3 of the Biggest Challenges On the Sales Floor

Most of the dealers that I speak to are facing similar challenges on the sales floor – and are saying it seems to be getting more difficult to sell cars and retain gross. Through further discussion and drilling down to the root cause there appears to be similarities across the industry regardless of brand or marketplace - the impact of the Internet, Customer Expectations and Culture Change.

Internet

We are all aware of the impact that the internet and third-party information has had on our industry. Customers have immediate access to unlimited amounts of information, and although not all of it is accurate, they are certainly much more informed when engaging with our sales team. In addition, they expect to be able to get the information from your staff at the same rate of speed they can online, most dealerships struggle with this and its one of the most voiced complaints from consumers about the sales process in our industry. “IT TAKES TO LONG”.

If you look at your dealership would it be fair to say that showroom traffic and sales calls are trending downward? Look at your digital opportunities fair to say that they are the main source of new leads coming into the dealership? One of the largest opportunities for us is converting these opportunities to dealership visits. For the most part we have realized that these leads are “real “unfortunately we are struggling with conversion rates. Research states that it takes between 12-15 follow ups to convert and e-lead into a showroom visit, industry stat indicate that we are averaging 2-3 follow ups before our sales team stops communication. The main reason sales reps stop communication is that the don’t want to bother the customer and that they don’t have anything else to communicate to them. This presents a significant opportunity for dealerships, it is critical to growth and survival.

Customer Expectations

If we look at the changes in consumer buying patterns, they have also dramatically changed from even 5 years ago. In 2012 industry averages stated that the average consumer would visit just over 4 dealerships prior to making a purchase today its about 1.5 dealerships. This in part explains why we feel there is less showroom traffic – the reality is that most customers who walk into your showroom are ready to buy – that’s the good news, the question is why aren’t they? Customer research clearly indicated that consumers are driving change in our industry specifically in shopping patterns and the sales process – this coupled with the abundance of information available has put significant focus on how we communicate with our customers and the information that we provide to them. Consumers will no longer tolerate the “old school” ways of dealers controlling the process, time and information provided.


Customer Complaint about the Sales Process:

  • It takes too long

  • Too many people involved

  • Difficulty and time to get information

  • Commitment questions

  • The negotiation processes

  • The pressure

Culture Change

Realizing the need for change most dealerships have adapted and made changes to their existing sale process. This however presents a problem for the dealership – as mentioned in one of my previous blogs, the pendulum has swung to far we have become providers of information and in a lot of cases our skill to sell and close has eroded to the point its costing dealerships across the nation millions of dollars in sales and revenue. Industry stats will prove this – gross profits per vehicle are down 12-15% per vehicle, volumes are shrinking, and staff turnover is higher then its ever been, all of these having a significant impact on dealership profitability and our staff to make a living.

Solution

Cardone On Demand is the number 1 sales training platform in the world providing content focused on the “new buyer” and “current customer expectations”– with over 1500 (3-5 minute) training videos your sales staff will understand how to:


  • Reduce customer confrontation

  • Provide an information-based sales process

  • Effectively deal with any customer objection

  • Have customers willingly follow them through the sales process

  • Quicken the sales process

  • Stay in the close and sell more vehicles

  • Increase gross per vehicle

  • Increase CSI

Our platform has multi levels of certification from “new hires – to the most senior sales members”, with daily usage reports that will provide your management with real time information to drive accountability and show you how to increase your sales by 20-30% in 90 days.

I’d love the opportunity to set up a quick online demo – and get you and your team on the way to dominate your market.

Thomas Training