To price or not to price?..Is less info better?
I have recently been the subject of discussion due to my unwillingness to disclose pricing on our dealership website (used cars). The argument was due to an email that was received asking if we were that embarrassed of our pricing? This was on my brain all day yesterday after two days of intense VW product training this was the last thing I wanted to stu on. I spent the most part of this morning researching our hit statistic on our cobalt site and I believe 100% of all dealers would be quite shocked of my findings?....So my question to all is, do you think that disclosing a price is going to sell that car for you or will it just soothe that one customer that most anybody would rather not deal with?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Charmaine M Hammel on
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Are a lot of the "hits" customers looking around to see if they can find a price listed somewhere on the ad?
MANNY LUNA said:Again,It works both ways!
Internet web sites like cars.com Yes.
Craigslist No.
Take a look at this 240,000 hits in 4 months no pricing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCf6jgXZt8g
Charmaine M Hammel said:I don't know if I can speak for most shoppers, but if something has no price listed I keep looking until I can find what I am looking for with a price. Customers all love getting a deal. Would it be too difficult to list the "Blue Book" value then Your Price? I think you might find that you are going to start getting more calls on your ads..
Just a suggestion.
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Ps
Do you notice a different level of customer from Craigslist?
Charmaine M Hammel said:Are a lot of the "hits" customers looking around to see if they can find a price listed somewhere on the ad?
MANNY LUNA said:Again,It works both ways!
Internet web sites like cars.com Yes.
Craigslist No.
Take a look at this 240,000 hits in 4 months no pricing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCf6jgXZt8g
Charmaine M Hammel said:I don't know if I can speak for most shoppers, but if something has no price listed I keep looking until I can find what I am looking for with a price. Customers all love getting a deal. Would it be too difficult to list the "Blue Book" value then Your Price? I think you might find that you are going to start getting more calls on your ads..
Just a suggestion.
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Permalink Reply by Ken Yang on
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We post A LOT on craigslist and we NEVER post a price. We post only Down Payments. The reason being is 1. we very rarely sell a car for "cash" or "outside finance" (and yes we probably lose 1-2 ($300 deals a month) 2. most of OUR customers don't have the "cash" or the "credit" to obtain outside finance. We're a "LEASE TO OWN" dealership and we sell a lot of cars for our size and the location that we're in. We out sell some of the new car dealers in our area.
So, if you ask me, I prefer to NOT list a price because our target market are those with less than perfect credit and they're all "payment shoppers".
Charmaine M Hammel said:Ps
Do you notice a different level of customer from Craigslist?
Charmaine M Hammel said:Are a lot of the "hits" customers looking around to see if they can find a price listed somewhere on the ad?
MANNY LUNA said:Again,It works both ways!
Internet web sites like cars.com Yes.
Craigslist No.
Take a look at this 240,000 hits in 4 months no pricing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCf6jgXZt8g
Charmaine M Hammel said:I don't know if I can speak for most shoppers, but if something has no price listed I keep looking until I can find what I am looking for with a price. Customers all love getting a deal. Would it be too difficult to list the "Blue Book" value then Your Price? I think you might find that you are going to start getting more calls on your ads..
Just a suggestion.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Kappler on
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Some great points so far...I still cannot be convinced that pricing our cars (used) on our website will pay dividends. I do believe that pricing them lowers the opportunity for me and my sales force to do our job. Do I really want that customer coming in who is upset because they could not get a price from our site, ABSOLUTELY!! It is called OPPORTUNITY!! I bet there is more opportunity wasted through "Internet Departments" not knowing what they are talking about and credibility lost due to spamming customers all day then not having one at all. Do not get me wrong, I am very familiar with these here inter-webs and how they function I just do not think that a person that drives by my inventory everyday probably twice a day has the right to get all of the info they need with the click of a mouse and no human interaction.. I have never seen a law that requires a dealership to disclose pricing on used cars everywhere they are offered.. Feedback is encouraged
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Andrew Kappler said:Some great points so far...I still cannot be convinced that pricing our cars (used) on our website will pay dividends. I do believe that pricing them lowers the opportunity for me and my sales force to do our job. Do I really want that customer coming in who is upset because they could not get a price from our site, ABSOLUTELY!! It is called OPPORTUNITY!! I bet there is more opportunity wasted through "Internet Departments" not knowing what they are talking about and credibility lost due to spamming customers all day then not having one at all. Do not get me wrong, I am very familiar with these here inter-webs and how they function I just do not think that a person that drives by my inventory everyday probably twice a day has the right to get all of the info they need with the click of a mouse and no human interaction.. I have never seen a law that requires a dealership to disclose pricing on used cars everywhere they are offered.. Feedback is encouraged
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Permalink Reply by MANNY LUNA on -
I love you Andrew!!!
