I have spent more years than I would like to remember working in car dealerships. From starting as a sales person in a very large multi line store to running finance departments to a step or two backwards as an "internet manager" I have done most every job that a retail dealer can offer.

I have always been surprised at how blind and deaf some senior managers and owners can be. When the Internet first hit the scene, with it's different kind of advertising, pricing disclosure and transparency, I watched in awe as these senior people huddled together, abritrarily decided the Internet was the enemy and plotted for hours how to "beat" the system. Rather than spending those hours determining how best to move forward, I watched people twist themselves in knots to simply determine how they could remain stuck in neutral. I remember thinking how foolish that was but I really had little appreciation of how damaging those self inflicted wounds were until I found myself actually working as an Internet manager.

I think it is beyond obvious to mention that an Internet Manager, is not a manger at all. In most stores, the position was filled by a mediocre sales person ( " we cant give it to the top person, we cant afford to take them off the floor"), who was given a computer and some access codes to sites like Auto Trader and Cars.com and told that their job was to avoid discussion of price at all costs and just "get em in". When an Internet buyer asked for pricing, the "manager" was told that if they could not "get em in", move on to the next. Rather than view this new stream of business as fresh opportunities to extend their reach, do conquest marketing and add to the monthly unit count, dealers recoiled, dismissed the entire concept out of hand and spoke endlessly about how "this internet thing" would eventually go away and they could go back to counting phone ups.

Well here we are some 15 years later, the manufacturers got on board, forced dealers to buy websites and form entire internet departments. Dealers were dragged kicking and screaming in to the 21st century, so you would think, at this point, they would actually have found a way to embrace the trend, invest in training and technology and move forward. I am sorry to say, that assumption would be foolish and in most cases, just wrong.

I have not done any real research on this, but from speaking to dealers and watching and listening, I can say with complete confidence that probably more than 50% of dealers still view the internet customer with disdain. Someone who does not want to pay them a fair price for their car, a necessary evil. I would also bet my next paycheck that in most stores, an Internet Manager remains nothing more than a mediocre sales person with a good phone voice, who has no real decision making power or specialized training. Some dealers have gone around the process all together and simply utilize appointment setters who dont actually know anything about the product or pricing, and who's sole job is to, surprise, tell the consumer as little as possible and "get em in" so a "real" salesperson can handle them. Despite story after story about how most every dealer who has engaged in the process the way the process should be having incredible success, how heretofore small and barely profitable stores have become market dominators, owners still shake their heads and refuse to open their minds to the infinite possibilites for growth that might await them.

I know this post is preaching to the chior, yet it has to be said. The formula for success is so simple, engage the customer, welcome their knowledge, hire an Internet Manager with the experience and vision to take the dealership to the next level and empower them to do so. Until this becomes the norm, dealers who "get it" will continue to outshine all others and dealer principals will still sit in their offices, spend thousands even tens of thousands on mailers and phony hyped up sales events, replace sales managers and gsm's monthly looking for the next "golden boy", among other things, only reach the end of each month wondering what they did wrong.

I long ago stopped worrying about all of this. I choose to work with dealers who "get it", educate them and their staffs and simply embrace the concept of "more for me".