Taking to the Web to Push Spring Sales

By David Kain, President of Kain Automotive
March 16, 2010

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Now that the spring market is upon us, it is important to be prepared to take advantage of your Internet sales opportunities. Here are three things dealers can do right now to get better results:

1. Take every online prospect seriously.
Even if the person doesn't want to buy now, he will buy eventually, and if we disregard them we will be the ones who lose out. A recent study by World Now revealed that in 2009 automotive buyers only visit in person 1.8 stores compared to 3.4 in 2006. That means that less than two dealers will ever see an online prospect in person. If you don't take them seriously, someone else will and they'll sell the vehicle you could have sold.

2. Chat, chat and then chat some more.
If you consider how many people visited your physical lot the last 20 years and just chatted (no presentation, no demo, no write up, etc.) and were treated in a nice, friendly manner which inspired them to come back again, you can better believe the same environment exists today online. Turn on chat and let your team become friends with the online shopper and earn their confidence so that when they decide to submit a lead they put your dealership at the top of the list.

3. Review your online reputation and improve it with a daily focus.
Before you even finish this article go to a search engine and look for your brand dealership in your town and see what kind of reviews are posted for your dealership and your competitors. Consumers are using online reviews as a catalyst to selection of nearly every product and service and you cannot risk having a bad online reputation. A word of caution — if you have bad reviews and try to combat it by posting your own good reviews you will be found out, and please never respond in an angry way to a bad review — you have an online audience and you can't win. Be nice at all costs.

Should You Go Mobile?
Is it time for your dealership to go mobile with your Web site? It might be, and if you want to consider a mobile site it is sometimes as easy as contacting your Web service provider and asking them to provide one.

The cost is typically pretty reasonable, and there are many things you can try once you have a mobile site in place. For example if you want to develop your own dealership iPhone app, you'll want a mobile site in place to make it easy to use the app.

We have one client that has had an iPhone app downloaded more than 600 times and the dealer can promote coupons, specials, inventory and more very easily.

If you use Cars.com and you have an iPhone be sure to download the new Cars.com iPhone app. You'll have your complete listings in the palm of your hand in an instant.

Many dealership Web sites are already well-designed to show up well on smartphones, but if you notice your site is not well-designed you will want to talk to your Web site provider about the options.

Have you asked your customers to give you feedback about your Web site lately?
Last week I was working with the team at Vic Canever Chevrolet in Fenton, Mich., and we were reviewing its Web site when we decided to ask one of the customers in their service waiting area to come in and review the Web site with us. It was eye-opening as we were able to see through the eyes of the customer what they look for while shopping online. The dealership has a nice Web site and it is designed well — or so we thought.

After the customer offered his opinion we filled up two pages of ideas on things that should be changed or considered.

If you consider your customers as the most important persons using your site, and you should, please ask them to sit with you and give them some tasks and ask them to talk out loud as they attempt to complete them. Examples would include searching for inventory, obtaining a trade value, scheduling service or ordering an accessory.

Try it. I think you'll appreciate the education they can provide.