Traditionally, your dealership relied on traffic coming through the showroom door. With the onset of internet inquiries, you now have a new “door” for customers to enter through. In fact, you now have three traffic doors: the showroom; by internet; and by phone. Of utmost importance, every customer must be treated exactly the same, regardless of which “door” they came through. Have a process set-up for each internet inquiry and be certain it duplicates the steps taken with every walk-in customer. Depending on your demographics, you may find that you receive more internet “ups” now than showroom “ups”. The future will prove that this trend will continue to climb. Currently, 77% of all dealership traffic drives to the internet to begin their purchase. We must embrace this traffic source and become very effective at communicating with them! Offer INTERNET ONLY specials and apply that to everything…from the price of the vehicle…to the finance interest rate…to extended warranty options…to service and parts specials! Be creative and make efforts to capture the attention of internet customers!
Today, internet leads become phone customers that eventually become walk-in customers. The next big change for the F&I manager will be e-contracting where signatures will be done electronically. One day, customers will be able to buy a vehicle, finance or pay for it, without ever going into a dealership. Let’s be prepared and ready so once that day arrives, we will seamlessly continue a profitable momentum! Develop a process for internet leads and use it consistently! Cover everything from building rapport, qualifying the customer, selecting a vehicle, to payment considerations and aftermarket options offered in the F&I office. Answer all their questions and have the vehicle prepared to go home with them the day they come in for their test-drive. If you don’t do this for them, your competitor who is prepared for the internet customer will earn this business!
These tips were presented by various workshop leaders and discussion panelists at the F&I Conference in Las Vegas, September 14th & 15th, 2010
Let’s be prepared for it, be ready so once it gets here, we will continue the profitable momentum
Tags: building rapport, competitor, customers, dealership, e-contracting, extended warranty, F&I manager, F&I office, finance interest rate, internet customer, internet inquiry, internet ups, process, test-drive, traffic, traffic doors, traffic source, vehicle finance
