Every week I am in a different dealership teaching, training and coaching on how to create incremental new and used vehicle sales, and every week I am disappointed by the way the retail automotive industry seems to be devolving.

On one hand, I suppose this is job security for a person in my position, Dealer Training Manager for a captive lender. On the other hand, it is and has been my passion and love for our industry that has made me successful, and to see the way dealerships manage their sales people and their sales process, or the lack of management of sales people and sales process, makes me cringe.

As an industry, we have adapted to what we think the Internet means to our customers, instead of adopting a real strategy for utilizing the Internet as a tool for creating incremental sales, and reaching customer’s previously outside of a dealership’s reach.

The basic rules still apply; people buy from people. A good deal is a relative term. We still have to create value to justify our price, regardless of how cheap our vehicle is listed online. The customers who are using the internet to aid in their buying decision are gathering information in order to make a logical choice, however what they buy, and who they buy from are emotional decisions.

Customers who buy, and who are completely satisfied with their purchase, found a sales person who they felt cared about them, about the significance of their decision, and about their continued loyalty. They found a sales person who took pride in their product, and in their sales process, and who took the time to make a customer feel good about who they were buying from, and what they were buying.

I meet so many sales managers that are nothing more than data entry clerks, “desking” deals by inputting the figures for the lowest possible price at the longest possible term, and spitting out the lowest possible payment, whether the customer has any emotional attachment to the sales person, the vehicle or the dealership.

If we continue to see a vehicle sale as a transaction with a customer instead of a relationship with a customer, there will come a time when customers won’t need dealerships. If that doesn’t cause us all to pause and reflect, we are delusional indeed.

As far as I am concerned, all the data out there in regards to how the Internet and our industry are related supports my point of view.

According to JD Power, the average customer exploring their automotive purchase online (Automotive Internet User or AIU) spends up to 14 hours researching. Those who spend more than 12 hours visit 3.3 dealerships before making a decision, those that spend 5 to 11 hours online visit an average of 2.5 dealers, and those that spend less time visit 2 dealers before making a decision.

I know what you may be thinking, the Internet customer IS more difficult to sell, that is why the more research they do online equates to more dealerships that they are visiting. But consider the way we treat customers educated on the Internet versus a customer that comes into our showroom first to find out if our product is right for them.

I see it all the time; we assume the Internet customer’s only motivation is the lowest price. They come into the dealership on a particular vehicle make and model; they may even have the stock number. The sales person goes to the desk to confirm that we have that vehicle in stock, pulls the vehicle up to show the customer that we have it in stock, maybe they take a test drive, but they are rarely doing to a good walk-around, then the fun begins as we price the vehicle out to the customer and hope for the best.

When I first started selling cars, we trained constantly on how to handle the customer that would come into the showroom with the Saturday paper looking for the $12,000 off Silverado pickups. Isn’t that the same customer now that is coming in looking for the new Silverado pickup priced online at a net-net loser?

We would start asking questions right there on the lot, “Is this going to be for you or someone else?” “Are you going to be the primary driver, or are you going to be sharing time with someone else?” “Are you replacing a vehicle, or adding one to your collection?” We knew that we had the Silverado that we could discount the $12,000, but we also knew that it was likely not exactly what the customer was looking for.

That is still the case today.

When the customers educate themselves online, and that education leads them to our showroom, they are looking for a sales person, not just a vehicle. Up and down the street $600 per month in a car payment buys the same car; 4 doors, power windows, door locks and mirrors, sunroof and leather. What determines whether a customer purchase our vehicle versus purchasing from our competition is the amount of value we are able to build during our sales process in ourselves, our vehicle and our dealership.


JD Power, 2014 Auto Shopper Survey Results, September 10, 2014