Im a believer in your program and thats what makes used cars so Unique!
Your my kind of car man!
Andrew Kappler said:Andrew Kappler said:Some great points so far...I still cannot be convinced that pricing our cars (used) on our website will pay dividends. I do believe that pricing them lowers the opportunity for me and my sales force to do our job. Do I really want that customer coming in who is upset because they could not get a price from our site, ABSOLUTELY!! It is called OPPORTUNITY!! I bet there is more opportunity wasted through "Internet Departments" not knowing what they are talking about and credibility lost due to spamming customers all day then not having one at all. Do not get me wrong, I am very familiar with these here inter-webs and how they function I just do not think that a person that drives by my inventory everyday probably twice a day has the right to get all of the info they need with the click of a mouse and no human interaction.. I have never seen a law that requires a dealership to disclose pricing on used cars everywhere they are offered.. Feedback is encouraged
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Maybe I am unique, if it doesn't have a price, I move on. I assume if it doesn't have a price---it is over-priced.
I am just speaking as a consumer. It, to me, is like being on a dating site and the person has no picture...I move along because there HAS to be a reason there is no picture!
As a consumer, if I like the car and I like the price, I am a sale and I am walking in to buy. As a consumer, I hate games and I have already checked out NADA (not KBB) for the values. I shop dealers more than the cars. I know the car I want...it is just hard sometimes finding a dealer who treats me with respect. I have always bought my own cars, no hubby-in-tow, so I have many many stories.
But, I guess it depends on the product and the type of customer you want to attract. I believe that even the dumb ones can see the [vast?] difference between KBB.com retail and what a dealer might be willing to sell the car for. You know you are making bucks and they can see that they are getting a deal. Of course there is still enough haggling involved to keep everyone on their toes...but, if you are selling a good product at a good price, I don't see where you can go wrong!
Again, I am just responding as a consumer...
MANNY LUNA said:I love you Andrew!!!
Im a believer in your program and thats what makes used cars so Unique!
Your my kind of car man!
Andrew Kappler said:Andrew Kappler said:Some great points so far...I still cannot be convinced that pricing our cars (used) on our website will pay dividends. I do believe that pricing them lowers the opportunity for me and my sales force to do our job. Do I really want that customer coming in who is upset because they could not get a price from our site, ABSOLUTELY!! It is called OPPORTUNITY!! I bet there is more opportunity wasted through "Internet Departments" not knowing what they are talking about and credibility lost due to spamming customers all day then not having one at all. Do not get me wrong, I am very familiar with these here inter-webs and how they function I just do not think that a person that drives by my inventory everyday probably twice a day has the right to get all of the info they need with the click of a mouse and no human interaction.. I have never seen a law that requires a dealership to disclose pricing on used cars everywhere they are offered.. Feedback is encouraged
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Charmaine, Are you a consumer or the salesperson now?... I do not disagree with what you are saying however I will ask you this.."How many customers have you actually sold to without taking the vehicle of interest away from them because they are saying it's to much payment and try to put them in a lesser vehicle?"...Now, if the customer drives by my inventory everyday and finally stops in to ask us how much the vehicle is and it turns out to be more then he thinks he can afford, do you let him walk or do you give him a couple options?.. My point is, you had a legitimate chance to "Work" the customer, qualify him, get contact info etc.. Charmaine, we are all consumers but in this business you must have empathy over sympathy..It's funny, just today I had a conversation with a co-worker regarding the persona of the typical car salesman, is it still alive?.. Absolutely not (well, in most cases anyways), Is the stigma attached to the car salesman still alive?.. Absolutely Yes not going anywhere anytime soon..We have to battle through this everyday.. Something tells me that if you found 4 of the same type vehicles you were interested in buying and mine did not have a price you will break down and either, call, stop or email...I can't believe otherwise. That's all I am looking for!!! A chance
Charmaine M Hammel said:Maybe I am unique, if it doesn't have a price, I move on. I assume if it doesn't have a price---it is over-priced.
