's normally the way this program works. There is virtually no monitoring by the Sales Manager, and since we know that many salespeople think internet leads are a waste of time, usually do not work them very productively. Even worse, when the leads doesn't pan out the way the saleseprson would like, they simply throw that lead away. What they don't realize is that the lead has valuable information for follow-up not just for now, but also for the future. It's important that every lead be saved in a database in order to direct market by email until they tell you to take them out of the database. 2. Sales Manager trains two showroom salespeople to handle all leads If you're not going to consider a full-fledged internet department, then your next best approach would be to have two salespeople handle all of the internet leads. You'll want to choose your two best phone-up, computer-literate salespeople, since much of their work will be done with a computer and on the telephone. These salespeople do not need to be your best closers, but should be strong at building rapport and setting appointments over the phone. They should have a warm, friendly, trusting, enthusiastic personality to make that good first impression, making the customer feel comfortable about wanting to come into the dealership to do business. 3. Sales Manager hires internet specific salespeople These would be salespeople who only handle internet leads, and would not be responsible to take showroom or phone customers. Two things need to be considered: First, you need to make sure that each salesperson has at least 80 new leads to handle each month. After the first month they will have plenty of leads to work since only half the leads will be contacted, so the other half will carry over into the next month, along with the 80 new leads, etc, etc, etc. Secondly, you need to make their pay plan different from the normal showroom salesperson. One reason is the internet salesperson will typically do 10 times more work than the showroom salesperson, so there should be a salary plus commission involved. More importantly, many good salespeople quit the internet department because with all the work they have to do aside from the actual selling of the vehicle, they may have months where the sales they make may not satisfy them financially. So you need to make sure they can live while they're developing the leads. 4. Sales Manager hires an Appointment Coordinator This is a great idea that I have made work successfully in many dealerships, especially smaller ones who didn't desire a full-fledged internet department. As you know, salespeople typically are not good phone people. Showroom salespeople feel more comfortable face-to-face when working with a customer. Dealing with a customer over the phone takes them out of their comfort zone, so they just give information without striving for the appointment. Hiring a good Appointment Coordinator who loves the phone is a definite benefit to salespeople. Salespeople don't like doing the actual work of calling them and setting the appointment, but they sure don't mind having the appointment set for them. The Appointment Coordinator would be an individual (not being sexist, but I found that putting females in this position works better) who really enjoys being on the phone, can develop working relationships with the prospects, and can work the phones for long periods of time. They don't necessarily need to know a lot of product knowledge. If a prospect needs to know anything directly related to the vehicle, the appointment coordinator can easily transfer them over to the salesperson to have their questions answered. Then the salesperson can set the appointment, and relay the appointment information back to the coordinator. The appointment coordinator needs to be very organized, understand the computer, and generate detailed reports. They also need to have control over salespeople when it involves the intenet since they will virtually be responsible to run the internet department. So it's best that the Sales Manager meet with all salespeople involved with the internet department to lay down the ground rules and determine the chain of command. As to who would get the internet leads, this is another topic for discussion. I don't think you should distribute leads to every salesperson on the showroom floor (that is, if you're not planning on developing a separate, full-fledged internet department yet). Choose those salespeople who truly want to help make the internet department successful, and be responsible to do whatever is necessary to make this happen. They should also be good closers, and handle the phone well. A good appointment coordinator should have the following responsibilities: — Call every lead that comes in — Try to set an appointment for every lead — Follow-up with all leads that are not contacted — Develop a long-term follow-up program — Keep monthly progress stats — Send monthly email newsletters Once you decide to develop a full-fledged internet department, it then becomes a matter of increasing your leads, hiring more internet salespeople, and basically, developing your new company.

Determining Your Internet Setup in Auto Dealerships

Internet Marketing Articles