How To Sell More Cars To Millennials Like Me

How To Sell More Cars To Millennials Like Me

I would be considered a millennial, or a Gen Y consumer. After all, I’m twenty-eight, a new mom,born in 1984, just about to have my ten year high school reunion and often think to myself-“If I wasn’t in the auto business, if I didn’t do this for a living, what would motivate me to purchase a car?”

What’s the first thing that comes to mind? My iPhone. I have it with me at all times as if it were my second child. I keep a charger in my car, a charger in my office and two chargers at home. The millennia generation uses their smartphone device for everything, especially buying a car. In a recent study, the 18-34 age group was calculated to be the highest demographic to visit automotive websites. Keeping this statistic in mind and coupling with other statistics that reveal Gen Y’s extraordinarily high smartphone usage, reveals the importance for dealers to make their websites as mobile friendly as possible with Gen Y friendly options like chat, text and video.

Thanks to mobile chat and text options, shoppers can communicate with me and my dealership via mobile-based chat or text. Both myself and my younger customers like this because it’s instant. I find that texts are read almost instantly and replied to regardless of how busy someone may be. That’s not necessarily true of email or voicemail. In terms of emails, most, including myself, tend to skim through. Although some emails from dealerships stand out, most don’t and they tend to all look the same. My smart phone is more than merely a means of checking email and responding to calls, it’s a tool for chatting and texting in real-time with buyers.

In addition to chat and text, I find that video greetings are also a powerful tool because they help to personalize the car buying process. A personal video from a manager or a sales rep stands out from the other template emails and helps my team come to life. I rely heavily on video in my sales process, and find that it is my biggest ‘trick’ when it comes to maintaining a high customer return rate.

With enough reputation building and quality posting about a person, an article, an experience, or a trend, I am able to create buzz about both myself and Sunset Honda. While the dealership website is important, I find that my customers appreciate sharing their experiences with me on social sites as well.

So in short, what makes a Gen Y, millennial consumer like me buy something? I believe the answer is smartphone-friendly communication tools, a willingness to get personal, accessibility and a strong online presence. But is that enough? Of course not! You’ve got to create a fantastic experience - so good that they buyers want to talk about it.

Elise Kephart is a sales and marketing phenomenon in the automobile business and is nationally recognized as "The YouTube Diva". Since 2007 Elise has sold thousands of vehicles to local and out of the area clients. Her personable and persuasive sales and marketing videos are personalized for every customer creating a strong bond and trust. Elise has presented at seminars nationwide, including several of Jim Ziegler’s Internet Battle Plans as well as the spring 2012 Digital Dealer conference in Orlando, where she has consistently 'wowed' the audience by teaching how to create and edit quick and effective videos and deliver them to customers within minutes. Elise has visited several dealerships across the country teaching her unique technique in the auto industry and has been praised by the likes of Jim Ziegler, Grant Cardone as well as Dealer Marketing Magazine. Elise is currently an Internet Manager at Sunset Honda in San Luis Obispo, California. Her amazing videos can be seen at youtube.com/sunsethonda and she can be reached at ekephart@sunsethonda.com

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Comment by Joseph D'Aurizio on July 19, 2013 at 6:14pm: @ Ruggles: your point is well taken; we can't pay the bills with happy customers and a profit needs to be made on the sale of each vehicle, be it front or back end. However, this vicious "race to the bottom" is very disturbing. The Internet is what it is, a way to drive traffic to the showroom. Once we have an audience, the selling must begin. Dealers need to invest in training, not only for entry level sales people, but for veterans, sales managers and finance manager as well. And this training needs to be ongoing. I know you would agree that ths industry is changing almost everyday. Salespeople and managers need to stay away from asking the dangerous high risk questions, that only result in customer lies: so, what's your monthly budget? How much do you plan to put down? And what were you thinking for your trade? Are they really going to give us "straight" answers??? Fact: buyers aren't liars. We force them to lie with unnecessary "high risk" questions too early on in the sales process. We still have the old school mentality that is getting us nowhere! Sales Manager: where do they want to be monthly? How much do they want for their trade? How much are they putting down? Salesperson: $250 a month, $2K over book and $0 down. Hence, the onset of physcological warfare. All unnecessary.

Bottom line: WE NEED BETTER TRAINING!!!!

Comment by David Ruggles on July 19, 2013 at 5:18pm: Really?

Comment by J. Michael Zak on July 19, 2013 at 2:18pm: Wow, Elise -

That was fantastic. You destroyed the old car salesperson persona in less than 45 seconds and then followed it up with proof. You are a rock star!

