A question for the team at Dealer Knows:
Our New Car Managers thinks we should go to the desk every time we need pricing. What do you think about that set-up?
Looking forward to your perspective.
Brian Q.
Internet Sales Coordinator, Cadillac
________________________
Great question, Brian. Truth is, EVERY study says that response time is imperative so getting information to the prospect quickly, without having to make a trek to the desk, would be preferred. More than likely, your Sales Managers themselves are already having a say as to the prices on new/used vehicles so the request to visit them for pricing answers on EVERY lead seems completely unnecessary. I don’t want to take anything away from Sales Managers. They reached their position (usually) because of their sales success. However, that doesn’t mean they understand Internet sales, so some request control just for the sake of having it.
If you’re not doing it already, you and the Sales Managers should meet once a month at the beginning of every month to go through the line-up and suggest Internet prices (plus or minus invoice/MSRP) so you can quote the customer on your own. (Admittedly, bi-monthly pricing meetings are even more beneficial, which is why DealerKnows started offering PriceMatrix to our clients interested in staying ahead of their competition on the pricing front). You and your staff should be (trained and) fully capable of finding MSRP/Invoice and making those calculations (including out-the-door pricing) for yourselves to take the burden off the Sales Manager. But if mess up on the calculations, it’ll be on you, so stay focused when giving this privilege.
The reason I like this set-up? Imagine how much your Sales Managers will like having to stop what they are doing immediately and get you and your Internet cohorts a price 200 times a month. And that is just in one month! How old would that get to them? They’d start hating your team and that is not a good position to be in. You simply don’t NEED that many hands in the cookie jar.
Today’s Internet teams MUST be given the authority and flexibility to gather the customers’ requested info quickly and get it back to them in a timely manner without someone looking over their shoulder and whispering in their ear on every lead. If this doesn’t make sense to the sales manager, I’ll gladly speak to them directly and explain the problem with their preferred process.
Hope this helps.
Joe Webb
