During the last several weeks we have provided insights on the new Road to the Sale, and Digital Retailing (DR) in particular (follow to articles 1, 2 and 3), and now we will be getting into the nitty gritty details of processes and tactics that are the core drivers of Digital Retailing success. Our collective experience in working with successful clients makes us confident in the strategies we will recommend that you consider in developing your own updated Road to the Sale and Digital Retailing solution.

What are processes and tactics anyway? It has often been said that processes are science whereas tactics are art. For the purposes of this article, we will utilize this thinking.

First off, let’s consider that Process success means PERFORMANCE RELIES ON COMPLETING EVERY SINGLE STEP. Unfortunately, in many cases, the dealership steps are out of sync with today’s modern consumer online buying preferences, and dealership alignment is key to meeting and exceeding expectations. Because dealership process designers (aka dealership managers) are not usually vehicle shoppers, their firsthand insights are limited to their own experience, and what they hear from consumers, read in industry studies, or even read in articles like this. The result of this limited exposure to the actual vehicle buying process often blocks dealership managers from thinking like a car shopper and thus making the process changes that will optimize online selling success. So… it’s wise for us to do a couple of easy exercises to identify what your dealership would like to change, if anything.

Exercise 1 – Identify Your Favorite Online E-commerce Site Experiences and Discuss Why You Like Them

This is easy and usually just needs your team members to gather around a whiteboard and list the companies where they shop online, describe why they like, and are loyal to, the site. Was it the actual online shopping experience? Was it easy to transact? Was it the quality of the merchandise, the price offered, and/or the level of service and support? These are all important questions. But that’s not it! It is also smart to identify how long they have been using the site, how much money they usually spend, and, finally, the actual time required to complete a transaction.

This exercise seems simple, but it is critical to your DR success. The output from this exercise will provide a view of common elements that you’ll want to consider in designing your own online and offline shopping experiences. If you are like a lot of businesses, inevitably many team members will say they want to be like Amazon. When you consider the big focus on Amazon and why so few companies have been able to mimic their success, keep in mind that Amazon has been perfecting their experience since Jeff Bezos launched it as an online book retailer on July 5,1994. That’s 26 years of trial and error, science and data, engineering and acquisition, daily performance reviews and millions of consumer opinions. Be fair when you compare your own efforts in improving your online shopping experience. Is it fair to you and your team to expect to be “Amazon like” when the effort is just not remotely close? Probably not, but if you shoot for the stars, even if you fall short, you’ll be higher than you are now.

Exercise 2 – Take Your Team on an Automotive Digital Field Trip

As crazy as it sounds, most dealership team members do not have firsthand experience in shopping for a vehicle online like their customer do. By taking the time to mimic the automotive buying journey, your team will gain remarkable insights on what customers expect when they reach out to a dealership. Start on a search engine and type in the Year, Make and Model of a vehicle you sell, and then experiment with different phrases on the end… E.g. 2020 Subaru Forester Deals, 2020 Subaru Forester Pricing, 2020 Subaru Forester Inventory, 2020 Subaru Forester Dealers near me.

In each case, just start clicking on some of the links that come up including your own website, the manufacturer site, 3rd party consumer sites, 3rd party buying sites, etc. You’ll quickly find out why it is ultra confusing for customers when they only do this every 3 or 4 years. Just navigating the complexities of your own website can be somewhat confusing so this exercise will help you and your team have empathy for your customer’s experience.

Now, discuss with your team your findings and what you’d like to do to make the process at your dealership easier once you receive a lead, a call, or when the customer walks in. Your team will be much more aware and empathetic to what the online shopper has experienced, and how you can make their experience much better than your competitors.

Update Your Current Processes

With your team freshly oriented to the expectations of the online shopper, it’s now time to do some process mapping and ensure that your team participates in creating a market-leading experience for your customers.

Start with the lead receipt and reading the lead effectively. An approach taught by Kain Automotive is to complete the 2 Minute Drill to bring the lead to life. Behind every lead is a person that wants to buy, but who can sometimes be treated impersonally. However, the more your team focuses on that customer’s specific needs, the more likely the sale. The 2 Minute Drill helps gain a perspective on who the customer is, how they became your opportunity, and what they expect from your team. This same technique is used extensively in other industries such as software development where defining the “persona”… who the user is, what they want, and what outcome they seek… is essential to the success of an application. So, in case you didn’t know, this is a well tested method for creating successful outcomes with customers for a range of industries.

Exhibit: Kain Automotive 2 Minute Drill:

Open the lead in the CRM and determine if they are a current or new client – Check for sales/service history and duplicates | Check Google and Social sites

Identify the lead source and keep in mind that the source drives expectations – Consider expectations set from lead source | Identify what the site promised

Identify what the customer is asking from your dealership – Price | Specs | Availability | Trade Value | Incentives | Other

Research the preferred vehicle, learn the details and identify alternatives – Is it available? | Unique Features? | History? | Market value? | Similar models?