Comment by Lonnie Newbury on July 19, 2013 at 2:01am: Elise,

I have been a fan of yours for quite a while now. I recently got everything set up to start sending video emails to customers. I have been uploading to Youtube using an unpublished link that is attached in a pic within the email. I have only been doing this for a week now, and I feel like it is helping me get a response from the customer. BUT I went to an Internet Training class today in Dallas, and the trainer said he HATES video. I just do not understand how someone cannot embrace the technology that we have in front of us. He said the videos will never get opened. Especially on a smart phone. And that they are a waste of time. I have tested my emails on Iphone and Android with no issues. So I was curious what do you think is the actual number of people who will watch the video? & Do you only send video on the first response follow-up? -Lonnie

Comment by David Ruggles on July 18, 2013 at 10:23pm: Some Comments:

RE: "I gladly will pay a little more for the right service. We shouldn't be hiding from the tools that are in the internet-while we can argue whether the consumer has a right to the tools or not-the fact is that the tools are there."

Ruggles writes: Just because you maintain that YOU are willing to pay a little additional, that isn't necessarily typical of the rest of the cohort. There is NO argument about whether or not the consumer has the right to tools available. It is what it is. What IS an issue is whether or not dealers will assist certain vendors in bringing about additional margin compression.

RE: ""We need to focus on enough value in our services to capture the customer, not just on this one sale-but for the years to come. A millennial buyer is going to be buying multiple more cars/vehicles in their life."

This is nothing new in marketing. Its the same reason McDonalds advertising focused on kids going back 30 years. Domestic automakers noticed that after young people purchased a Toyota or a Datsun, the tended to stay loyal to the brand. They noticed this a little too late. The value proposition is a lot easier to make when the consumer is present and a relationship can be formed. Millennials are much less likely to spend enough time face to face for a relationship to be formed. After all, they are accustomed to looking for the best price online. They feel entitled to the best price and know how to get it. They are much more ruthless negotiators without necessarily intending to be, compared to their parents. Fortunately for dealers, Millennials don't have credit profiles any better than the overall population. All are not Silicon Valley wunderkinds. Many have extensive school debt, haven't purchased their first home, might be a threat to move back in with their parents, and don't have a fast track credit score. This means dealers shouldn't just give away gross profit in an effort to mollify a consumer they fear has "all the information." There are still strategies and salesmanship that can be employed to make gross profit.

RE: "With our need for lifestyle changes-going from single, young and fun...to a small suv when they get married and have a first baby...to a larger suv when they have more kids...transparency whether we like it or not is out there. We have to accept it and find a way to build VALUE in our sale."

Anyone with a background in economics understands that the very definition of an "efficient market" is when both buyer and seller have the same information. An efficient market turns the product into a commodity, meaning there is NO MIDDLE MAN profit to be had. This is called "disintermediation."

Dealers need to do the math. Margin compression from the increased 'transparency," possible F&I revenue curtailment from the CFPB, plus increase costs imposed by OEM facility upgrade mandates.

If you ever become a dealer you will find out the importance of gross profit. You can't pay your bills with just happy customers. They have to be happy AND have paid an average 10% GP per transaction. Dealers need a strategy to create the perception of appropriate transparency. Otherwise they will be trying to negotiate the margin.

Comment by Joseph D'Aurizio on July 18, 2013 at 9:04pm: Great job Elise. You are an inspiration to Internet Depts. all across the country. Keep up the great work!

Comment by Elise Kephart on July 18, 2013 at 6:50pm: Jackie-

Thank you-send me your email and I will send you a template.

I use a Nikon D1 camera (was $400), and iMovie.

Thanks,
Elise

Comment by Elise Kephart on July 18, 2013 at 6:50pm: Yes...on board...making money, for any business is the overall goal.

I gladly will pay a little more for the right service. We shouldn't be hiding from the tools that are in the internet-while we can argue whether the consumer has a right to the tools or not-the fact is that the tools are there.

We need to focus on enough value in our services to capture the customer, not just on this one sale-but for the years to come. A millennial buyer is going to be buying multiple more cars/vehicles in their life. With our need for lifestyle changes-going from single, young and fun...to a small suv when they get married and have a first baby...to a larger suv when they have more kids...transparency whether we like it or not is out there. We have to accept it and find a way to build VALUE in our sale.

Comment by David Ruggles on July 18, 2013 at 6:10pm: The challenge isn't to sell to Millennials, the challenge is to make money doing it. Dealers need 10% return per transaction, front, back, or combined. If someone gets a $2K deal, the next customer needs to pay $4K to keep the average of about $3K. How does selling to Millennials support that reality.

MArgin compression for dealers is REAL. The Internet has provided ready information to consumers that they have no right to. After all, how many consumers are entitled to bare cost information on other big ticket items, even ones where there are no financing and/or trade considerations? The CFPB is putting downward pressure on F&I income. At the same time, OEMs are putting pressure on dealers to raise their cost structure by spending more on their facilities? How does a dealer make that math work?

Millennials say they want even more transparency. Complete transparency means we disclose our triple net costs and negotiate the margin. How does that work? How many Millenials will knowingly accept the reality of a $3K average margin fully disclosed?

Comment by Jackie Cahill on July 18, 2013 at 4:20pm: Elisa, I LOVE your personalized videos. How do you send those out to customers? Do you e-mail them? Do you put them on YouTube first? Also, what are you using to film yourself with? We want to incorporate more video in our responses but find it takes a long time to film and load them. Any tips?