The question that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days is “Where are the buyers?” I can tell you one thing for sure; they aren’t walking into the showroom. One look at the desk log and that becomes apparent, but you don’t have to go too far to find them—all you need to do is look at the number of your website’s monthly unique visitors. You then have to ask “How do I turn those random, unique visitor to my website in to leads, and, ultimately, in to sales?” These are great questions and I want to discuss a few ideas to help you begin to answer these questions.
The first thing that comes to mind is to create a means to interact with the prospect as soon as he visits your website, in a manner similar to the old showroom meet and greet. By getting involved upfront you can hold your visitors attention longer while also planting the seed of a great first experience with you dealership. You can do this by utilizing chat on your website. Whether you man chat or outsource it, by reaching out and making contact with more of your website visitors you will be accomplishing two main things. First, you will be capturing more information by converting your anonymous website visitors into leads and second you will be creating a great first impression with your website visitors.
Another important element is to have the right tools available on your website to answer your customer questions and keep them engaged. Using video, interactive credit applications and virtual test drives are just a few of the tools available to keep your website visitors engaged and spending time on your website. The one question you have to ask is “How sticky is your website?” You can judge this by the average time people spend on your website—the longer time on your site the better for building prospect rapport with your online shoppers.
Third, you should try to wow your visitor with a clear buying process. Taking the time to develop a clear plan on how to handle each of the different types of people that visit your website and submit a form is a critical component to personalizing the prospect’s experience. Break down your follow-up to have specific campaigns based on the customer disposition. A couple of examples would be the First Time Buyer, Beat the Price I Already Have Shopper, Shopper Outside Your PMA etc. With modern CRM you should be able to create as many unique follow-up processes that you have prospects. This ensures a personalized experience and helps to keep your customer following the path you have set up for them.
Finally, I believe the key to success is to keep consistent in your Internet business. This can be accomplished by working in your business everyday and working to grow it one inch at a time. To make your Internet business soar it requires daily roll-up-your-sleeves involvement. Even in tough times there are potential opportunities—you just need to think outside the brick and mortar box and keep all options open. There is a great old saying “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities but in the expert’s mind there are few.” This quote has always resonated with me to keep searching for better ideas that we can apply in the Internet business.