I am just speaking as a consumer. It, to me, is like being on a dating site and the person has no picture...I move along because there HAS to be a reason there is no picture! As a consumer, if I like the car and I like the price, I am a sale and I am walking in to buy. As a consumer, I hate games and I have already checked out NADA (not KBB) for the values. I shop dealers more than the cars. I know the car I want...it is just hard sometimes finding a dealer who treats me with respect. I have always bought my own cars, no hubby-in-tow, so I have many many stories. But, I guess it depends on the product and the type of customer you want to attract. I believe that even the dumb ones can see the [vast?] difference between KBB.com retail and what a dealer might be willing to sell the car for. You know you are making bucks and they can see that they are getting a deal. Of course there is still enough haggling involved to keep everyone on their toes...but, if you are selling a good product at a good price, I don't see where you can go wrong!
Again, I am just responding as a consumer...
MANNY LUNA said:I love you Andrew!!!
Im a believer in your program and thats what makes used cars so Unique!
Your my kind of car man!
Andrew Kappler said:Andrew Kappler said:Some great points so far...I still cannot be convinced that pricing our cars (used) on our website will pay dividends. I do believe that pricing them lowers the opportunity for me and my sales force to do our job. Do I really want that customer coming in who is upset because they could not get a price from our site, ABSOLUTELY!! It is called OPPORTUNITY!! I bet there is more opportunity wasted through "Internet Departments" not knowing what they are talking about and credibility lost due to spamming customers all day then not having one at all. Do not get me wrong, I am very familiar with these here inter-webs and how they function I just do not think that a person that drives by my inventory everyday probably twice a day has the right to get all of the info they need with the click of a mouse and no human interaction.. I have never seen a law that requires a dealership to disclose pricing on used cars everywhere they are offered.. Feedback is encouraged
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My post regarding pricing is not to mis-lead customers or to condone shady business practices... It is only about generating honest trackable traffic into the showroom...My initial question was "Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the car for you?" or is it just going to soothe a customer most of us would not want to deal with anyway? Unless their is a system that gathers customer data and will tell me what they looked at and what they want to spend, as a dealership you have got to get creative to drive in lot traffic and get cars sold. Has anyone tried this?
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As I said before in my previous post. I only advertise down payment. I do this because it's what works for me. I've tried advertising price. Everyone that walks onto my dealership always ask "What's the best CASH PRICE?". Once I show them the car and give them a price, almost everyone will ask "What's the payments and how much down do I need?" This is when I have a problem. Initially, they tell me they're a cash buyer and we quote them a price. Then they tell me they need me to finance them in-house because their credit's not good. If I price it at a reasonable amount and they still can't afford the payments then it doesn't matter because they can't afford the payments. If I quote a down payment and a payment that's affordable, then really does the price matter? Anyone in the BHPH business knows that you've got to price the cars right so that it's a profitable deal because you've just turned the dealership into a finance company.
Again, no price works well for me. It may not for others that don't do in-house financing. If we weren't strickly a LHPH dealership, we probably would advertise price. We get asked all the time why we don't advertise price and why we don't quote price, but that's what works for us and we're selling 65 cars a month in a recession economy. Andrew, I would say do what works for you and your targeted customers.