Prepare your response strategy and be the 1st to respond to the customer – Personalize your response | Focus on helping | Sell the Experience | Sell the Visit

 

When your team completes a 2 Minute Drill, they can more completely understand how the customer shopped. Did they use your dealership Digital Retailing Tool to request information? Did they actually start the purchase process? Or, did they actually sell themselves a vehicle? These are important answers to know before you contact the customer.

At this point in the development, most customers often drop out of the process before they actually buy. That doesn’t mean they won’t buy; it just means they weren’t compelled to complete the process. The reasons for this drop off are many: the buying experience didn’t meet their expectations, they had a question that needed a dealership expert to answer, they didn’t trust the system, etc..

The 2 Minute Drill will ensure that your team understands where the customer dropped out and how the team can help the customer get back on their journey. Additionally, with many Digital Retailing Platforms, they use a quick form, or squeeze page, to gather the name and contact info that you receive early on in the DR buying process. The challenge is recognizing that the customer could still be going through the process, so if you reach out too quickly, you can disrupt their flow. Oftentimes, the platform will generate a 2nd or even 3rd notification depending on how far the customer progresses. It is best to orient your team during their own Digital Field Trip to how this works.

With that said, your Engagement Process starts once you receive the lead. Your Engagement Process is your outline of actions taken to inspire a customer to connect, appoint, and eventually purchase a vehicle. Most CRM’s have an engagement process (such as call, text, or email triggers) built-in and you’ll want to adjust this to the capabilities of your team to keep in the flow. (We can provide a follow-up schematic if you’d like one – just send us a message via LinkedIn).

As your team matures, it is important to closely manage your new sales process. Very often we see that too many tasks lead to team members abandoning follow-up when the task load gets too high. Your team needs to look at follow-ups as a form of marketing, and their communications should be designed to “market your vehicle, your dealership, and your team member” in a manner that builds trust and confidence over time. When the customer trusts your team member, and has confidence in how they can help them, the customer will let the team member serve as their guide throughout their purchase journey. The more personalized your communication tactics are, and more importantly, the more helpful they are, the more likely it will be that your customer will engage and follow your team members’ guidance to a sale.

Digital Retailing Nuances

As mentioned earlier, most DR Platforms are set up where your dealership could receive multiple leads from a customer session…

1. The start of the process and capture of their contact info to “unlock pricing”
2. The vehicle selection if they save their session
3. Trade-in information if they add it on the first session or another session
4. Finance information if they complete financial forms


The unique nature of the DR leads, and the fact that the customer may not realize they have even provided the dealership information, means the first approach must be subtle and supportive so as not to give the impression that Big Brother is watching. Most DR Platforms have auto response messages that signal to the customer what the outcome of the action was, and many platforms allow dealers to customize these messages to make them more suitable for the branding and communications style of the dealership. You’ll want to exercise your ability to personalize your communications if you already have a platform in place, or you’ll need to do it during your setup if you are just getting started. How you personalize your communications should compliment the manual actions your team uses to engage.

How you approach a customer that doesn’t even realize that they’ve completed a lead is critical to your success. If you use the standard, “Thanks for requesting information. When can you come in?” approach favored by many dealerships, you can be rest assured that you will freak out the customer. Translation: creepy doesn’t sell. A better approach would be a helpful call, voicemail, text, and email that supports their efforts and alerts them of your expertise in helping them find just the right vehicle. Remember, if you are overly pushy you can scare off the customer, and if you are too casual you can leave them feeling abandoned. So, a bit like Goldilocks, you’ll want to try a few actions until you find the one that is “just right” for most situations and then adapt based on the engagement and responses you receive.

Closing Thoughts

Digital Retailing is opening new opportunities for dealerships to secure new customers and sell vehicles. However, with every opportunity, you must have the right processes and communication tactics in place to ensure success over the long term. Teaching your team how to think like a car shopper, and what they experience during the buying process, is very important. The empathy your team gains will translate into new sales. And, more importantly, when you develop a culture of balanced patience and perseverance, you will be building a DR Culture that can only breed success.

We hope you find these ideas helpful. Rest assured, we are quite aware that this is a grand experiment and there will be new findings happening nearly every week. Be sure that we will share what we learn at all times since we’re all in this crazy world together.

As always, if you have any questions, we are here to help. Feel free to message us at any time.

Thanks for reading!

 

With thanks to my fabulous co-authors David Kain of Kain Automotive and Adam Dennis of SurgeMetrix.