Andrew Kappler said:My post regarding pricing is not to mis-lead customers or to condone shady business practices... It is only about generating honest trackable traffic into the showroom...My initial question was "Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the car for you?" or is it just going to soothe a customer most of us would not want to deal with anyway? Unless their is a system that gathers customer data and will tell me what they looked at and what they want to spend, as a dealership you have got to get creative to drive in lot traffic and get cars sold. Has anyone tried this?
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Lyn Stinebaker on
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I have read each post on this topic and I have to say I was excited to read the input. Now I just have to chime in...
When we advertise on line there are two path's that one can take and it all depends on what you want your final outcome to be and that should determine which path you will follow.
If you want your cars to list like a liner in a newspaper go ahead and not list price. The return you get will be something just like the old days. A few calls on a Saturday morning and hit and miss calls throughout the week. Some walk in traffic maybe.
If you have more than 15 quality pictures that actually show the best features of the car not canned sequential pictures, emotional call to action comments on each car and competetive pricing, your conversions will go sky high immediatly. Weather the conversion comes from the phone, walk in or an email inquery your staff will stay busy. Very busy.
In my opinion it is not all price but there are key items needed when making a cake and the flour can not be left out. Price is as important to a shopper as flour to a cake. Without quality pictures and emotional call to action comments you can leave the price off because it most likely dosen't matter anyway.
Thanks for letting me participate in your discussion. Best to you whichever way you decide to move forward:)
Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the Andrew Kappler said:My post regarding pricing is not to mis-lead customers or to condone shady business practices... It is only about generating honest trackable traffic into the showroom...My initial question was "Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the car for you?" or is it just going to soothe a customer most of us would not want to deal with anyway? Unless their is a system that gathers customer data and will tell me what they looked at and what they want to spend, as a dealership you have got to get creative to drive in lot traffic and get cars sold. Has anyone tried this?
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Permalink Reply by MANNY LUNA on
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Ok thats enough talking about what works now get the true reports out!!!!
This store went from 50 used cars the first 5 months of the year to 120 the first full month on our program!
And did over 300,000 in gross The store Planet Ford Humble,Tx Owner Chuck Krammer and you can call him!
LOOK! NO PRICING!!!
SMA Testimony...
Record month!! Went from 51 used average for the first 5 months of 2010. In July 2010, We delivered 121 in Just over $300,000.00 in gross! How do you like me now? LOL
Thanks Manny! Chuck Kramer
Planet Ford 832-519-6338
Owner/GM
Stephanie Lyn Stinebaker said:I have read each post on this topic and I have to say I was excited to read the input. Now I just have to chime in...
When we advertise on line there are two path's that one can take and it all depends on what you want your final outcome to be and that should determine which path you will follow.
If you want your cars to list like a liner in a newspaper go ahead and not list price. The return you get will be something just like the old days. A few calls on a Saturday morning and hit and miss calls throughout the week. Some walk in traffic maybe.
If you have more than 15 quality pictures that actually show the best features of the car not canned sequential pictures, emotional call to action comments on each car and competetive pricing, your conversions will go sky high immediatly. Weather the conversion comes from the phone, walk in or an email inquery your staff will stay busy. Very busy.
In my opinion it is not all price but there are key items needed when making a cake and the flour can not be left out. Price is as important to a shopper as flour to a cake. Without quality pictures and emotional call to action comments you can leave the price off because it most likely dosen't matter anyway.
Thanks for letting me participate in your discussion. Best to you whichever way you decide to move forward:)
Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the Andrew Kappler said:My post regarding pricing is not to mis-lead customers or to condone shady business practices... It is only about generating honest trackable traffic into the showroom...My initial question was "Is pricing a car on your website going to sell the car for you?" or is it just going to soothe a customer most of us would not want to deal with anyway? Unless their is a system that gathers customer data and will tell me what they looked at and what they want to spend, as a dealership you have got to get creative to drive in lot traffic and get cars sold. Has anyone tried this?
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